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DM Speaks......( Warning long)

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  • DM Speaks......( Warning long)

    Not sure how many got to read the full interview, kinda some interesting stuff... seems to be in very very good shape.......

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    McNabb ready to wash 2005 out of his hair

    Bob Grotz, Of the Times Staff
    06/18/2006



    PHILADELPHIA -- The only book Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb plunges into these days is his War and Peace-length playbook. In high school his must-read was John Steinbeck’s "Of Mice and Men," and not by accident. McNabb loves suspense. Coincidentally the plot seems to illustrate how even the most meticulous and well-intentioned plans to start over, if you will, can go wrong -- and murderously wrong, at that.


    While much has gone right in a seven-year NFL career, McNabb, just five months from his 30th birthday, is turning the page on it all.


    The first segment of his career has been rewarding and it features a 67-33 record in 100 starts and five Pro Bowl appearances. At the same time, it’s been unfulfilling, as in no Super Bowl title. Injuries have prevented McNabb from finishing two of the last three seasons.

    McNabb expects to be heavily scrutinized this year in the wake of the Eagles’ disastrous 6-10 campaign compounded by injuries, the personality clash with wide receiver Terrell Owens, and ironically, the lack of quality depth at quarterback.

    To prove his sensational 2004 season wasn’t a fluke or merely the by-product of the superstar receiver, McNabb embarked on an ambitious training program that has made him feature material for muscle magazines. He’s welcomed the competition at quarterback in former Pro Bowl teammate Jeff Garcia.

    McNabb has leaned on family, coaches and teammates to flush ’05 from his system, and vows to do whatever is necessary to get back on top, whether that means leaner, meaner or both.

    McNabb believes the Eagles will return to their Super Bowl greatness of ’04.

    That said, no one knows better than McNabb that even "the best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men," as Scottish poet Robert Burns put it, are a slam-dunk.

    McNabb, for example, feels great physically, estimating he’s shed four pounds and lowered his body fat from 14 percent to 10 this offseason. Last year he felt similarly great yet arrived for training camp with a sports hernia from "overuse."

    "No one has come up with a reason as to why," McNabb said. "It wasn’t any one thing and I think that’s kind of the whole frustrating part about it. You would like to find out exactly what you did to make that happen so you can avoid it."

    Eagle teammates don’t remember seeing McNabb in better shape, although that may be partly attributable to the fact that only three have been with the team longer, a list topped by safety Brian Dawkins.


    Though McNabb has never been more prepared to play football, he expects skeptics to weigh in, as they did last year.

    "People want to see what’s going to happen with me," McNabb said. "To be honest, it’s not going to be any different than the last couple of years. That’s the quarterback position -- when things go right you get a lot of the credit. When things go wrong, you get a lot of the criticism."

    In an exclusive interview, McNabb addressed several issues.

    - Bob Grotz: You’ve taken some shots the past few years. Do you feel injury prone?

    - Donovan McNabb: No, not at all. Yeah, I’ve taken some shots but nothing to harp on. As a quarterback you get hit. But I’m not injury prone -- at all.

    - BG: What signs have you seen from teammates that you’re a leader in light of the divided locker room of last year?

    - DM: I don’t have to have signs. I’ve been the leader of the team. Despite what happened last year I’m still the leader of the team. That’s something that doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s not something where I have to walk around and let everybody know that I’m the leader of this team. I just focus in on my job and just prepare everybody for what we’ll be facing.

    - BG: How much of a help will Jeff Garcia be this season?

    - DM: I expect Jeff to come in and be a quality guy. I mean, I’ve known Jeff for a while now. We were at Pro Bowls together. We’ve communicated at different functions on and off the field. On the field we’ve competed. So Jeff can come in and bring another part of leadership for the younger guys to see how hard he’s working, how hard I’m working, and how hard the rest of the guys in the locker room have to be working. And also he’s a guy that if something was to happen again (injury wise), he can come in and kind of keep the beat going.

    - BG: Do you see him pushing you?

    - DM: Definitely. And I’m not a guy that sits and says, ‘The job is all mine, I don’t have to worry about it.’ I compete each time I’m on the field. Any time you relax and think, ‘I’m good, I don’t have to do anything,’ that’s when you kind of take steps back and you’re trying to figure out what you need to do to get back to where you need to be. I compete with Koy (Detmer). I competed with (Mike) McMahon when he was here.

