Donovan McNabb Is Down, Philly’s Love for A.J. Feeley Just Downright Disgusting

Philadelphia Eagles fans look at A.J. Feeley as rationally as many look at their exes. The way Jennifer Aniston sometimes still talks about Brad Pitt? That’s the way many Eagles fans goofily pine for Feeley.

 

But in Aniston’s defense, at least Pitt is a legitimate star. A.J. never has and never will be anything worth searching out in a quarterback.

 

A.J. Feeley is a scrub with a hot wife who plays an obscure sport. That’s it. His legend only exists in the minds of a certain segment of Eagles fans.

 

The segment that knows absolutely nothing about football but cannot stop screaming for anyone but Donovan McNabb.

 

When Andy Reid and Joe Banner orchestrated the uncharacteristically bold signing of Michael Vick, it looked like the team would finally be free of Feeley fever (and you really have to sick in the head to catch this, a sane man would take swine flu instead any day of the week).

 

One of the great underrated side effects of the Vick signing is that it essentially forced the Eagles to jettison Feeley.

 

Then, McNabb decided not to slide in Carolina Sunday and like a bad horror movie villain (or a Jehovah’s Witness at your door), the specter of A.J. suddenly returned.

 

Acting with all the sense of a fool cold-calling an ex who never was very good for them while they were together, the Eagles brain trust once again reached out to Feeley and tried to bring him back.

 

Thankfully for Reid and Banner’s sake, Feeley turned them down to sign with Carolina.

 

This brings Jeff Garcia back instead, but amazingly, it still hasn’t completely quelled all the Feeley frenzy in Philadelphia. There are actually grown men declaring that the Eagles will rue the day they let A.J. go.

 

You know, the 32-year-old with a career 69.6 quarterback ranking, the rare athlete who manages to make the Philadelphia 76ers’ $11 million-a-year, no-shot center Sam Dalembert look underrated by comparison. At least Dalembert actually plays.

 

Feeley never has. He’s made 15 career starts in nine NFL seasons. He makes Scott Mitchell, Rob Johnson, and Matt Cassel all look they carried Joe Montana’s resume into their silly, senseless contracts by comparison.

 

Yet, the anxiousness over A.J. runs unabated. It’s all largely based on that 4-1 record the Eagles managed while Feeley stepped in as a emergency starter in the 2002 season.

 

A year later, McNabb heard those ridiculous “We want A.J.! We want A.J.!” chants during a Patriots pasting.

 

It’s now six years removed from that…and still, there are Philly fans who remain almost as obsessed with Feeley as that stalker he once had. You think the most embarrassing thing about Philadelphia fans is the fact they once booed Santa Claus?

 

Please. That’s nothing compared to Eagles fans’ perplexing pattern of fixating on no-factor losers like A.J. Feeley and Freddie Mitchell. Only in Philadelphia, would a Feeley find devotees. Do you think anyone in Miami is pining for a return of A.J. ball?

 

But in Philadelphia, he’s a hero with no skills.

 

Just remember one thing. Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme could probably throw three interceptions in a junior high school game at the moment. And he’s still better right now than Feeley will ever be.

 

There are a number of things to be concerned with as McNabb tries on flak jackets and Kevin Kolb works on his next excuse. But losing A.J. Feeley isn’t one of them.

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Donovan McNabb’s Maturity Revealed by Eagles’ Michael Vick Signing

Andy Reid insists he cleared the Michael Vick signing with Donovan McNabb. McNabb contends he lobbied for the Philadelphia Eagles to go bold and add the dog fighter.

 

Yet people still look at Reid and McNabb the same way as the bitter booing brigades at those town hall meetings regard Obama’s health care plan: They’re full of scorn, disbelief, and almost unqualified anger…facts be damned.

 

Plenty of NFL analysts remain certain that Reid and McNabb are telling a Bernie Madoff truth—which isn’t much of a truth at all.

