Donovan McNabb is scheduled to speak to reporters as part of the Eagles’ post-draft minicamp today. I’ve been able to get an advance copy of the transcript:

Donovan, you said earlier in the off-season that you thought that the team needed to bring in “playmakers.” Do you feel that the team has done that?

Well, I said that I thought that we needed to bring in playmakers in all phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. Obviuosly with the addition of Asante Samuel we have a proven playmaker, and Chris Clemons as well. We also made some acquisitions of guys who can help us on special teams. I also think some of the young guys we brought in in the draft and by trade, like Lorenzo Booker, have a chance to make a difference. So we’re very excited about the team.

Donovan, do you still think that the team needs to go out and get a true number-one wide receiver?

We have some great receivers on this team in Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown and Jason Avant and Hank Baskett. We brought in a guy like DeSean Jackson to add to that. We also have L.J. healthy. I think we have a great group of receivers.
(Read the rest of this story.)

While Donovan McNabb has made no secret of his post-football TV blathermonkey ambitions (and we think he’d actually be pretty decent at it — he’s a sharp guy, decent sense of humor, watches a lot of sports), and while we tend to support his direct-to-consumer PR strategy on Yardbarker, we’re going to have to snicker a bit at his latest blog entry.

Is it cool that he has opinions about college hoops and the street cred (he played hoops at Syracuse his freshman year — JUST IN CASE YOU HADN’T HEARD THAT MILLION TIMES ALREADY) to back them up?  You betcha.  Does said street cred excuse the train wreck of cliches that he stuffed into that blog post?  Not even a little bit.    (Read the rest of this story.)

I know I’m desperate for Eagles news when my eyebrows arch reading a complete nothing comment like the following:

Reid and Donovan McNabb talked after the season, and a source close to Reid said that the two were on the same page as far as each man’s approach to the off-season. It’s still possible that the rumblings will turn out to be true and McNabb will try to talk his way out of town. But for now, despite his recent blog entry about the Eagles’ need for more playmakers, McNabb has yet to seriously commence that process. Unless he does, or unless some team offers something exorbitant for him - say, three first-round draft picks - McNabb will be back for the 2008 season. He will be the starter.

I, for one, am glad that they’re both on the same page as far as each man’s approach to the off-season.  Does that mean Andy Reid will be spending more time on the Internets (he’s heard good things about the Facebook) and Dunavin will gain 175 pounds and go to rehab with his daughter? 

Yup, that’s all I gots for ya.

Link:
Eagles can handle the loss of Harbaugh [Inqy]

I guess I’m not the only one who wants to be sure that Donovan McNabb keeps his blog posts/ invitations to hullaballoo(s) to a minimum this offseason — even Official Corporate PR Blathermonkey Dave Spadaro is begging for calm and quiet.

In a rather fluffy and otherwise fresh-content-free post on the Birds site yesterday, Spuds had the following to say in re: Dunavin:

Having a great mental off-season is just as important as having a great physical off-season for McNabb. My advice to him — not that he’s asking — is to lay low and work hard and enjoy the injury-free months. We’ve already seen, as evidenced by his most recent blog entry, that every word McNabb utters is going to be front-page news. McNabb should just enjoy the tranquility and the good health and have himself a drama-free off-season.
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In a sense, I’m shocked it took this long for someone in the McNabb camp to commit a PR faux pas. I mean, it’d been a whole week since the season ended; the employees of WIP need to eat too! 

To recap in case you haven’t been following closely (and it’s easiest to just review the excellent summary that Derek posted on Iggles Blog): two weeks before the regular season ended, a blathermonkey asked Dunavin if he thought that the Eagles needed to add more players in the offseason. Dunavin went to great lengths to give a very PC answer: that the Eagles needed to add playmakers in all phases of the game.

In response to follow-up questions, he did NOT say that he needed a wide receiver (and even chided the blathermonkey who asked the question for trying to draw him into a trap — yes, this is actually the state of things if you’re Dunavin: you have a jokey relationship with the jackals who are trying to goad you into a headline-worthy quote). He just said that the Eagles could be better if they had a couple more playmakers. Uh huh.

