Donovan McNabb Returns To Philadelphia: Pleasure Should Be All Philly's

When Donovan McNabb trots out of the tunnel at Lincoln Financial Field this Sunday for the first time as the opposing quarterback, he thinks he will be received with cheers and appreciation.

McNabb could be right, but he also admitted that he isn’t too concerned with whatever reception he receives in his return to Philadelphia as the starting quarterback of the Eagles' division rival, the Washington Redskins.

“Honestly, I think I will be more cheered,” McNabb said on ESPN Radio in Washington this week. “No matter what the situation is, right now I’m with a different team and it’s a rival and it wasn’t my choice. We had a successful 11 years (in Philadelphia).”

Some will say that McNabb turned in some great years in Philly, but none that ended in a championship.

Yes, we largely choose to define athletes by titles and championships won, but it shouldn’t be the final barometer when measuring the validity of a career and the impact an athlete had on a city.

To do that would be to downplay what McNabb meant to the Eagles organization and the city of Philadelphia. 

After being selected second overall in the 1999 draft out of Syracuse, McNabb didn’t go on to produce 11 “successful” years in Philly, he produced 11 transcendent years in Philly.

McNabb holds Eagles' career records for passing yards, passing touchdowns, and NFC Championship appearances. 

He also has the second-best touchdown-to-interception ratio of all time—behind only Tom Brady—and is one of only six quarterbacks ever to throw for 25,000 yards and rush for another 3,000.

The other five? Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, Steve McNair and John Elway.

The records are nice. So were the four consecutive NFC East Championship appearances in the early 2000s. And, of course, the faceoff against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX was thrilling.

And yet, to some, none of those accomplishments were good enough.

Don’t get it twisted; there are plenty of Eagles fans that realize everything McNabb brought them for more than a decade.

But then there are the handful of critics that say McNabb didn’t have what it takes to win a title, McNabb couldn’t lead a championship team, McNabb couldn’t …

All of it is bogus.

The most controversial rumor that the critics latched onto was the idea that McNabb was so uncontrollably nervous prior to the Super Bowl that he threw up on the sideline.

McNabb denied it, coach Andy Reid denied it, and the Philadelphia Inquirer denied it, but some still wanted to pin the Eagles 24-21 loss on McNabb.

Never mind that he threw for 357 and three touchdowns in that game. No, gosh, don’t mention that part of it.

And that’s how it appears to have gone for McNabb; a man, an athlete, and a competitor who is so much more than the public is allowed to see.

Maybe that’s just the nature of playing in a big, tough city like Philadelphia.

Lets face it, this country responds to winners more than it responds to quality people.

That’s not Philly’s fault, but maybe the city just no longer had a need for a great quarterback who, for whatever reason, never found the right mix of teammates to win that elusive title.

Of course, for all the hype regarding McNabb’s return and his former backup Michael Vick now being The Man in Philly, it will all be forgotten after the first five minutes.

McNabb’s reception has nothing to do with the actual game itself, and the Redskins will be hard-pressed to keep up with the Eagles.

Washington simply isn’t a good enough football team.

Philadelphia has twice as much talent than Washington does, and it’s probably going to show on Sunday as Philly prepares for another week in the World of Vick. 

But for one Sunday, for only a couple of minutes, Eagles fans ought to let Donovan McNabb know what he has meant to them.

Trading him to the Redskins so that the Eagles could hand his job over to a guy who couldn’t keep it for even one quarter of the new season was a slap in the face to McNabb.

“Quarterback” didn’t lead the Philadelphia Eagles' list of offseason problems, but they jettisoned the man who has been the face of the franchise for the last decade anyway.

Now he’s back, and what will the city do? How do the fans feel?

I suspect many of them are very appreciative of the work McNabb did while in town.

But for those who choose to boo, they just don’t get it.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at [e-mail].