 

Reid must be messing with Donovan again. McNabb must be livid and blindsided.

 

Only, what if he isn’t? What if Reid and McNabb are shooting straight?

 

That would mean the Philadelphia Eagles finally have the selfless, confident leader they’ve long needed.

 

Yes, Donovan McNabb’s finally grown up. Forget the conspiracy theories. This is what the Michael Vick signing shows.

 

McNabb is done being a drama queen. He’s moved past all the slights (real and perceived) that have marked his tenure in Philadelphia.

 

Donovan McNabb is finally ready to win that Super Bowl.

 

“I pretty much lobbied to get him here,” McNabb told the Associated Press after the Eagles’ first preseason game, a contest that became even more meaningless once Vick’s shadow settled over The Linc. “I believe in second chances, and what better place to get a second chance than here with this group of guys. He’s no threat to me, not for (backup Kevin) Kolb.

 

“We had the opportunity to add another weapon to our offense.”

 

With those words, with his sign-Vick sales pitch, McNabb stepped forward as a leader like he never has before for these Eagles.

 

McNabb did what he wouldn’t do when Terrell Owens clumsily reached out for support from his quarterback during that contract renegotiation demand. McNabb stood up as the bigger man.

 

It’s no longer all about him. For McNabb, it’s finally all about winning.

 

That’s what makes the Michael Vick signing the most significant move in the Reid-McNabb era since McNabb walked across that stage to Philly boos on the afternoon he was drafted.

 

This isn’t about Vick’s talent or what he can do for the Eagles as a wild card quarterback option for a half-dozen plays a game.

 

It’s not even about how much better off this Super Bowl-scheming team will be if Donovan goes down and the season doesn’t depend on bust-in-the-making Kolb.

 

Those are major pluses. But what takes the Vick signing to another level is what it says about Donovan McNabb.

 

McNabb is no longer scared (how laughable is it now that he once felt threatened by Kevin Kolb’s drafting?). McNabb is no longer timid. He’s done obsessing over every little thing going on around him like a Curb Your Enthusiasm character.

 

Now, Donovan McNabb is acting like a gunslinger.

 

It doesn’t matter if McNabb did this partly because he always liked Michael Vick, that they hit it off when McNabb showed Vick around Syracuse on a recruiting visit. He still did it.

 

He still stepped outside himself and stepped up as a leader.

 

All this fuss over whether McNabb needs to worry about Vick peering over his shoulder, all the debate over whether the Eagles disrespected him with this move, should enrage Philadelphia’s clear No. 1 quarterback.

 

No one thought the New England Patriots were dissing Tom Brady when they looked into adding Vick. That’s because Brady is clearly the Pats’ unquestioned alpha dog.

 

The Vick signing shows that Donovan McNabb finally feels that way about himself.

 

“If I’m playing quarterback for 65 plays and we’ve got 70 plays and (Vick) takes five snaps…I think I can rest for five snaps,” McNabb told reporters in Philadelphia.

 

That’s the attitude of a championship quarterback—the confidence that can infuse an entire roster.

 

He’s Tom Brady. Why should Brady worry about Michael Vick?

 

I’m Donovan McNabb. Why should I worry about Michael Vick?

 

The Philadelphia Eagles found a bold leader Wednesday night. They finally have their gunslinger.

 

They also signed Michael Vick, which doesn’t mean half as much.

Time for Philadelphia Eagles to End Michael Vick’s NFL Wait

Michael Vick’s search for an NFL team has lasted longer and grown more ridiculous than David Ortiz’s hunt for someone else to blame for failing that steroids test.

 

Before long, it’s liable to approach O.J. Simpson’s search for the real killers (if only the Juice had thought of putting it all on bad supplements).

 

The Philadelphia Eagles need to end Vick’s purgatory now, though.

 

Not because Jesse Jackson is self-servingly poking his nose into things…even if Jackson makes some legitimate points.

