First, I just joined and just posted a long introduction letter. I'm also an Eagles fan, but I didn't join your board to bust anyone's chops or anything like that. I love talking football--good constructive conversation.
At any rate, I believe that when Spielman acquired Feeley, he really believed he could be a good QB--the trouble is, Wannstadt had too much allegience to Fiedler. In 2001, Feely came on for the Birds in a meaningless game against the Bucs at the end of the season. They were down by 10 with about 5 minutes left and Donnie Abraham was still in the game for the Bucs--at that time, he was a starting corner. Feeley drove the Birds down TWICE in the closing minutes to win 17-13.
In 2002, when McNabb and Detmer got hurt, he came on and went 4-1. The only loss was an OT loss to the Giants that should have been a win, except that David Akers missed a 35 yard FG in regulation and Feeley threw a questionable INT (Brandon Short absolutely mugged Chad Lewis) and the Giants won.
The rap on AJ was that he wasn't much of a practice player, but could do well in games.
When Saban took over and hired Linehan, it wasn't much of a secret that they were going after Frerotte. That had to erode Feeley's confidence even more.
The question you have to ask yourselves is this: How did this guy go 4-1 for a team that lost it's leader in the middle of a playoff run and then crap out in the space of 2 seasons?
