WALKING into the bar I noticed the bartender tap Rhodie on the wrist and gesture to the door. Rhodie sees me, gets up and hugs me. HUGS ME. I’ve been friends with this guy since 2009, and he’s never hugged me before. It’s cool because I’m a hugger. I’ll hug anybody, but I’m not used to Vietnam vets just grabbing me.
Firstly, he liked the way I wrote about him in a couple articles I sort of built around him. He actually had his daughter print them out and put them in frames. I was moved to have that kind of impact on him. Or anyone for that matter.
Secondly he loved my article where I said that Donovan McNabb was the Greatest EAGLES Quarterback of All-Time.
“It’s about time you used that bully pulpit! I seen you do it in here, and I hear that you did it other places [online]. It’s about time you just told people what was what, instead of asking people their opinions. With the McNabb thing, you just laid down the law, and from what I hear, cause I ask [his daughter] to check it sometimes, NOBODY has challenged you about it. People get that you know your shit and, now you get that you know your shit.”
Then he ordered me a Special. Not a “Virgin Special”. A Special.
And then…
“But you did leave something out. Not only did McNabb win a lot of games, he won a lot of tough games. Since the EAGLES kept having winning records they had tough schedules every year. The fans are crazy over this new coach with those 10 wins, but he got a bunch of puff ball teams to play last year. Andy Reid put down real contenders. We’re about to see if this Chip Kelly guy can do the same thing.”
Looking forward to seeing it.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 
The game has changed since then. I will always question this organization for not winning a superbowl while McNabb was QB. McNabb and Reid might have the same HOF fate since both came up short. I blame this missed opportunity on the owner – period.
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I lay the lack of a Super Bowl win at the feet of a LOT of people. But less on the players and here’s why.
As fans we ALL KNEW that McNabb was winning those games by leaning on guys like Chad Lewis and Brian Westbrook, because he had piss poor WR’s to work with. That was never more evident than the 2003 NFC Championship game against the Panthers where rookie Ricky Manning took veteran Todd Pinkston to school.
The fanbase BEGGED the F.O. for years for a WR. Finally they get us T.O. and actually let Freddie Mitchell start some games, and we get over the NFC Championship game hump with relative ease.
We lost the SB, but simply throwing a few more bucks at T.O. would’ve put us back there. Instead the F.O. let a petty spat derail their long-term plans. T.O. got his money elsewhere and instead of 2004 being the breakthrough it’s now the peak that marks our decline.
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That pretty much sums up that era but Reid did a nice job creating a blueprint that he followed and it worked. In the early 2000 stretch, Reid was a cutting edge NFL mind and did a lot with very little. Ive always maintained that Reid was an excellent architect , not much of a game day coach but more than good enough to guide a team to a superbowl victory. He was careless with protecting his plays in the NE/Eagle superbowl. I blame that on him. Thats his job to maintain a closed play system. But in retrospect McNabb was a unique talent and provided thrills and drama. In some ways he was his own worse enemy. He was a leader on the field but off it he had trouble gaining momentum.
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