No More Soup For Him

The Lord of Truth fills us in on the true story regarding a certain QB's illness during the Super Bowl...

It was a hit by linebacker Tedy Bruschi that left quarterback Donovan McNabb gasping for air at a time when the Eagles were attempting to go into their hurry-up offense during their Super Bowl XXXIX loss to the New England Patriots.

According to two sources, McNabb said he was hit in the back by Bruschi as he fell forward during a broken play on which he unexpectedly received the snap from center Hank Fraley.

That play ended with 3 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the game and the Eagles trailing, 24-14. After the play, the Eagles huddled and did not get their next play off until 2:55 remained, with seven seconds showing on the play clock.

McNabb, on a third-and-10 play, completed a first-down pass to Freddie Mitchell, then motioned for his teammates to quickly get up to the line of scrimmage. But as he was calling the play at the line, he began to gasp and had to motion his teammates back to the huddle, where video of the game clearly shows him violently coughing.

According to a team source, McNabb said he called the play in the huddle with hand signals. But 30 seconds elapsed between the first-down pass to Mitchell and the next play, a dropped pass by running back Brian Westbrook. That play could have resulted in a huge gain.

Though the 13-play drive ended with McNabb throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Greg Lewis that pulled the Eagles within three points, the game clock had just 1:48 remaining. The drive had started with 5:40 left.

...According to a team source, McNabb has been reluctant to talk about what happened on the Eagles' final touchdown drive because he does not want to sound as though he is making an excuse for the Eagles' Super Bowl loss.

I admire McNabb for not making excuses, but coming out for a play or two might have been more helpful. Of course, maybe the truth was that he was just sickened by the fact that his second-best wide receiver is Todd Pinkston.