Great Expectations

Comments () | Published August 19, 2010

So are McNabb’s sunny disposition and leadership style effective?

“Being a leader means to me that people around you must have trust in you,” McNabb tells me. “If things go wrong, do you point the finger? Or do you step up, act line a man, and say, ‘I have to play better—next play, next week’?

“I’m a guy who leads by example rather than talk about it. I want my teammates to go out and be relaxed and have fun. That’s when they play their best.”

Does a leader have to play drill sergeant at times?

“They come back to the huddle, I say: ‘Pick your head up. I’m coming right back to you,’ ” he explains. “I want these guys to understand we are all in this together.

“In the huddle, we might get in each other’s faces. You can argue until you are blue in the face. I’m more into the moving-on thing.”

Says Wilma McNabb: “You don’t know what’s going on in the huddle. You don’t know what he says to them.”

Jon Runyan knows. Wearing 69 on his Eagles jersey, he was the starting offensive tackle for 9 of McNabb’s 11 years in Philadelphia. It was his job to protect the quarterback from marauders such as Michael Strahan. Runyan played 190 consecutive games.

“People have problems with the way Don seems to be laughing it off,” says Runyan. “That’s the way he gets a bad play out of his head.”

Did McNabb ever dress another player down in the huddle?

“He’s not the kind of person who’s going to put that out there,” Runyan says. “Ultimately, you are going to make mistakes on the football field. You have to refocus and think about the next play. People don’t realize what a huge chess game we play on the field.”

Runyan has retired and is running for Congress as a Republican in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Was McNabb an effective leader?

“Definitely,” he says. “I’m proud to say I was on the team with him as a leader. He was my friend on and off the field. As a lineman, you’ll do more for a friend than someone who doesn’t like you or criticizes you.

“We spent a lot of time together off the field. The goal of the team is to become a family. When times are tough, the family ties come to the fore.

“We had that—thanks to Donovan.”