Cooley just called McNabb ...............

[Eagle60]

An amazing leader!! On the NFL channel. Says he stepped into the locker room and took over instantly. Imagine that!

[MDFAN]

Can't be-- I'm sure it's just player speak. Cause we all know 5 is just a clown, and always took winning lightly. And since he played air guitar and then they lost a game, he is a terrible leader.

[stocknowledge]

What does Cooley's statement mean at this time of year? And what else would he say, even if he thought McNabb was a clown?

For a QB who has been in the league eleven years and makes upward of $9.5 million per year, it would be pretty strange if McNabb didn't walk into the Redskins' clubhouse and act like a leader. What are they paying him all that dough for?

It's going to be a long season, and the Redskins' offensive line is a joke. We'll see how Cooley feels after 16 games have been played.

[sfphillyfan]

Funny, if Cooley called Jason Campbell a leader last year, you guys wouldve called him an idiot. But since he's talking about McNabb, we get all the sarcasm about why he can't be right.

[MDFAN]

No, it's because he is talking about a 10 year vet with a proven track record.
He isn't Jason Campbell.

What is funny is how as soon as Mcnabb leaves he was a terrible leader (when there is no factual information to make that claim) and nothing more than a clown for 10 years.

[eagle eye]

McNabb is a leader. Case closed. And if you don't believe me, listen to just about any interview he's done in the last 5 years.

[Blitz]

What does Cooley's statement mean at this time of year? And what else would he say, even if he thought McNabb was a clown?

Exactly. It's easy to say a guy is a leader now before you even get in the trenches with him.

[FRESH]

No, it's because he is talking about a 10 year vet with a proven track record.
He isn't Jason Campbell.

What is funny is how as soon as Mcnabb leaves he was a terrible leader (when there is no factual information to make that claim) and nothing more than a clown for 10 years.

If you didn't notice McNabb's leadership being questioned well before he left, then you haven't been paying very close attention.

[BIGPHILLY]

Really and unfair - almost political feel to the way people are framing this. Just because people don't think McNabb was a "Real" leader of a team - doesn't mean people think he sucked and wasn't an all time great Eagle.

It's like people have to be in one camp or another. Not so.

McNabb being a 10 year vet, a winner and an all time great Eagle are all true facts. McNabb being a leader in the sense that his teammates would die on the battlefield for him and would follow him to the ends of the earth (See Dawkins, Ray Lewis etc) was not really ever evident.

But look - Tom Brady doesn't show that necessarily but his talent and skill prove his point.

McNabb is a good guy - who tried very hard to lead the best he knew how. But if you spend anytime studying what true leadership looks like (Which many of us in the business community either do out of a desire to grow or are forced to by our companies) - you would see that McNabb is missing some very key elements of leadership over the years.

We can spend the next few weeks breaking those down if you'd like - but I think when former teammates and current teammates disassociated themselves with McNabb quickly - it tells you a ton. Playing with someone who is your QB and you want to win - is one thing - truly "respecting" someone is another. Did some former players respect McNabb? Probably. But the sentiment seems more that they didn't see him as a leader in the truest sense.

Cooley - in this case - has played on completely dysfunctional Redskins teams forever. New offensive systems and coaches etc. have made the Skins locker room a joke.

Enter a proven winner who - yes - puts in the work that is required of him and can win games - and what do you think will happen? It's a great injection of fresh air.

And heck - McNabb will win games with Washington. He may even win a playoff game with them.

But Donovan McNabb will not lead the ribirth of the Redkins into an elite team who wins a Super Bowl. So if Cooley is happy with a guy who comes in - jokes around - works hard and is a "good guy" - then yes...What a great leader.

[balto-eaglefan]

Oh, whatever. FWIW, I didn't think that Cal Ripken was a very good leader for the Orioles. He leads by example? Well, so what? I'd rather hear that he helped his teammates learn how to do their jobs better, picked them up when they were down, told guys who were being lazy to do straighten up, etc. Best thing I can say that I ever heard about DMac's leadership, was that he told Owens to STFU in his huddle. I mean, and Owens is the kind of guy who's so popular that he's divided the locker rooms of at least three NFL teams (and maybe is doing it to a fourth), and I never heard about Jeff Garcia or Tony Romo trying to stand up to the guy.