 

Not because Vick has clearly more than paid his debt to society, something that everyone but the most extreme fringe PETA wackos can see.

 

Not because it’s the right thing to do.

 

No, the Eagles need to sign Michael Vick because it would give them a better chance at seeing the Super Bowl.

 

If any team could use a wild card backup quarterback who could keep a play (or a season) alive, it’s the Eagles. Kevin Kolb still isn’t reminding anyone of Matt Cassel in his third Philadelphia training camp.

 

Add the fact that the Eagles offensive line appears as brittle as an old Lincoln Logs set (Shawn Andrews’ back is looking like Larry Bird’s), and you have a scenario where the backup quarterback is bound to play at least a few games.

 

It’s very unusual to have the opportunity to sign a backup quarterback with as much upside as Vick on the cheap. It only happens when said quarterback goes barbarically ballistic on a bunch of dogs and lies about it.

 

Every other NFL team avoiding Vick should not frighten the Eagles. Thirty-one other teams allowed the New England Patriots to land Randy Moss for almost nothing a few years ago—and all Moss did was fake-moon Green Bay and nudge a traffic cop with his car.

 

Most NFL coaches are more worried about wielding paranoid total control than winning (see Andy Reid’s recent hurt-child rant on Twitter and reporters daring to do their job).

 

The Eagles shouldn’t worry about what other teams are not doing. They should concern themselves with what will make them better.

 

Signing Vick would clearly accomplish this.

 

Even if his arm became even more inaccurate in prison (which would be like Glenn Beck somehow becoming even more annoying), Vick would still bring another big-play wrinkle into the Eagles offense.

 

Line him up and direct-snap Vick the ball three to five times a game. Just put him back there as a decoy and make it look like you might get him the ball. Reid doesn’t even have to call it the Wildcat.

 

The Eagles could even fool teams and have Vick drop back to pass. Vick actually had his best success in a version of Reid’s beloved West Coast Offense. That’s what he ran for Jim Mora when he won that playoff game in Green Bay.

 

If Andy Reid is half as innovative an offensive coach as he wants everyone to believe, he’d be salivating at the chance to employ Vick.

 

Instead, he continues to pretend that Kolb is anything but a mistake.

 

“Number one, I think (Vick’s) a good kid,” Reid said early in training camp. “Right now, we’ve got a good situation at quarterback, so that’s not the direction I’m looking at.”

 

Reid should have stopped at No. 1. The rest makes about as much sense as Ortiz’s defense.

 

The Eagles are a win-now team that could use a little extra dash of quarterback specialist excitement. If Donovan McNabb is threatened by the idea of Vick getting a few snaps a game when the dog fighter’s suspension ends, he needs to grow up.

 

Philadelphia would actually be one of the easiest places Vick could play too. Many think that Eagles fans are cruel, but the truth is they also see through phoniness.

 

This continued manufactured furor over Michael Vick getting a chance to play again is as phony as phony gets. Eagles fans would let Vick move on.

 

If only the organization took a forward approach towards getting to Miami.

Hey, Eagles Fans, if You Want a Real Mess, Check Out the Mets’ Locker Room

Worrying that Jeremy Maclin isn’t in Eagles camp is akin to being the mom who goes ballistic if her kids splash in a puddle or the police officer who frets over jaywalking.

 

It’s pointless, a waste of time and distracting from what’s truly important.

 

The sports world has given us a great example of true organizational ineptitude this week: The New York Mets managing to turn what should have been a rather routine, boring press conference on the firing of a VP into a mega farce that will eventually cost general manager Omar Minaya his job. Not having Maclin in camp by this weekend, next weekend—or next month for that matter doesn’t come close.

 

Despite the hullabaloo over the Philadelphia Eagles finally drafting an offensive skill player in the first round, the truth is that Maclin never had much of a chance of making a huge impact this season.