This sentiment was relayed to Andy Reid in a separate press conference, and Andy Reid scolded Dunavin for indirectly insulting his teammates. This was a little silly in itself (since Dunavin didn’t really say anything too crazy), but whatever. You’d think that this wasn’t such a big deal.

You’d think. (Read the rest of this story.)

Very out-of-character slip from Andy Reid in his Monday press conference. In responding to a question about Donovan McNabb’s evolving mobility over the course of the season, he admitted that (a) he knew that McNabb was significantly less than full speed when the season kicked off and (b) he was semi-happy to have McNabb struggle in order to become a better player in the long run. Huh? Really?

According to Big Red,

“I think it was a great experience for him to have all mobility taken away early. Where, in his mind, he had to become an in-pocket passer. He didn’t have 100 percent of his capacity to run. For somebody in his ninth year to have a chance to be even better than he was is a great thing. Now he’s getting the mobility back and he’s becoming an even better thrower than he was before-and I think he was pretty good before.”

So it was good for him to be limited (even if it meant that the team suffered) so that he could become a better player? Did the rest of the team agree with that? (Read the rest of this story.)

For the record, I definitely resisted the urge to go down this route earlier in the week. But thanks to the proud efforts of Ashley Fox, the door is open for what would have otherwise been a semi-innappropriate path of speculation in re: Embattled Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb.

I’m referring to Ashley Fox’s piece in this morning’s Inky, in which Mlle. Fox describes the unique challenges of being a female sports reporter (beyond gaining lots of weight and breathing through your mouth like the men):

Now, as a female reporting on sports, the issue gets even trickier. Men, be it athletes or executives, often tell us different things - and tell us things differently - than they tell other men. They can be more willing to show their emotions or to let their guard down because they aren’t threatened by a woman. Sometimes they think a woman is more sympathetic or less judgmental.

And sometimes, they have other motives.

What’s that you say? OTHER MOTIVES? You mean, like, um, that the boys on the team might, um, you know, want, to, you know, get witcha?

For the record, in re: Dunavin’s most recent “controversy,” other motives would be about the most awesome possible thing I could imagine happening. (Read the rest of this story.)

You’d think we’d all be able to continue to bask in the glow of a GLORIOUS VICTORY AGAINST THE HATED COWBOYS.

It’d be nice, wouldn’t it.

Instead, we’re going to get a couple more days (at least) of he-said-she-said in re: whether or not Donovan McNabb told Pam Oliver that he thinks that he’s getting shipped out of town. Oliver’s response to McNabb’s post-game denial:

“My only professional regret is: Why on Earth did I bend over backwards to make it less impactful?,” she said. “And then wake up to … to someone throwing you under bus like that.”

“All I can tell you is I stand by it 100 percent,” she later added. “It’s on-my-mother’s-grave accurate. That’s the bottom line.”

YAWN.

While the blathermonkeys will insist that it’s newsworthy to discuss whether Donovan or Pam is lying, we’ll ignore Brian Westbrook’s impending Pro Bowl nomination and a charming little vengeance game this weekend against the Saints. Yet another week of all Dunavin, all the time.

Does this really still sell papers?  Really?

(Read the rest of this story.)

Looks like somebody from PhiladelphiaEagles.com was working late last night!

Careful readers may have noticed a fresh image of Donovan McNabb celebrating the Reggie Brown TD inserted into the page-top header. Hmmm.

Note that Dunavin made a big point of saying that he was not trying to mock a certain former teammate with this celebration, but was instead “thanking the Man upstairs.”

Got it.

(Also, nice work from the web site staff sucking up to Dunavin.)

Thank you, Philadelphia Eagles! You made my favorite television show interesting for one more week.

Though it’s probably just a bump in the road for what is still the best team in the NFC (staring at ground in abject humiliation), it’s never disappointing to beat the Cowboys, especially in Texas Stadium. Some quick bulletpoints about the game this afternoon:

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