SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Reid, Eagles adjust to life without No. 5
Kolb takes over offense as overhauled team gets back to work
by Mark Maske
bethlehem, pa. — In some ways, it seemed that little had changed as the Philadelphia Ea- gles took to the practice fields at Lehigh University on a pleasantly mild and breezy Saturday morn- ing for their first full-squad prac- tice of training camp with the players in pads.
Coach Andy Reid stood at mid-
field, talking to a trainer as he watched his three quarterbacks in red jerseys take snaps near the outset of practice. The stands were filling with fans hopeful about a new season and another possible run at an NFC East title. Veteran kicker David Akers jogged on a sideline as the team’s offensive and defensive players began to perform drills on the fields around him. But so much has changed. Reid
and Akers are surrounded by far fewer familiar faces these days, as the Eagles have spent the past two offseasons overhauling the
roster of a team that has been one of the NFL’s most consistent win- ners for a decade. And when Reid began yelling instructions to his quarterbacks Saturday, he was yelling at Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick and rookie Mike Kafka rath- er than Donovan McNabb, who was a couple hundred miles away in Northern Virginia after the trade in April that sent him to the Washington Redskins. “I’ve had a chance to kind of
get used to it,” team president Joe Banner said as he stood on the field Saturday. “But you are used to coming out on the field and looking and seeing number five, long enough that you can’t look out there now and not realize that it’s changed.” The Eagles have had nearly four months for the ramifications of the McNabb deal to sink in, and Kolb had a series of offseason practices to begin establishing himself as the team’s new starter at quarterback. He kept the tran- sition process inching forward Saturday morning by drawing roars of approval from the crowd with a pair of on-target deep throws to wide receiver DeSean Jackson. “It hit me back in minicamp,” wideout Jason Avant said as he
walked off the field following the morning practice. “It’s old. You’re used to it. Kevin is doing a great job. . . . I think everything is go- ing to be fine.”
But for others who were around to witness more of the McNabb era in Philadelphia first hand, coming to grips with the parting has been a more gradual process. “He was the face of this team for 11 years,” said Akers, who’s en- tering his 12th season with the franchise. “But that’s the way the business runs. Management made a decision. “Kevin is a good guy and a good
quarterback. He works hard. He’s a fantastic leader. I think he’s do- ing all the things you need to do in his situation. . . . [McNabb] was a great quarterback here, maybe the greatest in the history of the franchise. But you have to go on, all of us.” The Eagles reached the NFC ti- tle game five times in 11 seasons after Reid was hired in 1999 and made McNabb his first draft pick. They endured much together as coach and quarterback: four loss- es in the NFC championship game and a Super Bowl defeat; the tempestuous stay of wide re- ceiver Terrell Owens; season-end-
ing injuries for McNabb and one benching but quick reinstate- ment by Reid; the regular calls by the team’s demanding fan base for the franchise to move on with someone else at quarterback. But for Reid and his players,
Saturday was mostly about get- ting back to work with Kolb as the offensive centerpiece, not about reflecting on McNabb’s tenure and the trade. “We went through the mini- camps, so we had a lead-in to this,” Reid said. “So I’m used to that part of it. . . . Listen, I appre- ciated every day that I had Dono- van McNabb, as [Redskins Coach] Mike Shanahan will. He’s tremendous, tremendous, tre- mendous. . . . I can’t talk to him now, by league rule. But there are no hard feelings between Dono- van and me. I think the world of the guy.”
Banner said he thought about life without McNabb during his drive to the practice fields, but is “mostly adjusted” to the new state of the team and doesn’t have second thoughts about the deal that sent McNabb to a division ri- val. “You can’t,” Banner said. “No
matter what, the reality is that you made a decision. You have to
believe in it and stick with it. You have to look forward.” But Banner also looked back
fondly, saying of McNabb’s lega- cy: “I get in trouble every time I say it in Philadelphia, but he nev- er got the credit he deserves for all the things we achieved and he achieved. He never got the credit he deserved as a person. He was out there doing charitable things all the time and caring about the community. To the end, even with the criticism, his preference was to stay here in Philadelphia. I think that says an awful lot about who he is as a man.” Kolb, a fourth-year pro, had a
two-game audition as the starter last season when McNabb was hurt. He said things felt “a little bit different” Saturday to line up as the starter for the first mean- ingful practice of training camp, but he said he was comfortable. “It just felt natural,” Kolb said.
