The regular season of the NFL has drawn to a dramatic close, coming down to the final game for many teams hoping to make a run for the Super Bowl. It was sheer madness, capping off a season that had as many outrageous story lines as One Life To Live during sweeps. You had your aging quarterback dust-ups, your bad officiating, your countless concussions, and a shooting or two just to keep you on the edge of your seat. Toss in some banned substances and you’ve got yourself one heck of a party! But a party is no picnic when no one gets along. Which is why the greatest lesson, again, is that good chemistry equates to wins when the weather turns brutal, the body aches and the stakes are high. When it gets harder to simply rise in the morning, a shared goal of excellence and the love for teammates is like a big fat alarm clock ringing incessantly in your ear.

Alright, you win, it IS funny when you pee in your uniform…

Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens are both sensitive, and sensitivity is not necessarily a coveted trait in the NFL. But with winning, everything is tolerated. For instance, had the Dallas Cowboys won on Sunday, this comment by Terrell Owens regarding a pre-game pep-text he sent to Tony Romo (not necessarily the pillar of strength in really, really important games) wouldn’t be so slightly evil: “I just told him no matter what, I’m still the same guy who shed tears for him at last year’s press conference, and I’d do it again, because that’s the type of person I am, regardless of what anybody thinks or says about me.”

Why not just add, “And I fully expect to be balling my eyes out tonight.”?

Here he is thinking he’s being supportive and empathic; a good teammate who cares about his fellow super star. But basically he’s saying that there is a pretty big chance that Romo will reenact last year’s Giants game, and should that happen he will be there with hanky in hand, offering support. Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence you self-centered twit.

That’s not the kind of message one hopes to receive moments before the biggest game of the year. A teammate who is grounded in the shared goals of the team would only be thinking about winning, spending those last precious moments before kick-off visualizing a total thrashing of the competition, not clicking away on their iPhone.

Donovan would never, ever do that. And that is something Philly fans should be excited about. T.O. means well in an All-T.O.-All-The-Time-Universe (fun to visit, wouldn’t want to live there) but his actions as a result of feeling under-appreciated or wronged often have very negative consequences. Instead of subconsciously crafting ways to undermine the confidence of his colleagues, McNabb spent the week keeping them focused on the game, on slaying Dallas and on doing what is within their power to break into the post season.

Which is not to say that McNabb isn’t guilty of a little pity party every now and then…

But when Donovan speaks out about being wronged or disrespected his team rallies around him. They up their game. The locker room doesn’t get fractured, it heals whatever may have been festering beneath the surface. (Praise Lombardi, don’t let it be staph.) It doesn’t matter who has thrown the arrow, be it Reid when he benched McNabb or the fans, many of whom have been shredding him all over town up until the red carpet ride into playoff football. When McNabb gets beat up those closest to him show their support by the caliber of their play.

So, Donovan has the support of the locker room, but does he have the support of the people? (And no matter what he says, he cares about the answer to that question.) He may not, but he should. So he gets a wee bit wordy and testy when asked about the booing at the draft and the ripping on talk radio. Who wouldn’t after a decade of being roughed up by the fans?

To be sure, when the Eagles lose (which always precedes the McNabb Bash-a-Thon) it isn’t exclusively because of McNabb. As boring as it is to all who have heard it time and again, it really is Andy Reid’s responsibility to put his guys in place to make plays. That means having a balanced offense that allows the quarterback to get in rhythm, keeping the defense guessing what’s next. Then, miracle of miracles, after a win the fans seem to have quieted down.

But now it’s also time for McNabb to grow up and close the wounds caused by those who speak ill of him. Really. As in don’t address it, refer to it, suggest you still are thinking about it, or even simply smirk when asked if the fans’ opinion of you is hurtful. For McNabb’s sake we hope he can put all that history in perspective, because the lesson learned in the 2008 NFL season is that a healthy psyche is rewarded by victory.

Chemistry is the new ‘wildcat’.

Just go win a Super Bowl and then you can get all chick-like about it and be indifferent to the adoration. Works all the time. Trust us. But between now and then it is imperative that Donovan McNabb put to bed all those barbs that have caused him angst. That way his arms won’t be weighed down with all that sensitive, emotional baggage when he goes to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy in Tampa.

Then the fans can start complaining about not having been able to enjoy the whole season. But McNabb and his sensitive nature will be off the hook for life.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 11:17 am and is filed under Fantoo Blog Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.