    - BG: Those other quarterbacks haven’t won as many games as Jeff. Isn’t Jeff more of a threat to your job?

    - DM: This isn’t anything where I’m going at Jeff or Jeff is coming at me. We’re out there to make this team better. That’s what a quarterback does. You’re out there to make the 10 guys around you better. Whether I’m in there or Jeff is in there, it’s the same process.

    - BG: Any commitments from teammates for your training regimen in Arizona next month?

    - DM: I haven’t really presented it. It’s something that when guys look at their schedules, then they’ll find out if they’ll be able to make it and then we’ll get answers.

    - BG: Is Jeff going to be there?

    - DM: Jeff might be able to come out there. He lives in California so it won’t be that tough for him to get there.

    - BG: We know who your No. 1 receiver was the last two years. Who is it this year?

    - DM: It’s hard to say. Reggie (Brown) obviously is the guy everybody looks at. Reggie is definitely progressing. We’re doing some good things together. Jabar (Gaffney) and I are doing some good things together. Greg Lewis is doing a great job -- our tight ends and (Brian) Westbrook. So it’s hard to pinpoint one particular guy because it’s not like there’s been a guy that’s been in this offense for five or six years and you could say, ‘This is the No. 1 guy.’

    - BG: Doesn’t a wide receiver have to step up and separate himself from the pack?

    - DM: That should be a mentality for everybody, not just at the receiver position. That should be the same way for the defensive backs, the linebackers, the D-tackles and the quarterbacks as well. When you’re out on that field you want to give a spark to your team where it can rely on you and feel comfortable and confident that you will be the one to get the job done. What happens is the trickle-down effect. It’s contagious. Everybody else wants to step up and make that big play to change things around.

    - BG: Do you feel you have enough weapons right now to be a big-play offense?

    - DM: I definitely do. The thing about this offense and what we’ve kind of hung our hat on the last couple of years was that everybody has the opportunity to make something happen for this team. And I think we have the firepower on this team at each position where we can kind of get guys going and we can be a powerful offense. My mentality this year has been the same the last three or four years. I want to us be in the top five in offense -- preferably No. 1 passing and running the ball.

    - BG: The offense ran the ball more and you seemed more willing to run after Owens was suspended last year. Is that the type of offense we’ll see this year?

    - DM: You will see a lot of things from last year that you will see this year. We’re going to throw the ball but we’re also going to run the ball. It’s going to be an offense that you’ve seen a lot already.

    - BG: Have you gotten over criticisms you personally don’t run enough? Will you do so if that’s what it takes to win?

    - DM: If it’s a called pass, you go through your progressions. If it’s there to get the ball out, you get the ball out. If nothing is there, then you use your ability. That’s just my game.

    - BG: How much do you expect to be under the microscope this year?

    - DM: People are going to be watching to see how we bounce back from last year but that’s the same with any team that’s had success for five straight years and you have a down year. Carolina was under the microscope and they bounced back.

    - BG: Terrell Owens’ book comes out in July. Do you ..

    - DM: I personally don’t even care. I’m sure you will ask me some questions about it. You guys will be doing your job. And you might get frustrated with some of my answers but again, I will just say I personally don’t care when the book comes out and what it says because it has nothing to do with what we do this year.

    - BG: Have you put the issues with Owens behind you?

    - DM: I’ve put it behind me. I’ve moved on for a long time. I mean, I said what I had to say. It’s over. Let’s move on.

    - BG: Your father Sam, felt the criticism of you last season reflected negatively on your parents, and the way they raised you. How do you feel about it?

    - DM: My parents are the greatest in the world. And parents have feelings as well. I mean, I don’t know how some of the other parents feel about their kids but we took it on the chin and we moved on. We’re smiling now. We’re enjoying life and we’re moving on in the right direction.

    - BG: You said at the first minicamp you weren’t there to make friends ..

    n DM: I’m not here to win friends. That’s kind of high schoolish or grammar schoolish. When you’re in this profession, you’re here to do a job. You’re not here to entertain. You’re not here to calm people down, to win ball games. They put you at the quarterback position because they feel confident you can do your job and make the guys around you better. It’s all about winning games.

    - BG: You recently said you would like to play another 10 years. That would mean playing 17 years in the NFL, the last at age 40.

