If Jeff Garcia were a candidate for political office, his opponent would be complaining today about all the favorable coverage he was getting in the local press.
Garcia's image rehabilitation -- which began two Sundays ago against Indy and accelerated on Monday against Carolina -- really took off today with sympathetic profiles in both the Inquirer and the Daily News. Given that Sylvester Stallone was, like, at the game Monday, it's not surprising that both stories compared Garcia to Rocky for his toughness and underdog status.
Which is pretty funny.
Yes, Garcia is an Iverson-sized player in a league full of Shaqs. There's no questioning the toughness o####uy who is "6-1" and "200 pounds" and has survived in the league this long. And given the Eagles' situation right now, he's definitely the underdog.
But Rocky was a Philadelphia native who worked as a debt collector, could barely string two complete sentences together, was in love with a mousy pet store clerk and matched perfectly the town's blue-collar perception of itself.
There's another issue too and -- sorry -- it's an issue. There is a long-standing perception that Garcia is ####. If you don't think that shapes some people's opinion of him, well then you've been missing the "Garthia" cracks and the "he has great experience with the tight end" jokes. #### men can get married in New Jersey, but evidently some fans still don't want them playing quarterback in Pennsylvania.
The good news for Garcia is that he's a spry looking 36-year-old, so if he can just hang on 80 more years he might last long enough to see that prejudice disappear.
So he's not Rocky and he'll never be local hero AJ Feeley, but I'm not sure why so many people are surprised by what he's doing here. First of all, the fact that the Eagles won covered up a fair number of ugly plays on his part. As another blogger pointed out, if McNabb had a game where he completed only 54 percent of his passes and threw more than a couple ducks that could have been intercepted, he'd certainly be hearing about it the rest of the week.
Yeah, Garcia fought hard and played pretty well, and his teammates seemed to respond to him, but it's worth remembering that in the NFL, nothing is ever has good (4-1) or as bad (5-6) as it appears.
Secondly, Garcia has always been a good quarterback. He had a couple of ugly stops in Cleveland and Detroit, but those are places that good quarterbacks go to die.
You know what I remember about Garcia's post-49ers time? It was the game he played against the Eagles in 2004 for the Browns. It was his first chance to play against Terrell Owens, the player who had trashed him back in San Francisco. Yes, the Eagles won the game in overtime on a David Akers field goal. But the Browns, who won only four games all season, made the NFC's best team fight for it the whole way. And they were led by Jeff Garcia, who didn't have great numbers, but who kept making just enough plays to keep his team in the game.
Honestly, given how much #### TO had put him through and the way he refused to give up in that game, I have to admit that I was kind of rooting for him as that day wore on. And for non-Eagles fans, that sort of conflicted loyalty is one of the really fun parts of the Terrell Owens fan experience (coming soon to a team near you).
But the truth is, at the end of the day, how Philly fans respond to Garcia is the least of my concerns for this team. The defense played better and made a couple of big plays, but still gave up 24 points to the Carolina Panthers and put up no more than token resistance to the run. With Brodrick Bunkley getting only three poor-looking snaps, there are no reinforcements on the way. Getting Shawn Barber back would help, but don't look for too many more teams to be as accommodating to the Eagles' defensive deficiencies in their play-calling as the Panthers were.
But you know what? I honestly don't think Garcia gives a #### about how the fans here feel about him either.
And that might be just what makes him the perfect quarterback for Philadelphia.
