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Were the twins on McNabb's mind?

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Donovan McNabb spoke to the media this week and the topic of discussion was the birth of his new twins. Ashley Fox recaps.

On Tuesday, three weeks before her due date, Roxie McNabb, the quarterback's wife, delivered twins, a healthy baby boy and girl. To hear McNabb tell it, the delivery was complicated but ultimately successful. Everyone is healthy - babies, mom and proud pop.

But there were times during the last several weeks and months when McNabb wondered, and worried, about his wife, about their 4-year-old daughter, Alexis, and about those unborn twins. Although he wouldn't go into specifics, McNabb worried about Roxie's health, about the strain carrying two babies put on her body, about whether those tots would be healthy or born too early.

"I tried to not let it affect my play knowing that I didn't play as well as I wanted to in the previous weeks," McNabb said yesterday. "But it's sort of a little weight off your shoulders knowing that everyone is healthy and everyone is fine and kind of can come back out here and have fun."

Fox said she thought McNabb would be "inhuman" if his wife's pregnancy wasn't weighing on his mind.

Not all memebers of the local media bought it. Rich Hoffman was skeptical.

In some ways, it is hard to believe that these worries would have affected McNabb on Sundays. The game is so fast and the adrenaline is pumping and the crowd is roaring and the bodies are hurtling past you, intent on mayhem. It is hard to see a player's mind wandering during that compressed period of intense action.

One other point: None of this explains the Arizona game on Thanksgiving night. In theory, all of the same concerns for his wife and the babies she was carrying, whatever those concerns were, would have existed that night, too - yet McNabb played a fabulous game, throwing accurately from the start, looking like his old self. His ability to compartmentalize during that game was fine.

So, as a neat-and-easy explanation for the way his play declined for the month before Thanksgiving - for the weeks of slow starts, and then the total debacles at Cincinnati and Baltimore followed by the great game against Arizona - this all falls a little bit short. At the same time, the very fact McNabb even brought it up is meaningful because it really isn't something he does.

Something Hoffman also brought up was the idea of preparation. We know that McNabb took a day off for personal reasons in the week leading up to the Bengal game. Obviously, that must have had to do with the pregnancy. Hoffman concedes that the difficult pregnancy certainly could have affected his preparation which certainly could have affected hs play.

So where do we fall on this? Have we found the source of McNabb's struggles against the Bengals and Ravens? Or does his stellar play against the Cards disprove the idea?

Poll
Do you believe his wife's difficult pregnancy was the reason for McNabb's struggles?
Yes, it is the main reason for his struggles
59 votes
No, it was not a major factor
80 votes
It was one of many reasons
222 votes

361 votes | Poll has closed

Comment 3 comments  |  0 recs  | 

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being a proud dad myself,

I can see how it will effect your performance. It sits in the back of your mind. I am sure that he is relieved that now its behind him. I can tell you, I was thrilled the second it was over, I felt a ton of weight being lifted off my shoulders. I sure he is business as usual.

Hey Donny, If you read this, of if any other players read this. Tell him we are happy for him, and dispite all thats happened with this team recently. We all wish him and his family the best. Congrats big man, you seem like an excellant father.

Philles (80 & 08)
Team of Destiny!

by yophillybro on Dec 4, 2008 12:04 PM EST reply actions  

Some insight on having Twins

My wife is currently 28 weeks pregnant with twins… The last couple of months of a twin pregnancy are really harrowing. There is a constant fear of “Pre-term” Labor. You meet with neo-natalogists who explain to you how sick your children will be if they are born too early. Add to that the fact that all twin pregnancies are considered “High Risk” and his wife may have been on bedrest for a time, meaning she was stuck in bed 24 hours a day. Also consider the fact that Dawk had problems with his twins and the possibility that the twins may have been the result of some type of fertility treatment to start with. He would in fact have to be inhuman not to have it way on him some. Perhaps once he reached a milestone (32 weeks when lungs are fully developed?) it weighed on him less?
The counter to that is that my job doesn’t give me much of a pass because of my wife .
:-/

by That_Guy77 on Dec 4, 2008 12:09 PM EST reply actions  

non-story

ashley fox needed a column today, so she wrote this non-story.

journalists always want things to fit in their magic little story-line craving heads.

mcnabb struggled because (X)….and since it’s all about egos, ashley fox being the hard-nosed journalist she is…somehow miraculously was able to connect the dots to explain why…

mcnabb was throwing ground balls, and interceptions because….his wife was having complications with her babies…

there it is! brilliant ashley fox. he couldn’t complete the passes because he just wasnt that into it.

and then magically, before the twins were born, he got it out of his system and tossed 4 TDs and 260 yards against the Cards on Thanksgiving – which, when you think about it…he was probably thinking about his family more than any other day…

unbelievable.

by damonmoore43 on Dec 4, 2008 1:37 PM EST reply actions  

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