When I was about 13, I broke my index finger playing football with some friends.
I didn’t keep playing.
I didn’t even stay and watch my friends finish the game.
I went home and my father took me to the hospital.
This is why I’m not in the National Football League and Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is.
Well, that and the fact that McNabb can throw the ball better than I can pick it up.
When McNabb broke the fibula of his right foot in the game against Arizona, he didn’t go home.
He played on a broken right ankle and threw four touchdown passes, and the Eagles won.
With McNabb, the Eagles are expected to win.
They are expected not only to go to the Super Bowl, but to win it.
And winning a championship in Philadelphia is no easy feat; our near 20-year drought can attest to that.
But the fans in this city had their hopes pinned on McNabb.
He was our best chance, our knight in shining armor. And now the general as fallen.
There truly is a hex on this city.
McNabb is out for the rest of the regular season, and maybe for some of the playoffs – assuming that the Eagles can make it there.
All across Philadelphia, Eagles fans have been in a depressed funk because our star quarterback is out.
Fans believed that the season was over, that any dreams of a championship went down with McNabb.
However, there may be light at the end of this dank tunnel.
Take a look at the past three Super Bowl winners. In 2002, it was the New England Patriots, led by backup quarterback Tom Brady.
In 2001, the Baltimore Ravens were the champions, with backup quarterback Trent Dilfer.
And in 2000, the Lombardi trophy went to the St. Louis Rams and their backup quarterback, Kurt Warner.
Three straight Super Bowls, three straight backup quarterbacks.
Okay, one could argue that it wasn’t by Dilfer’s doing that the Ravens won the championship in 2001.
Some might say it was great defense that got Super Bowl rings for that franchise.
Fine, let’s talk about defense.
The Eagles have the third ranked defense in the entire NFL.
In their conference, they are ranked second, behind Tampa Bay.
Furthermore, the Eagles are giving up fewer than 17 points per game.
While McNabb’s injury is a crushing blow to the team and the city, we shouldn’t call the season over so soon.
Detmer has plenty of veteran poise and surrounding talent to put points on the board, and A.J. Feeley has an adequate knowledge of the system.
Meanwhile the stellar Eagles’ defense will do its best to keep points off the scoreboard.
Without McNabb, so far the Eagles are undefeated.
So, there’s still something to root for, something to cheer.
The Eagles aren’t giving up, and neither should we.
It’s not time to go home yet.
Tim Wiseley can be reached at temple_news@hotmail.com
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