 

Rookie wide receivers are seldom game changers. DeSean Jackson is more the exception than the rule and expecting the Eagles to have hit twice in a row on early impact wideouts is stretching it. Probably more than Maclin will end up stretching the field in ’09.

 

Calvin Johnson—he No. 2 pick in the entire 2007 draft and a consensus scout-drooled-over physical freak—went to the Detroit Lions, arguably the worst franchise in the history of professional sports (with apologies to the LA Clippers). Johnson had more opportunity his first year than Brad Pitt at the Playboy Mansion.

 

And he still managed only 48 catches and four touchdowns.

 

Did you really expect Maclin—the No. 19 pick in this year’s draft—to even approach those numbers? Even if Maclin showed up to training camp two weeks early or helped Andy Reid go on that Lloyd from Entourage diet that has the Eagles coach 80 pounds lighter, Maclin still wouldn’t have been more than an occasional deep threat this season.

 

Now, the focus on Maclin being the only Eagle not in camp threatens to obscure real issues for a team that needed several minor miracles to make the playoffs last season. Chief among those are the loss of the franchise’s two most important defensive voices with the recent cancer death of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson and the free agent departure of Brian Dawkins.

 

Whether Donovan McNabb can stay healthy through the whole season as he turns 33 is another. One that becomes more critical with every lame training camp duck tossed by bust-in-the-making Kevin Kolb.

 

Instead of concentrating on this, on anything important, there is more talk about the missing Maclin though.

 

This is one of those made-up training camp crises spurred on by people with too much time on their hands (sports writers at the start of a long, long season) and people with clear agendas (Eagles coach Andy Reid).

 

Sure, Reid is talking tough about how far behind Maclin is going to fall. That’s in the Eagles’ best negotiating interests. Why not put a little pressure on the kid and see if he signs for less before the market for receivers in this draft is set?

 

This is not going to affect the Eagles once the games count though. For something beyond a pretend crisis, you have to go a little further north to another sport.

 

Mets show Eagles what a real problem is

 

As crazy and absurd as things get around the Mets—and GM Omar Minaya charging that New York Daily News beat writer Adam Rubin has a conflict of interest in the middle of what should have been a quick, headline-light press conference is certainly up there on the loony scale—one thing remains constant.

 

Whenever there’s a Mets mess, the Wilpons hide.

 

This is an ownership family that largely controls its own TV network and yet, they still cannot get their message out. Where was Jeff Wilpon as Omar Minaya blew up that press conference?

 

If any time screamed for strong ownership, it’s now after the needed firing of vice president of player personnel Tony Bernazard spun far out of the Mets control.

 

No matter whether you believe Minaya when he says that Rubin lobbied for a job in the Mets front office or Rubin when he says that he merely innocently asked what it takes to get any baseball job, it’s clear this is an age when lines are blurring between reporters and teams.

 

That is a legitimate discussion. But it’s obscured by the Mets complete bungling of the situation.

 

The Yankees do mystique and aura. The Mets do strange and stupid.

 

Because they’re owned by the Wilpons. Is it any wonder that Bernie Madoff managed to con this family? With the Wilpons, he’s just one in a long line.

 

You can put Minaya in that group too. For Minaya clearly showed he’s incapable of leading a major organization with the way he reacted to the stress of firing a friend. Even if everything Minaya coldly insinuated about Rubin is true, there’s no reason to broach it while firing a guy who screamed himself out of a job.

 

And if a Wilpon told Minaya to do it, he needed to say no.

 

This isn’t lying about not needing or wanting Manny Ramirez. This is directly attacking an average guy’s ability to do his job. At the very least, Minaya effectively kicked a reporter off the Mets’ beat who broke stories that embarrassed the team.

 

In an era where Minneapolis Star Tribune beat writer Chris Snow went from covering the Minnesota Wild to joining the team’s front office, questions about reporters making a play for employment are legit.

