Quarterback Donovan McNabb no longer plays for the Eagles. But that’s not keeping him from talking about the franchise with which he spent 11 NFL seasons.
In an interview with GQ magazine, McNabb complains that his former franchise never provided him with public support in the face of both internal and external criticism. McNabb explained that he made his concerns known during a meeting following the 2008 season, which featured the first benching of McNabb’s career.
“We sat down and talked, and I got everything off my chest from [1999] on,” McNabb said, via Jeff McLane of Philadelphia Inquirer. “It went all the way back to the [Terrell Owens] situation, it went back to us not winning big games, me being criticized for whatever, leadership. . . .
“They’ll say something to you in the building, but not publicly. My feeling was, ‘I’m out here getting cut up, where are you? I’m always defending and helping you guys, but where’s that support?’”
McNabb’s concerns apparently helped him receive the much-publicized “financial apology,” which entailed an increase in McNabb’s pay with no extension to his contract.
In the interview, McNabb also revisits his notorious failure to know that a regular-season game could end in a tie. “I’m like, ‘Hey, we need to get this thing going, how much time is left?’ ” McNabb said of the overtime period in the November 2008 game against the Bengals. “I’m looking at the clock and the ref is like, ‘We’ve got another five minutes after this quarter if no one scores.’ I didn’t think nothing of it, but I did hear it. It was a mistake on my part. I’ve got to know the rules.”
So, basically, he has blamed it all on an official who apparently didn’t know the rules.
Finally, McNabb addressed the question of whether he vomited during crunch time in Super Bowl XXXIX. “No, at no point did I throw up,” McNabb insists.
Maybe Donovan shouldn’t have provided such a broad response.
UPDATE: You can see the entire interview at GQ.com.