“And I’m glad it did because I’ve always thought of myself as want- ing to be a starter. I’m glad that I feel natural in that role still after sitting for three years.” The Eagles also parted ways with tailback Brian Westbrook in the offseason, a year after saying their goodbyes to other fixtures such as safety Brian Dawkins and
MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kevin Kolb lined up as the Eagles’ first-team quarterback. “It just felt natural,” he said.
offensive tackles Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan. The offensive nucle- us is young with Kolb, second- year tailback LeSean McCoy and the wide receiver tandem of third-year pro Jackson and sec- ond-year pro Jeremy Maclin. “Those guys did a great job of establishing this franchise where it’s at,” Kolb said of the departed mainstays. “We want to pick up where they left off and just keep moving forward.” The initial goal is more modest for a veteran like Akers as he looks around the locker room at all of his new teammates. “I’ve got to learn their names,” the kicker said with a grin.
maskem@washpost.com
McNabb is a happy camper as Redskins begin season prep mcnabb from D1 He is a millionaire many times
over, and his face is one of the most recognizable in American sports. He has a team of assis- tants who care for his body, an- other that tends to the Donovan McNabb brand, another that fo- cuses on his foundation, his busi- ness enterprises, his many chari- table endeavors. Plus, he has a wife, four children, parents and a brother, all of whom are tethered to nearly every endeavor McNabb undertakes. If McNabb feels like a rookie again, it’s because while so much has changed, his goal hasn’t. He has carefully preserved his body to ensure that even as he creeps into the NFL’s senior-citi- zen territory, it is still attainable. Now 33 years old, McNabb will
take aim at a championship with a new offensive system, new coaches and new teammates but the same evolving skill set, the same competitive fire. Though critics point out deficiencies be- hind the impressive statistics McNabb has compiled since he broke into the league, the quar- terback feels his goal is as achiev- able as ever. “I’ve been hit by confetti at the Super Bowl site, but I wasn’t by the podium,” he says. “And that’s something that drives me.”
Behind-the-scenes work
There are days — particularly during the season — when McNabb wakes up and can feel the reminders of all 164 games in which he’s appeared, the linger- ing effects of every one of the 405 sacks he’s endured. Keeping his body fresh requires a lot of work. It means regular visits each week to the chiropractor, masseuse and acupuncturist. It requires a strict diet and an intense, un- relenting workout regimen. He learned early on what it
takes to prepare his body in the NFL. During his rookie season in Philadelphia, coaches weren’t convinced McNabb was putting in the hours needed to inherit the starting quarterback job. That first offseason — the summer of 2000 — McNabb stayed in Ari- zona to work out with wide re- ceiver Charles Johnson, a team- mate for just two seasons in Philadelphia but a close friend ever since. “Crack of dawn,” Johnson warned McNabb. “Every day.” There was no snooze button on those offseason workouts. If McNabb was slow to rise, John- son would go into his room and jump on the bed until McNabb stirred, yelling all the while: “Let’s go! Time to go to work!” “That’s when you see what someone is about,” Johnson says. “There’s no coaches, there’s no cameras, there’s nobody there to watch you. It’s about you in- vesting in your craft. It’s about you doing what you need to be ready for the season. Donovan figured that out right away, and now he’s the best at it.” That work ethic spills over into the regular season, as well, ac- cording to former teammates and coaches. Fans across the league are familiar with the McNabb they see on Sundays: the quarter- back who can turn a busted play into a first down, who can buckle a linebacker’s knees, who has won big games and lost bigger ones. But those who’ve been around him say it’s what he does every other day of the week that
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Quarterback Donovan McNabb made seven playoff appearances in his last 10 seasons with the Eagles, including five NFC East titles and a losing trip to the 2005 Super Bowl. “We got so close,” he said.
separates him from most quarter- backs in the league.
