An Interview with ESPN's Matt Mosley

Last night we at the DL had the chance to talk with Matt Mosley of ESPN. Mosley covers the NFC East for the ESPN division of the World Wide Leader in Sports (Blogging) and with everything going on in New York, and the big Eagles Giants game this weekend, there are some interesting quotes to share.

Will Donovan McNabb be back next year? Why would he want to be back?

I think McNabb, unless they put something together here and make a playoff run – and I don't see them doing it – I think he is gone. I think the end of the era has come. I think the panic move to take him out of that game against Baltimore, I just think it was a sign. You know what the cap figure is. You know what it will take to bring him back. It makes too much sense for them to move on. I'm not saying it's the right thing. I'm not even saying I agree with it. But that's what I think is going to happen.

More, including Andy Reid's future, the Plaxico Burress situation, the Cowboys soap opera and snowballs being hurled at St. Nick, ATJ.

Will Andy Reid be back next year? Why would he want to be back?

Andy Reid is one of the last – remember years ago, in 2001, it was kind of en vogue to have a head coach/GM. A guy who took care of coaching and the personnel. He got caught up in that. The Eagles gave him that opportunity. Now, Bill Belichick, Mike Shanahan, Andy Reid. That's it. Can you think of anybody else as a head coach in the NFL who has full control over personnel? I think I just named the only three.

I think Andy Reid could find himself being stripped of that title. Will he be fired? No. I don't think he'll be fired. I think Andy Reid is back, and I think Donovan McNabb is gone. And let's get excited about the Kevin Kolb Era.

On Plaxico Burress situation, when compared to other crazy situations involving NFL players (Ray Lewis at the Super Bowl, TO in the driveway, etc):

Every time we feel like nothing crazier can happen - this was almost a Barney Fife type situation. A guy walks in, he's drinking a glass of wine while apparently handling his gun...there are so many things that happened at every level of this thing that are bizarre.

The gun fires and he shoots himself, so there's a part of us that thinks, 'you know what, the guy did it to himself.' Why are we hassling this guy so much. The truth is, I think New York and Mayor Bloomberg has been very outspoken on this. They've got as tough, if not tougher gun laws than anywhere in the nation. They have a mandatory three and a half year sentence. Do I think he's going to spend three and a half years behind bars, no. I think they'll work something out because he has no priors.

I want to say nothing shocks me anymore, but again, this is bizarre behavior. Time and time again he has been warned, he has skipped treatments. This guy has been fined, if you believe all the media reports, up to 30 or 40 times since he's been with the Giants in 2005. He has an issue with authority.

On the Plaxico event being a distraction, or the media asking about the event being a distraction:

It is the media that is in a sense. But they wouldn't be out there doing this, so I think you'd have a hard time arguing with the media causing all these distractions because this distraction didn't occur until the player did this. The media is in a reactive sense. I think it is fair to say that the media, in this phenomenon that is going on right now in this wall to wall coverage of this is what's causing the distraction, but the impetus for this was obviously something caused by a New York Giants player.

On the Cowboys righting the ship and being a secure place heading to the playoffs, or being on the precipice for disaster:

I would never refer to Dallas as a secure organization after some of the things they've been through. It is in some sense a smokescreen. I think the Cowboys are in a situation where they are hoping they could be like the Giants in 2007 and get hot at the right time. I don't see the Giants letting down. But it is interesting how the Cowboys circus - this traveling circus they have with TO and Roy Williams coming in and Tony Romo and Pac Man - it never stops.

On the Cowboys being humbled this year:

But this Giants thing has taken some away from them. This team has been humbled to a certain extent. There are not a lot of humble people on this team, but I do think there is a chance when you get beaten by the St. Louis Rams, or the Arizona Cardinals beat you, there is a time when they've been humbled somewhat. I think it will be interesting to see how they respond to everything. But over the last three games, they've responded favorably. And that Redskins game in Washington was possibly a season-saving win.

On the NFC East in the Playoffs. Can Dallas make the Super Bowl?

Who is the biggest threat to the New York Giants right now? In my mind, if the Cowboys can get in the tournament, they can be the biggest threat. Are you really that scared of the Panthers? Are you really that scared of Tampa Bay? Dallas beat Tampa with Brad Johnson as their starting quarterback. Enough said.

I think the Cowboys, if they can get on a roll and get some momentum going in December, have as good a chance with the talent they have as anyone to beat the New York Giants.

On out-of-town media people constantly using the old 'Eagles fans throwing Snowballs at Santa' line:

I think you would be hard pressed to ever find anything I've written that mentioned snowballs being thrown at Santa Claus. Except for, I wrote a feature story when y'all went to the Super Bowl and I came to town and spent a week and it was one of those things I kind of had to mention. I was writing a story when I was with the Dallas Morning News about what this meant to Eagles fans. Trying to describe to Dallas people what made a Philadelphia fan. But I promise on this night (December 3) that I will never write another sentence about Eagles fans throwing snowballs at Santa ever again.

One writer at at time. For the whole interview. or cut ups of each of these segments, click here.

Read Mosley's blog at ESPN here.

Comments

[Kulp]

I feel like one of the only people in the world that believes Donovan will be back next year, unless somebody is willing to drop some serious draft picks.

Also, with Plax out, I am thinking Carolina might actually be the team to beat in the NFC. Do they "scare" people? Probably not, but they still have a solid core of guys that were there for their last run. Dominant running game, efficient veteran QB, solid defense. Scary? No, but not as inconsistent as the Cowboys either.

[David F.]

We need to ditch Reid and give Donovan one more shot (with an elite receiver hopefully.) Andy Reid has been outcoached so many times this year...to bring him back makes absolutely no sense, not with some of the potential coaching candidates that will be out there.

If we give up on Donovan yet give that fat ass another season I will root against this team in the hopes that we can find a REAL coach out there who can actually call smart plays. I'm so sick of Andy and his excuses...throwing everyone under the bus but himself (what do you think that whole benching of Donovan was about?)

[Scott B]

i continue to agree that Donovan is not our problem. the playcalling is.

who makes the play calling? the fat guy with the red moustache.

[doubleh]

Mosley will never mention the snowball incident again because he almost never covers the Eagles in any depth in his blog column. I've scoured it many times to no avail.

He seems to be a big old Cowboys fan to me.

[Joe]

McNabb is streaky, just like many quarterbacks in this league...but Reid's play-calling has been consistently bad for the past 3 years.

[Ben]

@ doubleh: Part of the reason Mosely covers the Cowboys so much is because he lives in the dallas area.