Staff Blog
Why Was McNabb Benched?
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| Yong Kim | Philly.com |
What are we to make, then, of Reid’s halftime benching of his longtime quarterback? It certainly isn’t solidarity among friends, that’s for sure. In a tactical sense, McNabb was again ineffective and Kevin Kolb is a decent arm off the bench, even at his inexperienced state. But in terms of overall strategy, this is akin to shoving the first mate off the edge of the ship as it threatens to go down. Maybe there’s no honor among professional athletes and their coaches/managers. But the long, symbiotic Reid/McNabb relationship makes this unspeakably intriguing for the armchair psychologist.
If Reid keeps McNabb playing through the rough spots at this point with Philly’s season on the line, maybe they both walk the plank at season’s end. By sending McNabb off early and turning to the team’s future (Kolb), can Reid save himself?
Reid doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who would acquiesce to critics to save his job – the Birds would probably run the ball occassionaly if he he was – but he never struck me as the type to sit McNabb down before either. I think Rich Hofmann may actually be right about this one: Reid just doesn’t have a gameplan anymore.
He was a hell of a coach, but his shelf life in this town is just about up.
btw, if you haven’t heard by now, McNabb starts Thursday
