Former Eagles defensive end and 94WIP Midday Show host Hugh Douglas reacted to former Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel saying that Andy Reid did not hold Donovan McNabb accountable enough.
"Yeah, I know Asante Samuel does his podcast and he's trying to get clicks," Douglas said on Thursday's 94WIP Midday Show. "And I also know that he wants to be a Hall Of Famer. We're in a space now so the reality of the situation is, we all say things that we want to incite people to communicate about. So yeah, there is some truth to that, but when it comes to the fact that when you talk about being a leader in the locker room and things of that nature—Asante's job was to help Donovan become a better quarterback instead of running upstairs, in my opinion, to Andy Reid and telling on everybody."
Samuel, who played for the Eagles from 2008 to 2011 after winning two Super Bowls in New England, said McNabb would constantly throw "dirt balls" in practice and no one would say anything so he took it up himself to go into Andy Reid's office and confront him on it.
Douglas also played for the Eagles under Reid for five seasons from 1998-2002. Reid and the Eagles drafted McNabb with the No. 2 overall pick in 1999.
"That wasn't a side of the ball that I watched because I was kind of focused on the defense," Douglas said of McNabb's apparent practice throwing errors.
"There were some quirks and mannerisms that Donovan had that probably rubbed people the wrong way. But like I said, if Asante Samuel came in with the cache that he had after winning the Super Bowl and that's how he felt, I feel like if he would have said that to Donovan that would have course corrected that season. The one thing that you can't be, especially on a team with your teammates of your peers, you can't be thinned skinned...If Asante felt that strong about then damn it, he should have did something about instead of running upstairs and telling on Donovan or telling Coach Reid."
Samuel believes that McNabb cost the Eagles the 2008 NFC Championship game by missing a wide open DeSean Jackson on three separate occasions.
The Eagles, of course, lost that game 32-25 and McNabb finished the game 28-47 for 375 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and one fumble lost. Defensively, the Eagles allowed 279 yards passing and four touchdowns through the air to Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald, who caught three of them.
