Five years ago, Donovan McNabb led the Philadelphia Eagles to their first Super Bowl in almost a quarter of a century. Four years ago, he practiced at minicamp just six months removed from reconstructive knee surgery and recovered in time to start the season opener. Last year, McNabb overcame the first benching of his career to lead the 5-6-1 Eagles to four wins in their last five games, into the playoffs and to their fifth conference championship in the quarterback's 10th year.
Still, eight games into the 2009 season, Eagles coach Andy Reid is convinced that his franchise quarterback has taken leadership to a higher level. Many of McNabb's teammates have also praised the veteran quarterback's leadership this season.
McNabb doesn't think he's done anything differently this season than any of his first 10.
"It's really no different than what I've been doing the past couple of years," he said. "I think that at this particular point right now, because those (veteran) guys are gone, that I guess they probably hear my voice a little bit more or pay more attention to what I'm saying.
"Anytime that you have a young group, and when it comes to the core guys of this team, (I'm) talking about myself, (Brian) Westbrook, (David) Akers and probably not even a handful of guys that are still here, you just try to provide confidence to them, first. Secondly, prepare them for what you will be faced with throughout the year. Third, I think it's more or less just going out and making sure that they're having fun and being themselves.
"That's kind of the way I've tried to set the tone for them and just show them by my work ethic, the way that I prepare myself throughout the week, and when I step out on the football field, just to go out and win games."
No comments:
Post a Comment