“I think a lot of the things that he did behind the scenes, a lot of folks didn’t know about,” says Pat Shurmur, the Eagles’ quarter- backs coach the past seven sea- sons and now the offensive coor- dinator in St. Louis. Shurmur knew that following
practice every Wednesday, as the facility emptied and most players went home to their families, McNabb would take over his of- fice. The quarterback would sit there with his center and tight end next to him and pore over film, studying every blitz package employed by an upcoming oppo- nent. The trio would order dinner and remain there until the lights were turned off in every other corner of the facility, dissecting red-zone blitzes, third-and-long pressure, first-and-10 fronts. McNabb also studied film after most practices and was often the last player to go home at night. “There are parts of his life that receive a lot of fanfare, but when it comes to doing hard work, it’s all behind the scenes,” says Chad Lewis, the retired tight end who played nine seasons in Philadel- phia and studied blitz tapes with McNabb. “He doesn’t do it to get noticed. He does it because he’s got a drive to win.”
Measuring McNabb McNabb was napping when the Redskins made the Easter Sunday trade to acquire him from their division rival. His family was awake, though, abuzz over an earthquake centered in Baja Cali- fornia that rattled McNabb’s Ari- zona home nearly 250 miles away. The trade’s tremors hit when cellphones began lighting up, word of the blockbuster spread- ing quickly across the NFL. On the East Coast, the stretch of In- terstate 95 from Philadelphia to Washington was a talk-radio traf- fic jam, the discussion centered on how much McNabb had left in his tank. In the days that followed, per- haps no analyst was more critical of McNabb than NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger, who called the veteran quarterback a “flawed player” and “one of the most over- rated quarterbacks in the history of the game.” In a recent interview, Bald-
inger praised McNabb’s leader- ship skills and play-making abili- ties but explained that McNabb’s accuracy is suspect, he struggles reading defenses and the Eagles too often had to compensate for his deficiencies.
“I would argue that the thing he didn’t do in Philadelphia that would’ve really ingrained him with the public was that he never
just once got up there and said, ‘I got to play better. I’ve got to raise my level of performance if we’re going to beat a team like the Bal- timore Ravens or a team like the Dallas Cowboys. It starts with me,’ ” Baldinger said. “It was al- ways, ‘We have to play better.’ ” McNabb takes a philosophical approach when it comes to his ac- complishments and failures. Sta- tistically, he compares favorably with many quarterbacks in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “What do we truly measure a
quarterback by?” McNabb asks. “Is it by great throws? Is it by passing yards? Is it by wins and losses? Or is it by Super Bowls? When people begin to break down certain players, they pick and choose what they want to talk about.
“If you want to talk about my numbers, my numbers compare with some of the greats that have played. If you want to talk about wins and losses, that compares with some of the greats who have played. You talk about my [style], okay, that’s a little bit different.” McNabb knows as well as any-
one that most of those other great quarterbacks wore Super Bowl rings to their enshrinement in Canton, Ohio. But he also knows that Redskins Coach Mike Shana- han won his first championship as the San Francisco 49ers’ offen-
sive coordinator, with a 33-year- old Steve Young leading the hud- dle. Just a few years later, as head coach in Denver, Shanahan would again lean on a veteran quarterback. John Elway was 37 and 38 years old when he won his two Super Bowl titlesfor the Broncos. In fact, while football is consid- ered a young man’s game — 20- somethings as recyclable as cheap metal — quarterback is a position where the top talents have excelled well into their 30s. Of the 11 quarterbacks to enter
the Hall of Fame in the past 25 years, most reached the peak of their success in their early 30s, and many kept producing into their late 30s. Troy Aikman was the only one
to retire before his 35th birthday. Roger Staubach threw for career highs in yards and touchdowns in his final year in the league, at age 37. Playing in a pass-happy of- fense, Warren Moon topped 4,000 yards four times after his 34th birthday, twice throwing more than 30 touchdown passes. Elway topped 4,000 yards when he was 33 and posted his highest passer rating at 38. Young posted a passer rating of 112.8 when he was 33, the same age at which Joe Montana posted a 112.4. Even Baldinger, a former offen- sive lineman who lives outside Philadelphia and has closely monitored McNabb’s career, con- cedes that despite McNabb’s weaknesses, the quarterback might be a better fit in Washing- ton than he was the past few sea- sons in Philadelphia. “He’s got natural leadership qualities. They haven’t had that in Washington since who-knows- when,” Baldinger says. “He’s a very tough guy. He’s played on a broken leg. He’s played with a punctured chest. He tried to play through an abdominal strain. He’s got toughness about him.”