Your leadership is great when you're winning, and it gets questioned when you lose. We all know that. McNabb's regular season winning % is up there with a lot of guys in the Hall, so my guess is that his leadership is just fine. He (and...we?) ended up as a victim of his own success, to the point where "just winning" in the regular season and getting into the playoffs was no longer enough. Maybe his leadership's not great -- his record in championship level games is nowhere near Ben Rapistberger's or Jim Plunkett's -- but probably just fine from what the Redskins hope it'll be.

If the Redskins' season ends up hinging on the leadership that McNabb brings, then they've got much bigger problems than leadership. After all, look at Denver. They had tons of great leadership especially in their secondary...Brian Dawkins is still a good player, and will always be a great leader, but it only got them all the way to 8-8.

If the Eagles go 10-6 this year, Kolb will get a lot of credit, including his leadership. Probably more than he'll deserve, but that comes with being a QB. And he'll get more blame than he deserves if the Eagles' record in his first season as a starter looks like the Packers under Aaron Rodgers.

[sfphillyfan]

Well, my point is: why do all of a sudden we give a fuck what Chris Cooley has to say?

[leifdawg]

Well, my point is: why do all of a sudden we give a fuck what Chris Cooley has to say?

Because he is suddenly in a position to actually see McNabb's leadership ability unlike any person on this board.

[Vote for Kalas]

I'm with B-E....again much ado about very little....

McNabb is a very good player, teammate and, most importantly, person...he was definitely one of the leaders here and helped lead them to the best era of Eagles football ever. He will go down as one of the best Eagles to ever play for the organization...

He is GONE now. Will he be able to be successful in DC? Cooley is like Sheldon Brown in that he usually dispenses with the talking points and tells the straight story. Cooley is obviously very psyched to have McNabb there and believes they will play well together and win more games...

Who knows what will happen, but regardless of what happens most likely McNabb will be labeled negatively until he retires and the fanbase/media have a chance to remember what he actually did as an Eagle....and he can reflect on his career and recall how special his time was in Philadelphia.

As B-E says, its a no-win situation for McNabb until that point. If he succeeds, it will be discounted here and the fans/media will question why couldn't he have done it here...if he fails or struggles, it will be seen as confirmation he stunk the whole time and was never a leader etc.

Meanwhile, Kolb will get his honeymoon year and then be on the same hotseat McNabb was...hopefully this time people will be more rational and understand it takes an entire team with talent, many leaders and good chemistry developed by winning to be successful consistently....and that putting it all on anyone player is unfair

[Blitz]

McNabb is a good guy - who tried very hard to lead the best he knew how. But if you spend anytime studying what true leadership looks like (Which many of us in the business community either do out of a desire to grow or are forced to by our companies) - you would see that McNabb is missing some very key elements of leadership over the years.

I agreed with everything except this. You can't study true leadership because those guys don't ever become true leaders. You can fake it in the business world and get away with it for years, like a lot of guys do. But when you're on the field there's no faking it.

You either have it or you don't. It's not a switch you can turn on and off. It's not something you get out of a book.

To be fair leadership is very subjective. It's like politics, everybody thinks they know how to fix everything yet most people don't know shit.

Because he is suddenly in a position to actually see McNabb's leadership ability unlike any person on this board.

But that means whenever any player says anything he is right because he's in a position to see whatever he's talking about better than us. But we all know that's not true.

[BIGPHILLY]

blitz - I agree with you btw. I'm just saying that out of learning a ton about leadership and then realizing what it looks like in the business sense - which I'm used to and which I have oversight on 10 well paid professionals - it's very much subjective but also can be seen. There are plenty of McNabb's in the workforce - I agree. They think they are leading because they read Peter Drucker but have zero relationship with their staff and zero respect.

I agree with you - but perhaps the way I stated it came across wrong.