Mike Celizic

It’s too bad Terrell Owens isn’t still an Eagle. If he were, at least we’d have someone to blame for the storm clouds once again gathering over that city and that franchise. But unless Donovan McCrabb — I mean McNabb — is channeling T.O., this one is all on the team’s injured quarterback.

It’s hard to go from hero to jerk in one news cycle, but McNabb may have pulled it off. Word is that he’s upset about a number of things, including not being allowed to accompany the team to New Orleans for its playoff loss to the Saints and rumors that some of his teammates may think that they’d be better off next year with Jeff Garcia, who went 6-1 as his replacement, as the quarterback.

Being upset is okay; I’d be disappointed if McNabb weren’t upset at some of what’s being said. But talking about it isn’t. That’s what causes T.O.’s problems — talking about his feelings. In sports, you use disappointment and slights — real or imagined — as psychic fuel to drive yourself to prove the s.o.b.’s wrong. But you don’t make them public issues, because when you do, you put yourself ahead of the team.

You also kick-start the talk shows and the columnists, who are going to take what you said and run with it. You’re the team’s leader, the franchise. If you start whining like an insecure child, it’s like throwing chum in a school of sharks. When people see weakness, they go for it.

And quarterbacks aren’t supposed to show insecurity or weakness. Like every other player, they’re supposed to know that any time a team does better for an extended period without a player than they did with him, someone’s going to wonder if he really is the man. They’re also supposed to understand that the only way to keep their jobs is to prove in practice and training camp and games that they deserve them.

The one thing you don’t do is complain about what people are saying. I thought that McNabb knew that from the classy way he stayed above the fray when T.O. was taking potshots at him in 2005. I guess he forgot.

The reports and rumors — including speculation that the Bucs and Vikings might be trying to either trade for McNabb or sign Garcia as a free agent — were outlined Tuesday in a column by Mark Eckel in The Trenton Times. Eckel gave as his sources people close to McNabb and sources “around the NFL.”

Eagles coach Andy Reid, who could be forgiven for thinking he was through with such nonsense when T.O. left, was in full denial mode before the day was over, telling reporters in a conference call: “I think that people are making a lot of things up here that aren’t true. That’s how it works. I just hate to see people making things up that aren’t really true.”

Good try, Andy, but you know as well as anyone that rumors don’t make themselves up, and journalists don’t simply make things up. That’s a handy dodge that some of the public might swallow, but go ahead and look back on all similar rumors about locker room rumblings. You’ll find very few cases when there was no truth to what was reported. If you eliminate the New York Post from the discussion, you’ll have a hard time finding any.

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