Donovan McNabb takes the first step towards Superbowl XLII

Donovan McNabb returns to lead the Eagles. The one question that every Eagles fan has, will finally be answered on friday night. How good will Donovan McNabb be? The answer is: as good as ever. When looking at the various articles that are published about McNabb and his injury, it seems as if the sporting world simply takes it for granted that Donovan will be ready to play on Friday. However, the initial prognosis in November 2006, when the injury occured, was that McNabb would possibly be sidelined for 11-13 months. It has only been nine months since the star signal-caller sustained the devastating injury. This kind of complacency that arises whenever a big time American athelete, especially a NFL player, gets injured, is created because there have been so many success stories about atheletes who recover way ahead of schedule. The most recent example to point to is Carson Palmer of the Cincinnati Bengals. He returned ahead of schedule, and had a great season. But it is also important to remember the busts. Daunte Culpepper was not ready to get back on the field, but he did. And it was a bust, that left him reeling to find a starting job, a mere three seasons after he had one of the best statistical seasons ever. Admittedly, the Dolphins didn't handle the situation very well, but it could still have been avoided if he had enough time to recover. So back to the big question: How good will Donovan McNabb be? It is important to compare the recovery of McNabb to that of Culpepper and the staff that they have/had around them. In McNabb's case, the mere fact that he has Andy Reid to guide him, gives me great confidence. The character of McNabb, as epitomised by the fact that he has returned ahead of schedule and looked "great", indicates that he is intelligent enough not to rush into something when he is not ready yet. And if he believes that he is ready, everybody should believe that he is ready. There has never been a reason to doubt him. I believe that McNabb will get all of the reps during the first quarter, exactly like A.J. Feeley had on Sunday. He will be asked to do the same things that he has always done, and he will do them successfully. We will finally be able to look ahead to the 2007/2008 season with the optimism that we have kept restrained because McNabb wasn't ready yet. He is ready now. After the game we will all be happy to have The Don back, and there will be a collective sigh of relief. Everything will be back to the way it should be.