Hanging In The Balance

The man that we have invested so much money and time into as the starting Quarterback of this team, now is in the most unsecured position throughout his entire career. Over and over again for years the questions of Donovan McNabb's capabilities and criticisms about his play have surrounded this franchise, but never has it gotten as serious at it is now.

For so long I've always said, the only person with a guaranteed position on this team is Donovan McNabb. That was a combination of the talent that he had along with the business side of things, the money, confidence, and time that had been invested into him ever since he was drafted in 1999.

When yells were made for Koy Detmer to replace McNabb, Jeff Garcia, A.J. Feeley, on and on, I always denounced the claims that he would be benched. It never made any sense because McNabb has always been much more talented than the man that have been listed behind him on the depth chart. But now things are starting to look a lot less secure and that primarily is because of youth.

Now tied into the debate on whether to keep McNabb starting or not is the fact that he is an aged veteran. A 30 year old Quarterback is at his peak, the prime of his career and it is often the time when that QB drives their team to a championship. But this 30 year old QB we have could quite possibly have the body of an older veteran.

The injuries have been endless over the years, the broken ankle, the sports hernia, the torn ACL, all dotted with other varying ailments year in and year out. When there was any chance that he could stay on the field and play through the pain, McNabb always has, but too often the injuries have been serious enough that he had had to undergo season ending surgery.

This time around we aren't discussing a new injury that has come along, we are talking strictly about McNabb and his abilities. Along with the analysis of his play is the constant chatter about the fact that he is rebounding from a very serious ACL injury, that has to be accounted for.

As of right now Andy Reid is sticking with McNabb, the fact that he did not guarantee that the position is his for the remainder of the season though does speak volumes because for years Reid has been Donovan's constant supporter. He always made sure there was no doubt that the job was his, the team was his, and the future was in McNabb's hands. Things are different though and a lot hangs in the balance.

From a personal perspective I'm not ready to give up on Donovan. I know I'm going to fall victim to what so many General Manager's often to, just hanging on a little too long to the veteran that had the potential or the player that you already invested so much in and don't want to give up on. Right now, as dumb as it may be, I want to give Donovan every chance left to prove that he can make it through what has to be the biggest challenge of his career.

I can't move on just yet, we're only at the mid-season mark, I'm sure I'm naive, and hanging onto something that's no longer there. But I need at least a few more games because I denounce the guy that has been the face of this team for the past 9 years.