The Eagles are 3-5. The natural tendency is to blame the quarterback or blame the coach.
For the record, I'd do the latter. But that's another conversation for another day.
McNabb gets all that. He might be sensitive, but he's not stupid.
But it's just wrong to think that the 23-year-old Kolb will make this offense and this team better. He won't. He can't. He doesn't yet know how. Maybe one day, but not now.
What would help are a few players not named Westbrook who can actually catch a pass and make a play. It would help to have a true No. 1 receiver, not someone you think can emerge as a No. 1. It would help to have a healthy, proven tight end. It would help to have a legitimate second running back.
For the love of special teams, it would help to have someone who can give the offense decent - if not spectacular - field position once in a while. And it would help to have a few more playmakers on defense, guys who can create turnovers and get stops. It would help to have a premier strong safety.
That the Eagles lack all of the above is not McNabb's fault. Yes, he takes sacks when he should throw the ball away. Yes, his passes aren't always on the mark. Yes, his record of late isn't the greatest.
But have people forgotten how he started the year off last year? How he was lethal with the long ball? How he still could move? How he thrived when he had a good wide receiver?
All of that is not gone. McNabb's not done. He doesn't have the weapons, and he's not 100 percent McNabb. That isn't an excuse; it's a reality. So is this: A quarterback is always better his second year after a major knee surgery than his first.
So don't accept the knee-jerk premise that benching McNabb for Kolb is the right thing to do. It's not.
