Donovan McNabb, We'll Miss You

Donovan,

Today, as the reports came pouring in about your imminent trade to the Washington Redskins, a flurry of emotions ran through me.  I felt devastated, betrayed, angry, confused, and frustrated. 

Growing up, football meant the Eagles, and the Eagles meant McNabb.  You have provided every up and down moment for the past eleven years and for that, I thank you.  

I thank you because twenty years from now, when the Eagles have different players, management, and coaches, the fans will remember all of the good you brought to this city.  With the exception of a Super Bowl win, you have given this organization every measure of success available to it. 

Could the team have won a championship?  Yes.  Should it have won a championship?  Probably.  Is it solely your fault?  Absolutely not. 

Multiple people have screwed up this team's chances to win.  No receiving core, mediocre offensive lines, and the most predictable play calling in football prevented this team from winning it all. 

Never was management able to fix every problem on the team.  And when they did fix a problem, they provided another, making the team sink deeper and deeper into the quicksand. 

It is important to realize that not all Eagle fans have the radical, misinformed, negative criticisms about you. It is unappreciative fans like those just described that give Philly a bad reputation. 

Many, including me, are extremely grateful of the success you've brought. 

Over the years, the more I read and heard the criticisms, the more I became a fan of you, as opposed to the team.  For me, eleven years of consistently great football is much better than eleven years of mediocrity, which is seen through so many teams throughout the league. 

You are a class act, both on and off the field, and I wish you the best of luck in Washington with your new coach, Mike Shanahan. 

Even after the debacle of the last two games of last season, I still had a smidgen of hope that this group of players could turn it around and make a playoff run as they did just two years ago.  That smidgen just evolved into nothingness.

Yours truly,

A fan