 

But as usual, the Mets handled it all wrong. You don’t martyr yourself for Tony Bernazard, the shirtless lunatic.

 

Unless you’re led by those spooked Wilpons.

 

This is what a real mess looks like. Maclin and the Eagles aren’t even close to that—no matter how far apart they stay at the bargaining table.

 

You don’t lose sleep over a bit piece. And that’s all Jeremy Maclin will likely be in his rookie year.

Terrell Owens’ New Reality Show Reveals Donovan McNabb’s Old Leadership Problem

The Terrell Owens plunge into reality TV shows a lot of things—including the fact that LA rental agents apparently jump into hot tubs faster than even Blind Date contestants.

But mostly what The T.O. Show reveals is that Donovan McNabb blew up his and Andy Reid’s best chance to ever win a title in Philadelphia because he refused to stand up and be a true friend to T.O.

 

One doesn’t have to watch T.O.’s reality turn for more than 20 minutes to realize that this is a man who desperately needs a real friend—one who isn’t on his payroll.

It appears that Owens has three people who are close to him in his daily life: His paid publicist duo Kita Williams and Monique Jackson, who got him into this mess of a show to bring publicity to themselves—and Pablo Cosby, his paid bodyguard/valet/room clearer.

 

Seriously, the kid in high school who sits all by himself at lunch has more real friends than T.O.

 

Owens obviously counted on McNabb to be his friend back in the day. T.O. likely figured that the dream 2004 season when he caught 14 touchdowns in 14 regular season games, made the Eagles look like the best team in the NFL for much of the year and put on one of the gutsiest performances in Super Bowl history, brought him a buddy.

 

Instead, T.O. watched McNabb stay silent as Eliot Spitzer at a nun’s convention when he asked to renegotiate his below market-value contract.

 

Remember, this is when it all started to fall apart. None of the craziness—TO’s public swipes at McNabb, his silly shirtless sit-ups in his driveway, his fight with puffed up team ambassador Hugh Douglas—began until after McNabb let him down by refusing to speak up.

 

This is typical of the quarterback who only looks out for himself.

 

McNabb never calls out an Eagles organization that stayed under the salary cap even with championship opportunities calling out in the early part of his decade. McNabb only makes waves if he’s looking for his own payday.

 

His latest new contract, secured this offseason, is just more case in point. McNabb wanted more weapons right until he got the money he wanted more.

Now…well, he’s more than pleased with his targets, even if the Eagles are still counting on a rookie wide receiver and a rookie secondary tailback to both produce right away—Even if DeSean Jackson will never be a Terrell Owens offense changer.

 

And all Owens needed was a friend, an influential teammate who’d have his back with management. It wouldn’t have mattered if T.O. still didn’t get his Eagles deal redone. Strong public words of support from McNabb would have been enough.

 

It’s easy to make fun of Owens, more effortless than ever now that he’s turned himself into a reality show joke and been banished to Buffalo.

 

The new T.O. reality show is the brainchild of his publicists and it’s clearly designed to give Kita and Monique almost as much TV time as Owens. The problem for Kita and Monique is they use this platform to show that they are the most inept publicists in the history of a profession not exactly doted with Rhodes Scholars.

 

It’s a wonder that Owens gets any work done with this amazingly annoying vapid duo around.

 

At one point in the first episode, Kita and Monique interrupt T.O.’s pool workout with demands that he call his ex finance. Kita also gleefully breaks out the mission mantra, “The plan is working on the man.” Mo’s biggest contribution is observing, “It looks like he’s been crying” on seeing Owens for the first time after his Dallas Cowboys release.

 

It really never looked like T.O. was crying, but hey, what athlete who’s already went through a suicide scare doesn’t need a publicist who makes him appear more unstable?

 

Maybe Isiah Thomas can hire these two next.

 

Owens calls Kita and Monique his friends, and the only other person he appears close to is bodyguard/lackey Pablo—who actually comes across as a decent guy. But again, he’s still being paid by T.O.

