By Tim McManus
When the clock strikes midnight, Jeff Garcia will officially be tied to the Philadelphia Eagles in lore only.
His departure creates two very distinct camps: Half who view it as dangerous and deplorable to let go a signal-caller who brought so much class and success to an organization; and another half that don't believe the fate of a backup quarterback impacts a team all that significantly one way or the other.
No matter which side you fall on, the reasons why the Eagles let Garcia walk should concern you.
Don't ever let them fool you into thinking it was a money issue; it wasn't.
The Birds had him right where they wanted him. They provided the stage for perhaps his most gratifying season; breathed life into a dying career.
Having won over a town who eat their own as frequently as they do embrace them, Garcia loved the idea of finishing off his career in Philly.
"Based upon my experience here, I hope that (the future) looks real good," said Garcia. "I hope we can figure out a way to keep me here.
"I think one of the things I look at is, I just want to be treated fairly. I just want to be respected and appreciated for my accomplishments on the field and what I bring as a person, and a leader and a motivator and just an attitude to this team, to this organization.
"If that can be appreciated, I have no problem with committing myself to Philadelphia, for not just one year but hopefully the rest of my career. Who knows how long that will be, but that's where I would like to see things go."
A few kind words and a slight pay bump, and he was staying. Like a man in love he could have been offered the world by the outside organizations, but if the Eagles so much as sneezed he would have come running back.
Instead the home team gave Garcia the cold shoulder and forced his hand -- and all because he did a little too much with the time allotted to him.
His departure was cemented right after the playoff loss to the Saints, when Brian Westbrook took to the podium and unleashed the following:
"We've been saying it the whole time that Jeff has been playing that he's brought that fire back and he's brought that competitiveness back," Westbrook said.
"He's a leader. He's a guy that the guys follow, and everybody has played better since Jeff has gotten in there - and that's a real, true definition of a leader. When guys rally around a guy and play better, you can't ask for much more."
Clearly those words were meant solely to praise the man who guided an improbable playoff run, but it also indicted the leadership skills of Donovan McNabb. The natural question following that statement is, 'So if it took a man like Garcia to bring the best out of this team, where does that leave the franchise QB, exactly?'
And if Garcia is a man that the team gravitates towards, where will players' allegiances lie next season, particularly when things are going badly?
Soon after the season was over, unconfirmed reports leaked out that McNabb was unhappy with the fact that some teammates preferred Garcia -- a sentiment that seemed to add weight to Westbrook's postgame remarks.
Is it a coincidence that A.J. Feeley is now the biggest threat to No. 5?
More than money or cap room or any other reasoning the Eagles are going to throw out there, the biggest reason that Garcia is soon to be with another team is that his presence could have caused a divide internally next season, stripping away those who hold little value in the leadership abilities of McNabb.
Whether Garcia should be back here or not is not the important issue. The fact that a backup quarterback could pose such a threat is the real concern.
Tim appears on this page every Thursday. You can contact him at tmcmanus@phanaticmag.com
When the clock strikes midnight, Jeff Garcia will officially be tied to the Philadelphia Eagles in lore only.
His departure creates two very distinct camps: Half who view it as dangerous and deplorable to let go a signal-caller who brought so much class and success to an organization; and another half that don't believe the fate of a backup quarterback impacts a team all that significantly one way or the other.
No matter which side you fall on, the reasons why the Eagles let Garcia walk should concern you.
Don't ever let them fool you into thinking it was a money issue; it wasn't.
The Birds had him right where they wanted him. They provided the stage for perhaps his most gratifying season; breathed life into a dying career.
Having won over a town who eat their own as frequently as they do embrace them, Garcia loved the idea of finishing off his career in Philly.
"Based upon my experience here, I hope that (the future) looks real good," said Garcia. "I hope we can figure out a way to keep me here.
"I think one of the things I look at is, I just want to be treated fairly. I just want to be respected and appreciated for my accomplishments on the field and what I bring as a person, and a leader and a motivator and just an attitude to this team, to this organization.
"If that can be appreciated, I have no problem with committing myself to Philadelphia, for not just one year but hopefully the rest of my career. Who knows how long that will be, but that's where I would like to see things go."
A few kind words and a slight pay bump, and he was staying. Like a man in love he could have been offered the world by the outside organizations, but if the Eagles so much as sneezed he would have come running back.
Instead the home team gave Garcia the cold shoulder and forced his hand -- and all because he did a little too much with the time allotted to him.
His departure was cemented right after the playoff loss to the Saints, when Brian Westbrook took to the podium and unleashed the following:
"We've been saying it the whole time that Jeff has been playing that he's brought that fire back and he's brought that competitiveness back," Westbrook said.
"He's a leader. He's a guy that the guys follow, and everybody has played better since Jeff has gotten in there - and that's a real, true definition of a leader. When guys rally around a guy and play better, you can't ask for much more."
Clearly those words were meant solely to praise the man who guided an improbable playoff run, but it also indicted the leadership skills of Donovan McNabb. The natural question following that statement is, 'So if it took a man like Garcia to bring the best out of this team, where does that leave the franchise QB, exactly?'
And if Garcia is a man that the team gravitates towards, where will players' allegiances lie next season, particularly when things are going badly?
Soon after the season was over, unconfirmed reports leaked out that McNabb was unhappy with the fact that some teammates preferred Garcia -- a sentiment that seemed to add weight to Westbrook's postgame remarks.
Is it a coincidence that A.J. Feeley is now the biggest threat to No. 5?
More than money or cap room or any other reasoning the Eagles are going to throw out there, the biggest reason that Garcia is soon to be with another team is that his presence could have caused a divide internally next season, stripping away those who hold little value in the leadership abilities of McNabb.
Whether Garcia should be back here or not is not the important issue. The fact that a backup quarterback could pose such a threat is the real concern.
Tim appears on this page every Thursday. You can contact him at tmcmanus@phanaticmag.com
1 comment:
Garcia classy? Uh, no. This is a man who has no compunctions about publicly throwing his teammates under the bus when things are going badly (see 49ers, San Francisco; Browns, Cleveland and Lions, Detroit). If he doesn't do it, he gets his girlfriend to call sports radio or his dad to get with the local paper and do it for him (see Browns, Cleveland and Lions, Detroit). Besides, he's made zero secret about wanting to be a free agent because he thinks he can be a starter somewhere and knows he can't do it in Philly. Trust me, if he'd wanted to stay he wouldn't have said a word. When he's getting flattened in Houston or Oakland next year like he did in Cleveland and Detroit you'll see just how "classy" he is.
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