The End

Eagles decided to trade their franchises best QB to their division rival for a 2010 2nd round pick and a 2011 conditional pick. To say that this is the dumbest trade in Philadelphia sports history would be a huge understatement. The Eagles did not just trade a quarterback, but they traded away a tradition of winning. Ever since the turn of the new millenium the Eagles have been associated with organizations like the Patriots, Colts, and Steelers as gold standard franchises. In the past the Eagles were able to let go of key players like Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, and Hugh Douglas and not miss a beat. However, it seems that the organization has over played it's hand. The Eagles are in the transition of being ran by new management. The Eagles have a new GM and he has decided to clean house. The Eagles have let go a league high of 12 players and in half of an off-season the Eagles went from a veteran team to the youngest team in the NFL, and for what? Talk about knee jerk reaction. I know nobody in Philadelphia was happy about losing to the Cowboys three times in the season, but I don't think that's a reason to blow up the entire team.

I thought the Eagles would have learned their lesson about premature decisions after mistakenly letting go of Brian Dawkins last year. Brian Dawkins (the Wolverine) was supposed to be over the hill but all he did was go to the Pro Bowl and become the leader of a revamped Broncos defense. Now the Eagles will go into next season with essentially a rookie QB and low expectations. For ten years the Eagles have been super bowl contenders and now that is all gone. I know there are a good number of Eagles fans who where happy to see McNabb go but I wonder if those fans really understand how special McNabb was to the Eagles franchise. Before McNabb and after Randal Cunningham the Eagles went through QBs the way the Lions go through receivers. I remember this vividly because I started watching the Eagles in 1995. From then until Donovan was named the starter, the Eagles had QBs like Bobby Hoying, Rodney Pete, Ty Detmer, Koy Detmer, and Doug Peterson. I'm not kidding-- these guys were the face of the Eagles franchise. I remember when the Eagles let Bobby Hoying take the keys of the car away from Rodney Pete after he helped lead the Eagles to a 11-5 season. Bobby was the young guy with a big arm and was considered a more accurate QB. Everyone in Philly thought that this guy was going to lead the franchise for the next ten years, but he barely made it out of two seasons. Now I don't think that will be Kevin Kolb, but I wonder if this is just wishful thinking.

I really hope that the organization has done their homework and that they are not making this decision because Kolb threw for over 400 yards against the Chiefs. Kolb has a lot of pressure on his shoulders and nobody knows how he will handle that. Kolb does have great physical attributes but nobody knows how good his intangibles are. The one thing that is vastly underrated about McNabb is his way to keep his cool no matter the situation. Donovan is the kind of guy who could smile even if he was being car-jacked. Donovan never let the media, the city, or opposing defenses get to him. I mean yes he had bad games, but everyone is human. McNabb never looked rattled and that is a must for a QB to be successful in Philadelphia. Not only will Kolb have to deal with the pressure of playing in Philly, but he also has the pressure of playing in the same division as Donovan for the next several years. Not only does Kolb have to win in Philly but he has to be better than Donovan in Washington. Even if Kolb goes 15-1 in his first season, if Donovan and the Redskins win the Super Bowl with Donovan as the MVP everyone in Philly would consider the decision to let McNabb go a failure. Playing in Philadelphia is a unique situation and not everyone is built for that situation. Kolb's success basically comes down to how he handles playing in the most hostile sports town in America.

As for McNabb, his John Elway comparison becomes even more intriguing now that he's playing for the coach that was able to help Elway win two titles at the end of his career. Furthermore, Donovan will no longer have to throw the ball 5o times a game. Mike Shanahan prides himself on running a balanced offense which means his team will actually run the ball. This will be a foreign concept to Donovan, but I think he'll get used to it. Donovan's down fall will come if the O-line does not improve. Donovan should stay healthy with the balanced offense and the defense was very good last year, so with that taken into consideration there is no reason why Washington shouldn't improve next year. Which, again leads back to my original point of the stupidity of this deal.

I know the Eagles are saying that they traded Donovan to Washington to put him in a good situation to win, but c'mon. No franchise would put their own success in jeopardy just to make a former player happy. Thus, the Eagles traded Donovan to Washington because they think he's done. The Eagles again feel that younger is better, but to quote R-Kelly "Age ain't nothin' but a number." I do believe Donovan did make his 6th pro bowl last year did throw over 3,000 yards and 20+ TDs and again had one of the best QB ratings in the league. So, I have to believe that those last two games against Dallas is a major part of why they let him play for a division rival. Kolb's last image in the season was positive and Donovan's image was negative, and I think that influenced the front office's decision. Despite his last image, he still is an elite QB. The Eagles just made it that much harder for them to win the division or even make the playoffs as a wild card. The Eagles went from having the best QB in the division to having the worst QB in the division. The Redskins on the other hand did the exact opposite and that will probably show in their record at the end of the season.

I have been a Philadelphia sports fan for approximately 15 years and I have seen a lot of things in my life. Trading Donovan McNabb to Washington was by far the dumbest thing I have ever seen a Philadelphia franchise do. At least when the Sixers let Iverson go, he went to the Western Conference and the Sixers were not going to be setting the world on fire whether they had AI or not, so trading him was not a bad move. When the Flyers traded Eric Lindros to the Rangers I questioned the Flyers for trading a franchise player within the division, but it was a smart move. Lindros was already over the hill and he was another hit away from going into a coma, so having Lindros play as a ranger was weird but understandable. When the Phillies sent Schilling on his way to Arizona, the Phillies were at the bottom of the division and had no business holding Schilling back from playing with a contender. Again not a dumb move. I really hope the Eagles know what they are doing, but right now I can't say that they do.