 

This is what makes The T.O. Show more sad than anything.

 

Sure, Owens does manage to apparently bed the rental agent who shows him his LA house in no-time flat and bring an entire club of women home for an instant party, but that stuff seems much more fun when Vince is doing it for fake on Entourage.

 

In VH1’s real life, T.O. is more than anything a guy who needs a real friend.

 

Donovan McNabb refused to step up in that regard—even if it could have brought him a ring. You could argue that it’s pathetic that Owens is this needy and you’d be half right. His possessive girlfriend-like traits clearly helped torpedo his Cowboys tenure too.

 

Watching The T.O. Show, it’s obvious why Tony Romo’s buddy-buddy, secret plays relationship with tight end Jason Witten would have driven T.O. batty. This is a man who more than anything yearns to be included.

 

But Romo had much less to lose than McNabb. Jerry Jones will spend the money to get him another T.O.. Five years later, Joe Banner hasn’t—and won’t.

 

McNabb threw away his best chance at a ring because he refused to stick up for a teammate. That’s what T.O. reality TV shows. That’s part of Donovan’s legacy too.

 

A miracle mirage run to the Arizona desert last winter doesn’t change this sad truth.

 

For Eagles Coach Andy Reid, It’s Still a Pass-First Play-Calling World

The question hangs over Andy Reid like mold growing in a basement.

 

If anyone knows how it feels for LeBron James to be asked over and over again if he’s leaving Cleveland for Madison Square, it’s the Philadelphia Eagles head coach. Only unlike LeBron, Reid doesn’t enjoy the one relentless query that hounds him with the dogged persistence of a professional debt collector. In fact, he pretty much hates it.

 

So Andy, are you going to run the ball more this year?

 

Reid usually answers by arguing that the Eagles’ run-pass ratio gets blown out of proportion. He’ll insists that he doesn’t harbor some deep-seeded resentment of Woody Hayes’ old “three yards and a cloud of dust” offensive philosophy.

 

Eagle observers—and opponents—know better of course. The stats do not lie. The Eagles threw the ball on almost 60 percent of their downs in 2008, calling 606 pass plays to 427 runs. While that’s not completely out of line in a league that’s turned increasingly pass dependent (thanks in no small part to Bill Belichick’s New England reign), it’s left many Eagle fans frustrated.

 

Now, aggressive offseason moves and a widely praised draft have seemingly brought all the pieces together for the Eagles to put out the best rushing attack of the Andy Reid era.

 

The team’s brain trust traded for Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters—at the not-so-small expense of three draft picks. They signed Stacy Andrews to further bolster the offensive line. They used a second round draft pick on Pittsburgh tailback LeSean McCoy with the hope of finally providing a dangerous complement to spell Brian Westbrook, the team’s lifeline. They even brought in a true blocking fullback in Leonard Weaver.

 

Just don’t expect it all to make a huge difference. Not in play-calling philosophy. Not with Reid still the man in charge.

 

In the Eagles mini-camps, Reid has talked about throwing early to set up the run in the second half. The coach’s idea is that the team will rack up a lead by airing out the ball in the first half and then protect it by grinding down the clock with a steady diet of runs in the second half.

 

It sounds good. Until one remembers that this is the NFL, the one sports league where parity truly rules. This isn’t a game of Madden. How many blowouts do you think there are in the real NFL every year?

 

Eight of the Eagles’ 16 regular season games in 2008 were decided by nine points or less. Five of Philadelphia’s six losses came by seven points or fewer.

 

These are the games in which complaints about Reid’s run aversion inevitably follow.

 

Still, the biggest changes in the Eagles’ playbook for this upcoming season figure to come in the passing game. The addition of first-round playmaker Jeremy Maclin and his 4.48 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine will allow quarterback Donovan McNabb to look for the deep ball more often, even in the West Coast Offense.