    - DM: I’d like to play another 12 years where they have to throw me out of the league. Maybe they will do a story about that: ‘Will he ever retire? No.’ But I won’t hold you as long as Brett (Favre) did (in announcing his return). I’ll just say, ‘yeah, I’ll be back.’

    - BG: Why would you want to play that long if you win a Super Bowl before then?

    - DM: One guy I definitely enjoy as far as his attitude and determination is Tom Brady. Tom has won three Super Bowls. You can talk about Peyton (Manning), you can talk about other guys who everybody loves and everything they do but here’s a guy who’s won Super Bowls. I mean, he could just ride off into the sunset now but he loves the game. And that’s my attitude. If we win the Super Bowl this year, I want to win another one. If we win it the next year, hey, let’s get another one. I want to be like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and have rings on almost all your fingers. And then hopefully they’ll throw me out of the league. I enjoy it. I love the game.

    - BG: Your father said he expects you to be the Donovan McNabb of two years ago, and the Eagles to be back where they were two years ago -- the Super Bowl.

    - DM: I feel the same way. I mean, again, that’s my dad talking but I’m not the 25, 26, 27-year old kid anymore. I’m 29. I know after being in this game for a while the kind of things I need to do to be successful, and that’s kind of my approach.

  • #2
    McNizzice.





    Carson Wentz ERA


    NFC East Titles:
    Playoff Appearances:
    NFC Title Games:
    Super Bowl Titles:

    Comment


    • #3
      We are going to rock the house this year. I feel it.

      Comment


      • #4
        I just watched "In Their Own Words- Donovan McNabb" again. Probably the 5th time I have seen it.

        How can any NFL fan not like and even root for the guy? Even more confusing, how can any Eagle fan not stand behind the guy through good and bad.

        McNabb is the Man!

        I can't wait to see him and Reggie Brown start their soon to be amazing relationship in a full year in 2006

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by dawkins20
          McNabb is the Man!

          I can't wait to see him and Reggie Brown start their soon to be amazing relationship in a full year in 2006
          *DITTO

          Comment


          • #6
            I agree with Dawk, 100 million percent. I dread Donovan's retirement, but I refuse to be one of the fans who miss out on the excitement of having one of the top QB who also happens to be a great person and leader too.

            I am so proud of Donovan McNabb. I am so proud to be an Iggle fan. I am so glad that I have another 10-12 years of watching the best QB to ever play for the Iggles.

            And, I would like to one day shake Sam McNabb's hand and thank him for the fantastic job he did with molding Donovan into the stand-up, classy person he is.......oh and for our Superbowls.
            Pedro

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by pedro
              I am so proud of Donovan McNabb. I am so proud to be an Iggle fan. I am so glad that I have another 10-12 years of watching the best QB to ever play for the Iggles.
              wow man, you are optimistic,, he turns 30 this year,, I don't see him still playing at 40/42..... but hey, who the hell knows.

              Comment


              • #8
                I think McNabb plays till he's 40. Poll?
                Carson Wentz ERA


                NFC East Titles:
                Playoff Appearances:
                NFC Title Games:
                Super Bowl Titles:

                Comment


                • #9
                  Is he as tough as McNair? Because with Reid's pass happy offense, he'll likely have to endure as much pain.
                  http://shop.cafepress.com/content/global/img/spacer.gifOK, let's try this again...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I was just quoting the time line that Donny provided. I didn't want to bring any bad karma into the thread.
                    Pedro

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Pedro
                      I agree with Dawk, 100 million percent. I dread Donovan's retirement, but I refuse to be one of the fans who miss out on the excitement of having one of the top QB who also happens to be a great person and leader too.

                      I am so proud of Donovan McNabb. I am so proud to be an Iggle fan. I am so glad that I have another 10-12 years of watching the best QB to ever play for the Iggles.

                      And, I would like to one day shake Sam McNabb's hand and thank him for the fantastic job he did with molding Donovan into the stand-up, classy person he is.......oh and for our Superbowls.
                      Concur!
                      "Philly fans are great....It's the only place where you pull up on the bus and you've got the grandfather, the grandmother, the kids and the grandkids - everybody flicking you off. At other stadiums, they give you the thumbs-down. Here, they give you the middle finger.”
                      — Michael Strahan

                      "No one likes us, no one likes us, no one likes us, we don’t care, we’re from Philly, F—-ing Philly, No one likes us, we don’t care!”
                      - Jason Kelce with the best championship speech ever

                      Comment

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