The Redskins' decision to bench Donovan McNabb Sunday led to quite a bit of schadenfreude on the Philadelphia airwaves Monday- Mike Missanelli, for his part, carried the entire Mike Shanahan press conference live during his show- but I was particularly interested in something Howard Eskin said on his show Monday.
Eskin has generally been pro-McNabb over the years, but since his departure Howard has joined the rest of the WIP on-air staff in taking cheap shots at him; it's in line with Eskin's traditional m.o. of turning viciously against any player the Eagles are either feuding with or have recently gotten rid of.
Monday, Eskin shared that he has heard from unnamed "NFL sources"- people who know what they're talking about- that McNabb in his years with the Eagles often had trouble during the two-minute drill, including having trouble understanding the plays and executing them. Saying so caused cohost Ike Reese -an ex-Eagle who played with McNabb- to react incredulously, and the two screamed at each other for several minutes.
So here's what's odd: What Eskin said has generally been part of the anti-McNabb critique for a decade- it's nothing new. Eskin is super-close with the Eagles organization, so it's clear that the "sources" are probably from the Eagles- who else would have such intimate knowledge? So why didn't these sources ever tell Eskin this before now?
If Eagles sources were saying this, on the record, it would be newsworthy, because they'd be admitting something they never had before. But since we don't know for a fact they ARE Eagles sources, it isn't.
And of course, it's not necessarily right, since McNabb did in fact lead a whole bunch of two-minute-drill comebacks in his years with the Eagles.