Brian Westbrook said it and he didn't mince words.. We expect too much of Donovan McNabb. Criticizing McNabb has become the city's favorite sport.
How could Westbrook say anything different because he did nothing in the NFC championship game and the defense was stinking up the place along with him, when McNabb brought the team back to take the lead in the fourth quarter?
I'm sure Westbrook and the defense expected to get fried after the game, but when they got back here to Philadelphia, they realized they were in the clear. It was all McNabb's fault.
The reasoning was if he had hit the passes in the first half and the passes in the second half, the Eagles would have won. I was buying into it until I took a few days to step back and look at the big picture.
If he had hit all the passes in the first half and the second half, he would have throw for 650 yards and six touchdowns. He threw for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns but that wasn't enough to get him out of the scapegoat chair.
Talk about expecting too much of the guy.
When asked about the city's treatment of McNabb on ESPN radio by Colin Cowherd, Westbook hit the nail on the head.
“I think sometimes people want him to be someone else and he has just done a great job of leading this team," Westbrook said. "It’s not easy to win Super Bowls every year. It’s not easy to get to the playoffs every single year. Sometimes people’s expectations are just a little bit high.”
“He’s been a leader and he’s been a great quarterback, a Pro Bowl quarterback. He’s been a great guy as well as a great player. To me, as a player, he’s lived up to all expectations that I could possibly have of him.”
You know how you try to make some small talk when you meet somebody. You look for something to talk about which you can be fairly sure you and that person will have a mutual opinion about.
Here in Philadelphia, people will just start crticizing McNabb. Most of the time I just shut up and listen even though I totally disagree. I know if I tell they way I really feel it will result in a long argument.
Every player has positives and negatives but we pick certain players and magnify their negatives. We do it here in Philadelphia to McNabb and also Ryan Howard. Other guys we give a pass to.
Everybody has made a big deal out of Brian Dawkins leaving the team but tell me how many Super Bowl championships has he led us to.
Tell me one time where Dawkins dominated in one of those NFC Championship games or the Super Bowl game which the Eagles lost.
McNabb didn't lose those games by himself, he lost those game with his team. He didn't play well enough to win and the team didn't play well enough to win. Dawkins was on all of those teams.
The media are such hypocrites. They harp on the fact that football is a team sport and they attack any player who emphasizes himself more than the team.
Then if the team loses they try to blame it all on one person. You can't have it both ways.
That's why Westbrook nailed it.