League’s strongest QB?
McNabb’s toughness has rarely been questioned. His style of play has made him vulnerable to some crushing blows. As a result, he has missed games because of in- jury, playing just one 16-game season in the past six years. McNabb says he spends the en-
tire offseason preparing his body for the pounding it will take each fall and winter. He says that same workout program is also de- signed to preserve his body for years to come. He’s not built like a quarter- back and his workout regimen is unlike those of most who play the position. McNabb benches more than 300 pounds, and many around the league say he’s physi- cally the strongest active signal- caller. McNabb flips giant tires and
uses kettle bells, a weight that re- sembles a cannonball with a cast iron handle. In the Arizona des- ert, he’ll sprint up steep hills on the hottest summer afternoons and use thick ropes to pull giant objects.
“Guys come out here, they get
embarrassed,” says Brett Fischer, McNabb’s personal trainer. “Last year I had some guys — I won’t mention any names — they called me afterwards and they go, ‘Fisch, you didn’t tell me your quarterback was going to embar- rass me today.’ . . . They’re shocked. They go, ‘Man, I thought I was in shape when I came to your place. And the quarterback
beat me?’ I go, ‘Well, it’s Dono- van.’ ”
Fischer said he focuses on
McNabb’s core strength — the ab- dominals, the lower back, the glu- teals, the back, the side and the hips — but especially the quarter- back’s joints and range of motion. As many players get older and lift weights, he says, they lose the flexibility and athleticism they enjoyed as younger athletes. McNabb, who will turn 34 in
November, has just one year re- maining on his current contract, though his camp and the Red- skins say that an extension will be discussed soon. But he plans to play for several more seasons. “I want to be able to walk away from this game on my own terms,” he says.
Supporting cast
YouTube is filled with McNabb highlights, the quarterback run- ning through a maze of defend- ers, off-balance throws and head- fakes that shake defenders. But his style of play has slowly changed as he has gotten older. McNabb topped 300 rushing yards in each of the first five sea- sons but has had fewer than 250 yards in each of the past six. At the same time, in the past six sea- sons, he’s posted his five highest completion percentages and turned in his five highest passer ratings.
While experts say his arm is as strong as ever and his throwing mechanics have slightly im- proved, he doesn’t rely on his feet in quite the same way. “He’s not as fast as he was when he first came in the league,” Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan says. “That’s the only thing that has gone down a little. Gone down from what it was; he’s still in the top half of athletic quarterbacks. So it’s not like he’s not mobile.” McNabb attributes the change
to experience and his own com- fort level, also noting that he’s hardly the first mobile quarter- back to spend more time in the pocket later in his career. He cites Montana, Young and even Ran- dall Cunningham as quarter- backs who came to rely more on their arms than their feet. “If I have to run, then I’m pre- pared to go,” he says. “That’s the way that I kind of treat it. I don’t prepare myself like, ‘Okay, I’m go- ing to drop back, make my first read, make my second read, [then] I’m gone.’ That’s some- thing you do early on in your ca- reer when you don’t know what routes they’re running. “When you’ve been in an of- fense for a while, you’re comfort- able with the guys, you see them going through your progression, knowing you have time, just get it to a guy to let him make some plays for you.” What remains to be seen is
whether the supporting cast in Washington will match the one McNabb led to the playoffs seven times in the past 10 seasons. As training camp opened and McNabb found himself standing on the cusp of yet another season, he says he already feels at home. “When you’ve been at a place for 11 years, you just kind of think you’ll finish out your career” there, he said. “We all know that in this business nowadays, any- thing can happen. Obviously it happened to me. But I’m enjoying this new page, this new chapter in the book.”
maeser@washpost.com
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