Eagles Wake-Up Call: McNabb Tells Vick To ‘Play Pissed Off’


Donovan McNabb knows what it’s like to hear the whispers. He’s felt the sting of getting benched. And experienced the joy of proving his coaches wrong when he was inserted back in the lineup.

With Andy Reid loose in his commitment to Michael Vick lately, McNabb — a guest on Daily News Live Thursday — was asked about his benching against Baltimore in 2008 and high-end play upon his return.

“Well I played pissed off. I played pissed off because I felt like I was the Juan Castillo of the football team,” said McNabb, who led that 2008 team to a 4-1 record down the stretch en route to an NFC Championship appearance. “I felt like I got blamed for a lot of the problems that we were having. You hear rumblings of, ‘Maybe you’ll see a little bit of Kevin Kolb‘ and all of a sudden it happens, and no one has an answer for you when you sit down and talk to them. So I played pretty pissed off.”

McNabb then searched for a camera to look into.

“And if I could send a message for Mike: play pissed off. Because hey, everybody else will begin to understand and see.”

McNabb also dissected why the Eagles offense is sputtering through six games.

“The offensive line as we know is struggling, they’re struggling with one-on-one blocks,” he said. “They’re struggling on pass-off blocks…Your center is not making the right calls and getting the guys to understand that, ‘OK, this is a smash blitz, here’s a WILL, free safety blitz, we’re going to slide the protection to the opposite side to get our back out.

“You’re putting a lot of pressure on Michael Vick now to make all the blocking schemes, making sure the guys are running the right routes and then recognize what he’s seeing. And I don’t know if that’s too much pressure for him or not, but where’s the preparation? When I played here, it was, spend time with the center and make sure you both understand what you’re seeing.”

WHAT YOU MISSED

Vick will hold onto the starting job for this week and Marty Mornhinweg will continue to call plays for him, according to a report.

Sheil gives three thoughts on the current state of the Eagles. As always, it’s worth a read.

I cranked up the coaches tape to see what was so “pathetic” about the Eagles’ final drive Sunday.

Offensive lineman Chris Williams visited the Eagles Wednesday. On Thursday he met with the Cardinals.

Investigators determined that Garrett Reid died of an accidental heroin overdose.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Peter King told 97.5 The Fanatic that this is Vick’s last shot.

“I think there has to be one final attempt with Michael Vick to make sure that he does what he is being asked to do, which is basically practice ball security.  And if he can’t then they’re going to have to do exactly what Andy did with Kevin Kolb. He’s going to have to shock the world and go with Foles.”

The Redskins are fond of former Eagle punters, apparently. In the event that Sav Rocca can’t go Sunday, Washington is taking  a look at Chas Henry, per the Washington Post.

The NFLPA is using Reggie White‘s 1996 “Smash for Cash” program to demonstrate the league’s inconsistency when it comes to the bounty issue. From PFT:

The filing from the NFLPA in the bounty case discusses White’s “Smash for Cash” program, which included $500 payments for big hits. At the time, according to the NFLPA, the NFL said the program was OK “as long as players use their own money, amounts are not exorbitant and payments aren’t for illegal hits.”

The NFLPA says that the NFL’s rules haven’t changed since then, but the NFL’s PR agenda has.

COMING UP

This has been an active bye week, hasn’t it? More to come…