 

Maclin and second-year receiver DeSean Jackson—who Reid says is playing faster this year now that he’s more comfortable in the pro game—still do not equal one Terrell Owens in his prime, but this is still arguably McNabb’s best set of targets since the TO 2005 Super Bowl run.

 

Expect Andy Reid to still turn to those wide receivers first and foremost.

 

“We’re striving to lead the league in rushing this year,” Reid cracked earlier this month.

 

The coach didn’t have to tell anyone he was joking. And Eagles fans still aren’t laughing.

Absence of Brian Dawkins and Jim Johnson Gives McDermott New Voice of Eagles D

PHILADELPHIA—Imagine if your basement flooded one day and your roof collapsed the next, or if Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office were both cancelled at the same time…

 

Now, you have an idea of the successive gut shots the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense has taken this offseason.

 

First, salary cap calamity hit when safety Brian Dawkins signed a $17 million dollar (including $7.2 million in guaranteed money) contract with Denver that Andy Reid insists the Eagles could not even approach for a 36-year-old player.

 

Now, real life tragedy is rearing its head with defensive coordinator/blitz wizard Jim Johnson, who is taking an indefinite leave of absence to fight cancer in his lower spine.

 

Suddenly, the two loudest and most respected voices on the Eagles’ defense are no longer around the team.

 

That’s the Grand Canyon of leadership voids.

 

Now, nothing is certain—except that things are going to sound very different everywhere from the defensive meeting rooms to the sidelines to the locker room.

 

Into this sea of uncertainty steps secondary coach Sean McDermott—who is actually a year younger than Dawkins. McDermott is the acting defensive coordinator charged with providing a steady voice to a unit that has six starters under the age of 26.

 

The hope is that Johnson will be able to return this season and keep making the daring calls that have stood as the hallmark of his Philly defenses. Reports have Johnson looking gaunt though, and he currently needs a wheelchair to get around.

 

Sadly, it’s anything but a given that Johnson will be able to coach this season.

 

While no one wants to get their chance this way, this clearly could be McDermott’s opportunity to prove that he has what it takes to be a coordinator in the NFL.

 

The local La Salle High School alum was highly thought enough to be considered for defensive coordinator openings in Green Bay, New Orleans, and Denver this offseason. But, he didn’t land any of those jobs…meaning there are still some doubts about him.

 

Doubts that could be exacerbated by the absence of Dawkins the way a lack of common sense is exacerbated by an appearance on a reality show. Dawkins may have lost some speed, but he never let a coach lose a locker room.

 

Whatever Reid or Johnson suggested, they knew that Dawkins would get any questioning teammates to buy in.

 

“Obviously, what Dawk had you can’t replace,” Quintin Mikell, the man who will fill the seven-time Pro Bowler’s spot in the lineup, told The News Journal.

 

As long as Johnson is away from the team, the youth and relative inexperience of the Eagles’ defensive coaches carries the potential of making Dawkins’ missing presence even more noticeable.

 

Linebackers coach Bill Shuey, assistant secondary coach Otis Smith, and defensive quality control coach (film man) Mike Caldwell are all only in their second seasons at those positions, and defensive line coach Rory Segrest is entering his first season on the defensive staff, coming over from special teams.      

 

McDermott has worked with Johnson since 1998, and even if his mentor cannot make it into the office, Johnson is known for always being eager to talk defensive schemes on the phone.

 

For now, The Voice on defense is McDermott’s—and that’s anything but a sure thing for a team thinking Super Bowl.          

 

 

NFL Sport Channel Latest

• Just How Far Would You Go?
• Sorry Rex, But It Isn’t Happening
• Super Bowl Predictions: Five Stat-Free Reasons Why the Eagles Will Reach The Super Bowl
• Seahawks Attempt to Turn Corner With Heavy Pursuit of Pete Carroll
• Bill Cowher Unlikely to Coach in 2010