Love him or hate him, vote McNabb to the '10 Pro Bowl.


As many of you know, I was, and still am, of the thinking that moving Donovan McNabb was a terrible mistake -- especially moving him inside the division. However, I am an Eagles fan first, and a McNabb fan second.

Because of that, it is the duty of every Eagles fan to vote for Donovan McNabb when the Pro Bowl voting comes around.

Regardless of whether or not the Redskins are 8-0 or 0-8, whether he's thrown 20 touchdowns or two, every fan must vote for the new Redskins quarterback.

Why? Well, because if McNabb goes to the Pro Bowl in 2010, the fourth-round pick the Eagles are currently due to receive from the 'Skins turns into a third. The other way is if McNabb plays 70 percent of the snaps and the 'Skins win nine games, but that team winning nine games is still a bit far-fetched.

Outside of trading for McNabb and bringing in Mike Shanahan, the team is essentially the same and will have a problem scoring points. The defense is good, and looks to get better under Jim Haslett, but even McNabb won't be able to resurrect that offense.

The fan vote is only worth about 25 percent, but with McNabb's name he should only have to have a slightly above-average season to make it into the NFL's All-Star game -- especially if Brett Favre doesn't return to the Vikings.

So, Eagles fans, when the time comes make sure you vote McNabb into the Pro Bowl, even at the expense of voting for Kolb (fingers crossed he actually deserves it). You've actually got the chance to influence what draft pick the Eagles will take from the 'Skins, so make sure you do your civic duty!

But, just to be safe, don't tell the Redskins fans we're doing this. They're just gonna vote for him too and unknowingly further our cause... they're so stupid.
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This isn't the same Winston Justice Osi saw in '07.


Maybe not next year -- because the Pro Bowl voting is ridiculous -- but Winston Justice will eventually be a Pro Bowl right tackle in this league.

I say right tackle specifically because that is now his spot to lose. He won't be switching to left tackle or moving to guard or anything like that. He earned that spot with the way he played in '09 and based on what we saw, I look for him to take it to the next level in a year or two and get serious consideration for the Pro Bowl.

Leading up to 2009, I said that I believed Justice could be the starter, and a very good one at that.

The Eagles' offensive line, as a unit, was shaky throughout the '09 campaign. But through it all, Justice was constantly the most consistent guy on the line. He had some mental breakdowns as the season went on, but that's to be expected of a first-time starter.

The biggest thing for me is that I didn't see a whole lot of physical short-comings that would make me believe that he will him limitations on his career. He seemed able to do it all -- run or pass and even pulling for the screen, he looked like a guy with all the physical tools to get it done.

That's a good start because from there everything is mental. If he will put in the extra hours of game film and work with offensive line coach Juan Castillo, he can be a very good right tackle for this team -- and very quickly at that.

My official guess is that he'll end up in the Pro Bowl in two years. That should be plenty of time to get his mind right and, with very few elite right tackles in the league, there's no much competition there, either.
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McNabb is headed to the Pro Bowl -- Prayers answered?


Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb and strong safety Quintin Mikell have been added to the NFC's Pro Bowl roster. And really, that's about the extent of the news. The Birds now have nine players in the Pro Bowl, but at this point it doesn't mean a whole lot.

The Pro Bowl has become the biggest joke that the NFL puts together, outside of the annual game in London, England. Playing it a week before the Super Bowl seems to make sense on the surface, but if you dig (at all), you begin to unearth all of the problems presented with the move.

First of all, the two teams in the Super Bowl will obviously not be represented in the game because the players selected from those teams will be focusing on something a bit more important. Then there are the players who are too dinged up to play, and the guys who just have no interest in playing in an exhibition game.

And this is even not taking into account the awful decision to move the Pro Bowl from Hawaii.

A big reason that a lot of the superstars even agreed to play in the game was because they enjoyed the free trip out to Hawaii. They brought out their family and were able to goof around in Hawaii for a week before playing in a game that consisted of the best players the world had to offer.

Now with the game in Miami, you have at least six teams incredibly uninterested by the proposition of playing in Miami.

The Dolphins, of course, play there eight times per season. The game is being played at their home stadium, so they're especially uninterested. Then you have the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, and New York Jets who play there at least once per season and may have a "been there, done that" type of attitude.

Then you have the two other Florida teams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, who certainly won't see a week in Miami as much of a vacation.

So again I ask, what exactly is the point of moving the game from Hawaii?

The NFL will put together the annual disaster of the game in London in an effort to expose the people of England and all of Europe to American Football, but in the same year will alienate actual Americans in Hawaii by removing the one game per year that they've had an opportunity to see up close and personal.

But to answer the question, there is no point in moving the game from Hawaii. It was all about money, as is the case in most of the decisions made by the NFL. The people running Aloha Stadium (where the Pro Bowl was played prior to this season) wanted more money, and the NFL was unwilling to pay up.

Both sides thought the other would fold, but it didn't happen. Now the people of Hawaii are out an NFL game and the players and fans are forced to watch a game of lower quality than even in prior seasons.

Good move, NFL. I look forward to watching David Garrard and his 15 touchdowns lead the AFC squad to victory over an NFC squad void of any Saints or Vikings players.
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