Mayor Pleads for Ricky Williams

Donovan McNabb Controversies

Former Philadelphia Mayor, current Governor of Pennsylvania, and Eagles postgame analyst Ed Rendell urges the team to draft Ricky Williams. The Philadelphia Daily News even ran a cover photo with the headline "Take Ricky!". (AP Photo)

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Mayor Pleads for... Former Philadelphia Mayor, current Governor of Pennsylvania, and Eagles postgame analyst Ed Rendell urges the team to draft Ricky Williams. The Philadelphia Daily News even ran a cover photo with the headline "Take Ricky!". (AP Photo)
Booed at the Dra... After the mayor and local sports radio station 610 WIP stirred the fans' interest in Ricky Williams, a group of Eagles fans booed the selection of McNabb on draft day. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Mama's Boy Donovan has been ridiculed for his close relationship with his family, including his mother and Chunky Soup co-star, Wilma. Who knows why this is considered a bad thing? No. 5 seems to take heat for everything he does. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Inability to Sta... In 2002, McNabb missed six games with a broken ankle, in '05 he missed the final seven games with a hernia, and in '06 he missed the last six games after ripping up his knee. Last year, he sat out twice with thumb and ankle ailments. (AP Photo/Miles Kennedy)
Parking Tickets On top of everything else, McNabb was found guilty of parking in a handicapped zone in 2006, although his security adviser was apparently the one who parked the vehicle. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Rush Limbaugh Co... In 2003 while working on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown pregame show, Rush Limbaugh said, "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve." Limbaugh was let go by ESPN in wake of those comments. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
Coming up Short ... The Eagles dropped three straight NFC Championship Games following the 2001-03 seasons. In those contests, McNabb tossed one TD and five INTs. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Super Bowl Meltd... McNabb's lackluster performance in Super Bowl XXXIX, a loss to the Patriots, has become legendary in Philly. The main source of the fans' ire come from poor fourth-quarter clock management. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Tired in Super B... After the Super Bowl loss, some teammates--including Freddie Mitchell, Hank Fraley, and Terrell Owens--suggested McNabb threw up in the huddle toward the end of the game. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
The T.O. Affair Terrell Owens is the one star receiver McNabb has worked with in the NFL. The relationship began swimmingly, until Owens got hurt and McNabb said the Eagles could win without him. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr)
Black-on-Black C... In a February 2006 interview with ESPN, McNabb reiterated remarks first made by his father that criticism from T.O. was "black-on-black" crime. McNabb was specifically bothered by Owens' suggestion that the Eagles would be better off with Brett Favre at QB. "It was definitely a slap in the face to me," McNabb said in the interview. "It was a slap in the face because, as deep as people want to go into it, it was black-on-black crime." (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, File)
NAACP Criticism In November 2005, J. Whyatt Mondesire, the president of the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP, wrote that McNabb's refusal to scramble "belittles the real struggles of black athletes who've had to overcome real racial stereotypcasting (sic) in addition to downright segregation." Mondesire continued, "In essence Donny, you are mediocre at best. And trying to disguise that fact behind some concocted reasoning that African-American quarterbacks who can scramble and who can run the ball are somehow lesser field generals...is more insulting off the field than on." (AP Photo/Ricky Carioti)
Jeff Garcia Take... After Garcia led the Eagles to wins in their final five games of 2006 Mama McNabb blogged: "It's kind of bittersweet for me...Will they crucify [Donovan]? Maybe, then the trade talks would begin. Off-season madness, worse than last year's fiasco." (AP Photos/Tom Mihalek)
Scrutiny on Blac... McNabb created a stir in September 2007 when he told HBO that black QBs face more scrutiny than their white counterparts. "It's just reality," he said. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Pam Oliver Incid... During the Eagles game in Dallas in December 2007, FOX's Pam Oliver reported that McNabb said "his days in Philadelphia were numbered" and "he sees an organization distancing itself from him." Donovan denied making the remarks, but Oliver defended her story.
Late Game Strugg... McNabb has been dogged by the notion that he isn't clutch. This season isn't going to help silence that thinking, as the Eagles are 0-4-1 in games decided by six points or less. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)
Tiegate After a 13-13 tie with the Bengals on November 9, McNabb admitted, "I've never been a part of a tie. I never even knew that was in the rule book." (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Benched in Balti... After seven turnovers in his last seven quarters, McNabb was benched at halftime Sunday in Baltimore. Making matters worse, the message was given to him from QB coach Pat Shurmur, not Andy Reid himself. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)
Relationship Wit... For whatever reason, McNabb has never been fully embraced by the Philly fans. He seems destined to go down with the likes of Mike Schmidt, Ron Jaworski, Charles Barkley, and Eric Lindros as stars the town never appreciated until they were gone. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)
A Package Deal Andy Reid was hired prior to the 1999 season and his first draft choice was McNabb. The two will be forever linked in Philadelphia history and whenever one takes criticism, the heat will soon follow the other. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)