McDone? Is Donovan McNabb's Tenure In Philly Over?

Sometimes, brutal honesty is not the right choice.

If your girlfriend looks fat in her new outfit and promptly asks you, "hunny, do I look fat in this dress," there's no way you tell her yes, even if she looks like Monique from Soul Plane. I promise to never reference that terrible atrocity of a movie again.

Anyway, some things you just don't say, regardless of the pursuit of truth.

When Donovan McNabb admitted in a press conference after their game against the woeful Cincinnati Bengals ended in a tie that he didn't know that was still possible in the NFL, it was one of those, "what in the Hell is your problem," moments.

Kind of like when Arizona Wildcat Sophomore forward Jamelle Horne intentionally fouled UAB's Paul Delaney with less than a second to play, with a 1-point lead 60 feet away from the basket. Things that would be mentioned first in a "things not to do" book if there were one.

Luckily for McNabb, Ben Roethlisberger and Hines Ward came to his defense, both proclaiming that not every player knows all of the rules and McNabb shouldn't be lambasted for his acknowledgment.

It was that incident and that Bengals game that seemed to put a cap on the Philly signalcaller's Eagle tenure.

That was until yesterday.

In a surprise move, Andy Reid started the second half of yesterday's game with his Pro Bowl quarterback on the bench in favor of Kevin Kolb, an unproven 2nd year player out of Houston.

To make matters worse, Reid didn't even personally tell McNabb of the decision. He sent the quarterback's coach to inform McNabb of the change. Talk about showing some respect.

For such a drastic change to happen, you must think that the Eagles were losing terribly to the Ravens in Baltimore, right?

Wrong.

The halftime score was 10-7 Ravens, with only one good drive put together in the game at that point by Ravens QB Joe Flacco. Granted, the Eagles lone TD was a 100-yard kick return by Quintin Demps, but the Ravens still only led by three at the half.

Bad as McNabb had been in the 1st half turning the ball over twice, the Eagles still had a chance. You bench your starter for a guy who hasn't played all year against a defense like Baltimore's at their home-field? Dumb.

Kolb played terrible, leaving this stinker of a stat line behind:

10/23, 73 Yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 15.3 Passer Rating

Okay, McNabb didn't fare much better in the 1st half:

8/18, 59 Yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 13.2 Passer Rating

The point is why bench your Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for a Kia Rio? There are great things to a Kia Rio I'm sure, but you go with the proven winner, the one with the ability to bring you from behind.

If you're just trying to get home then I guess a Rio's fine, but if you want the power and ability to do it with style and grace and bring you from behind in a race, you'll want that Evo.

If Andy Reid just wants a test drive or a slow, boring ride home Kolb can get you that at this point, but if he wants a proven vet who has been in this position before to give him the chance at winning and making the postseason, you stay with Donovan.

There's no good reason for benching your starter after a bad first-half in which you're down by three away from home against a 6-4 team. There just are no benefits to it.

Poor Kevin Kolb had to be harassed by guys like Haloti Ngata and Jarret Johnson with absolutely no preparation. Reid doused Kolb with gasoline, handed him a match, and turned around running screaming, "I'll call 911! I promise!"

That call never came, and Ed Reed made sure running back the Eagles only second-half scoring threat 108-yards on a Kolb pick. Oh, what a beautiful day in Baltimore.

Unfortunately, the storm clouds built like a thunderous summer day in Philly. Only it's November and last I checked, the Northeast hasn't been decked with a winter storm yet, other than the fans of countless under-performing teams such as the Bills, Browns, and Eagles.

Everyone awaited Reid's press conference at noon eastern time this Monday, only to hear the inevitable. McNabb named starter for Thursday's game against Arizona, and no Kolb's performance wasn't a factor.

Andy Reid my friend, you are a liar.

You mean to tell me if Kolb's numbers didn't look like Gwen Stefani was the quarterback of your team he wouldn't be the starter?

In other words, your decision to bench McNabb was that much dumber to the tune of you not even looking to possibly replace him for Kolb if he did well? So you told yourself, "hell, we're losing so I'll just let Kevin get hit around and throw a couple picks against a top-flight defense even though I have no intentions of starting him next week."

That makes about much sense as 50 Cent taking every opportunity to talk about other rappers.

Give us all a break. At least entertain us a little. We all know that if Kolb's numbers looked more like 22/35, 210 yards, 2 TD, INT and a win he would be under center on Thanksgiving day.

Andy Reid is done. He's more cooked than a piece of wood in an out-of-control wildfire for 24 hours. His coaching rivals that of Marvin Lewis as just plain crappy. McNabb is Reid's tenure in Philly, and he just took the wheels off of the Maserati.

Or Toyota Camry.

McNabb has been a great player in Philly since they booed the draft of him, and all of the calls for his release remind me of how they did JoePa a couple seasons back.

Penn State legend coach Joe Paterno had a few bad seasons, and the fans were chanting, "off with his head!" He only followed those seasons with four consecutive nine or more win seasons, with three bowl victories.

This year the Nittany Lions are 11-1 with a Rose Bowl berth.

McNabb is a good QB who still has lots of ability. Let's look at some of the issues his team has faced this season:

1. Brian Westbrook's many injuries

2. L.J Smith's injuries

3. His best wide-out, Kevin Curtis missing significant time

4. His best wideout Kevin Curtis??? Sad.

5. DeSean Jackson's head-first crash into the rookie wall

6. Reid passing the ball 500 times a game

That's just a few things that McNabb has faced this year and he still has that team at .500 and they're not out of it. Yet and still, his coach stabs him square in the back and benches him in the middle of a game.

It would've made more since to start Kolb over McNabb so he would at least know what's going on, and Kolb would have had preparation time as the starter.

This is the same team that has only given McNabb a true #1 receiver once, and he went to the Super Bowl that year.

If this is signs of things to come for McNabb, it may be a good thing for the Eagles to start anew.

Only the one left standing on the Eagles sideline should be the one who wears an uniform and doesn't hold the clipboard.

Unless he's Kevin Kolb, the backup quarterback.