McNabb returns to Philly area for annual charity event

The following was posted by Les Bowen on eagletarian.com

There were current Redskins, ex-Eagles and current Eagles wearing Donovan McNabb clinic T-shirts on the sun-soaked Evesham Township field Saturday afternoon, as the Eagles' deposed franchise quarterback held his annual youth football clinic, aimed at raising diabetes awareness and raising money for the McNabb neonatal unit at the nearby Virtua Hospital in Voorhees.

The host of the event was in a mellow mood, in his return to the area where he starred for 11 seasons, before being traded to Washington a little more than 2 months ago. There were a few instances where sharp feelings seemed to lurk below the surface, most notably when McNabb was asked a question about what last season was like, if he'd felt he was being phased out in a locker room of young offensive stars.

"When you're an older guy, it not only happens with me, it happens to Peyton [Manning], it happens to Tom [Brady]. Everybody talks about you," McNabb said. "You win, everybody talks about you. You lose, everybody talks about you. Some young guys always want to get the credit, until they get in the shoes where they're the ones getting the criticism, then all of a sudden, people don't like to be criticized. I can handle that. Some people can't. Until they get hit with that type of buzz, then they really realize the shoes that I was in. From afar, everybody wants to be who you are. But the fun thing about it is, that's part of the game. That's something that I've taken on, and I know the role, and I love it. I loved it here, and I'm going to love it again in Washington."

McNabb didn't say exactly who or what he was talking about, and there was no opportunity for a followup, during a hurried, on-field media session with Philadelphia news outlets, after the QB sat down and talked at length individually with the Washington media. But a good guess might be that these were his thoughts concerning wideout DeSean Jackson's remarks in praise of the move to new starting QB Kevin Kolb - and to previous reports that some of the Eagles' young stars were (perhaps understandably) closer to Kolb last season than to McNabb. McNabb also was widely criticized at the end of last season for agreeing with a questioner that the team showed its youth in back-to-back, season-ending losses to Dallas.