The injury is what it is, and what it isn't. Donovan McNabb has a fractured rib, which is going to cause him all kinds of pain as he attempts to perform the most ordinary tasks this week, much less try to drop back and throw a football on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. What the injury isn't is easy to diagnose from a will-he-play? perspective.
It is early in the week, far too early to know for sure what McNabb's status for Sunday is going to be. From all anybody who has ever had a fractured rib has said, the biggest challenge is for McNabb to tolerate the pain of the injury. There is little or no chance, say the quasi-experts all offering their advice right now, that McNabb would hurt the rib worse should he play against New Orleans.
Yeah, the Eagles could put a flak jacket on him and they could make sure he is well protected from oncoming Saints, but that won't dull the agony he is going to feel from lifting his arm and from calling out signals and from going through the sheer mechanics of playing the position.
In the aftermath of a convincing and promising win over Carolina, the immediate focus turns to McNabb and to the quarterback position. With Michael Vick not permitted to be in uniform until Week 3 against the Chiefs, the Eagles are in a precarious position at quarterback for Sunday. Kevin Kolb finished the second half when McNabb went out of the game and Kolb was 7 of 11 and did some good things and did some not-as-good-things. I happen to be a huge Kolb fan. I like his accuracy and I like his poise and I like his mobility.
If Kolb is called upon to play on Sunday, there is full confidence here that he will do a good job. Kolb knows the scheme and he will benefit from practice repetitions and developed timing with his receivers.
At the same time, McNabb's injury puts the Eagles in a quandary. Do they go out and sign a quarterback for an emergency situation for one week and cut a player from the current 53-man roster? With Michael Vick out for the Saints game, the Eagles would certainly need to make sure they have a backup in case McNabb can't go.
This is the kind of injury that is monitored day by day, and it may not be until Friday that the Eagles know for sure if the pain has eased enough for McNabb to suit up on Sunday. They can't wait that long to add a quarterback, can they?
Anyway, McNabb's injury is the focus again. With a strong Saints team coming to town, the Eagles must play an ""A"" game to win their home opener. New Orleans has a potent offense and is capable of scoring 50 points on any defense in the league. Expecting to win a 13-10 game might be far-fetched this week, no matter how dominating the Eagles were defensively in Carolina. The Eagles are going to have to put up some points to win on Sunday.
I don't know how it is going to turn out for Sunday. McNabb is going to do everything he can to heal to the point where he can play against the Saints. He is having too much fun – everybody is on this team – to miss even one week. But how much does a rib heal? Are there ways to heal more quickly? Is there a hyperbaric chamber in the house?
Things don't come easily for the Eagles. That is the order of things here. Andy Reid is taking the right approach and keeping the mood positive and making sure that Kolb understands that if he gets the call, the offense is going to remain the same and the Eagles will have every confidence in Kolb throwing the football, making the right reads and scoring big points with an all-around offense that generated 185 of the quietest rushing yards in the opening victory on Sunday.
Will McNabb play? Your guess is as good as mine. Truth is, despite all of the premature reports, nobody really knows. McNabb played on a broken ankle back in 2002 and then he healed very quickly when the decision was made to sit him for the stretch run that season. He is a tough guy and he knows how to play through pain, but a rib is a rib is a rib and a quarterback has a range of motion that is repeated on every play and cannot be curtailed.
And so we wait. And we wonder and speculate the theorize all of the what-if scenarios. In the meantime, McNabb is recovering in every way that he can, and Kolb is preparing to be the starter, and the Eagles have a tough decision to make on whether to add a quarterback for an emergency situation.
More intrigue. Would you expect it any other way? Photo Gallery : PHI vs. CAR 9-13-09
