It’s amazing that a slot receiver who was a first round bust with only 90 catches in four years with the Philadelphia Eagles is still somewhat relevant in Philadelphia. FredEx will always be remembered in Philadelphia for his part in the amazing 4th and 26 catch against the Packers in the playoffs. That and the fact that he never shut up and talked his way out of the league. First Down Freddie was media gold saying such things as “I’d like to thank my hands for being so great” while pulling a George Costanza by wearing oven mitts at a press conference to protect his hands. His mouth sealed his Philly fate at the Super Bowl by calling out the Patriots secondary which led to Bill Belichick saying “all he does is talk. He’s terrible, and you can print that. I was happy when he was in the game”.
The Sultan of Slot has been out of football for over four years now, but has continually tried to find ways to keep his name in the news. Recently, the People’s Champ joined Howard Eskin and former Eagle Ike Reese on WIP in Philadelphia and just tore into Donovan McNabb as a player and a person. He’s convinced that McNabb had a role in blackballing him from the NFL. Also talks about getting a potential reality show following his efforts to make it as a country music singer. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with some of what 4th and 26 Freddie had to say about Donovan McNabb in the transcription below. I’m a Syracuse grad and a rabid Eagles fan and as hard as I’ve tried to embrace McNabb, I just can’t. Off the field, I think he’s too canned. I could deal with that as a fan if he was a better quarterback. He’s in his eleventh year in the league and he still has the same problems.
Those problems are his accuracy (an average 58.9 for his career, which happens to be his average this year and is way too low for the West Coast offense), continually throwing at the feet of his receivers, poor touch on his little screen passes, panicking and throwing off his back foot when the blitz comes, and not hitting his receivers in stride. All those deficiencies could be overlooked when he was breaking tackles of 290 pound lineman and running for first downs. Age and injuries have decimated McNabb in those areas. Yes, I know the argument of he had his best year completing 64% of his passes when he had a star receiver in TO. Drew Brees is completing 68.3% of his passes without a star wide receiver so that argument is flawless in my mind. Lastly on McNabb; I just have no faith in him with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. The Eagles are 1-8-1 when either tied or trailing in a close game in the fourth quarter in their last 10 games. I know they say be careful what you wish for, but I’m ready for the Kevin Kolb era to start. Ok, off my soapbox. Here’s what Freddie Mitchell has to say about McNabb.
Asked his thoughts on the current Eagles:
“For about 10 years it’s been unfair because you have a great team, a great coach and everything else…and whether the Philadelphia Eagles win or lose is predicated on one person and that’ s not fair…Donovan McNabb. There has never been any consistency at all at the quarterback spot.”
More on McNabb:
“The bad thing about the whole situation is the Eagles invested so much money in him that they’re just trying to get as much as they can out of him.”
What do you mean by the inconsistency:
“You never know whether he’s going to have a good game or whether he’s going to have a bad game. You never know if he’s going to throw the ball behind you or on the ground or if it was going to be right at you. I think you know what you’re going to get out of Peyton Manning every week.”
Are you saying that receivers have to do extra things with McNabb:
“Man, I wish you all would go look at the film and look at us. I mean it’s ridiculous. I applaud DeSean Jackson because he’s actually caught a couple balls in stride. (Host: are you surprised at that) I’m very surprised. He’s reaping the benefits of us having to freaking catch the ball and curl up in the fetal position.”
You’re obviously trying to be clear he’s not consistent:
“Exactly. You get a lot of players to say hey if we knew what Donovan we were going to get in the game every single week…Drew Brees, you know what you’re going to get. You know what you’re going to get with Peyton Manning. Brady, you know what you’re going to get. You show up in like weird jerseys and Joe Montana’s on the field and the next week you got Ryan Leaf. You never know.”
Freddie Mitchell talks about why he’s no longer in the league:
“I’ve had situations where I would go tryout or whatever else and say ‘hey, you know they called, right’.
Have you heard stories that Donovan called people:
“You know what it was funny I was with the Kansas City Chiefs and I was in the elevator with Tony Gonzalez and Trent Green and they’re like ‘Fred, man I never would expect you to be this type of player. When Donovan called us and we talked to Donovan he was saying that you’re kinda like a media whore’. I’m like this dude is calling around and stuff like that.”
Can the Eagles win a Super Bowl with Donovan McNabb as qb:
“Terrell Owens answered that question a long time ago, didn’t he. No, because I don’t know if Donovan call pull off three or four consistent games in the playoffs.”
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