Post by GeorgiaEagle on Apr 9, 2005 14:40:48 GMT -5
This is probably one of the last times we hear Freddie's mouth as an Eagle, which I know pleases some fans, lol. And wow...he shaved off all of that hair...
Mitchell's stinging words
By John Tomase
FOR THE INQUIRER
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - His Eagles career all but over, Freddie Mitchell took stock of the last four years yesterday, and he didn't like what he saw.
A quarterback who had no confidence in him. A team scared of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. An organization that buried him.
And now he sees the writing on the wall. He'll likely be traded or released before the season, his mercurial run in Philadelphia coming to a disappointing end.
"I've been thrown so many curveballs on 2-0 counts when everyone else is getting d**n fastballs down the middle," he said. "If people knew what I've gone through and had to adapt to, they'd probably feel sorry for me. You have to know my story to know my glory."
Never at a loss for words, Mitchell had plenty to say during a wide-ranging interview from a picnic table in the heart of the Harvard Business School campus. In town for a three-day league-sponsored seminar on business opportunities after football, he touched on a range of topics. To wit:
Eagles QB Donovan McNabb lacked the confidence to throw to him. "You need that rapport," Mitchell said. "And it just wasn't there."
His teammates should have supported him after he incited Patriots safety Rodney Harrison prior to the Super Bowl. "I could have sworn we were playing tennis," he said. "They didn't back me up because they were scared."
He believes wide receiver Terrell Owens should renegotiate his contract. "He's worth $25 million up front."
He has some choice words for Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who criticized him again in a speech last week. "I want to see how he does without his coordinators," he said. "At some point, we need to sit down and talk."
He believes his Eagles career is over. "A lot of people would say trading me or getting released would be the best thing for me," he said.
"I'm not going to say that. I'm still under contract and I intend to honor it. I'm still an Eagle. And I love Andy Reid."
It's part of the Mitchell dichotomy, at once praising Philadelphia while writing his ticket out of town. He spoke matter-of-factly and without rancor for an hour yesterday, the interview interrupted 11 times by well-wishers he had met this week in Boston.
At the conclusion of his final class, Mitchell remained behind 10 minutes after the last player had left, engaged in an animated conversation with a professor.
"I'm an extrovert," Mitchell said after giving a student his e-mail address with instructions to contact him if she ever needed a reference.
"I draw crowds."
Unfortunately, Mitchell never blossomed into the No. 1 target Philadelphia expected after making him the 25th pick of the 2001 draft out of UCLA. He has caught just 90 passes in four seasons, with a high of 35 in 2003.
Part of the blame, Mitchell said, belongs to his shifting roles. He played three different positions in the Eagles' wide receiver sets his first three years.
"Other receivers learn one and just have to perfect that," he said. "It hindered my performance to have so many plays running through my mind."
But even worse, he said, was the lack of chemistry with McNabb.
"You have to have certain relationships with certain people to succeed," he said. "Me and Don need that relationship, but I don't feel like it's there. I can't throw myself the ball. There were times I got more tired doing jumping jacks on the field than actually playing in the game itself."
Mitchell noted his propensity for big plays. None was bigger, of course, than his 28-yard reception against Green Bay that helped put the Eagles in the 2003 NFC championship game.
"The argument would be Don doesn't have confidence in me," said Mitchell, who was very animated and clearly not angry, even referring to McNabb good-naturedly in an expletive. "The motherf- had confidence in me on fourth and 26 to get his ass out of a jam. I can name all my catches on third downs. No matter how much confidence he says he didn't have in me, when it came to those situations, the ball was coming my way."
Fewer balls came his way with the arrival of Owens, a fact Mitchell accepted. Misunderstood, he said, was his desire to contribute to a winning team.
"I didn't want the ball for my own stats," he said. "I wanted to help the team win and be a part of it. Society says that's selfish. But is it selfish to want to be able to say, I helped the team win today and I felt great? Who wants to go to a championship without stepping on the field?"
Mitchell said that one of the team's most successful plays in 2003 involved him going over the middle from the slot. But that became Owens' play last year, with Mitchell a decoy outside.
"That was another curveball thrown to me," Mitchell said. "But you know what? I can play next to a T.O. any day of the week. He's going to draw double coverage and I'm going to get matched up one-on-one. I just want to be on a team that exploits the other team's weaknesses. I had a free safety or a linebacker on me in the Super Bowl. Dang. What's going on with that?"
That brings up another point of contention with Mitchell - the Super Bowl. In a light-hearted interview with ESPN, he misidentified the no-name members of New England's secondary. Then he called out veteran strong safety Rodney Harrison, saying, "I've got something for you."
The Patriots used it as inspiration. The Eagles tried desperately to distance themselves from the comments.
"Maybe in another program," Mitchell said, "I would have had players say, 'Fred's right. I'm going at them. I back him up 100 percent, because I'm on the battlefield with him.' But I didn't have that. The program they have here and the kind of people they recruit with the Eagles are laid-back.
"I could have sworn we were playing tennis. They didn't back me up because they were scared. That's what pissed me off the most. I sensed people were scared of the Patriots. And me? I fear no team. I fear nobody. I'll catch balls over the middle."
The Patriots, experts at inventing motivation, jumped all over Mitchell's comments. Harrison fumed, then intercepted two passes in the Super Bowl. Belichick, vanilla all season, labeled Mitchell "terrible" in Sports Illustrated, then hammered him again on the Tonight Show.
Ten days ago during a speech at Bryant University in Rhode Island, Belichick kept up the assault. Asked by a student if he keeps track of those who doubt his team, Belichick replied, "Only Freddie Mitchell."
Mitchell laughed.
"I want him to be part of my marketing team or promotional staff," he said. "He's my Don King right now. My name cannot stay out of his mouth."
Mitchell also issued Belichick a challenge. The New England coach lost offensive coordinator Charlie Weis to Notre Dame and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel to the Cleveland Browns.
"You know what, Belichick? You're talking [crap] about me, but they're the silent investors who are really running the company. You're just a spokesman," Mitchell said. "I want to see what he does next year. Believe me, I'll be the first one to shake his hand if he wins the Super Bowl. And I'll be the first one to laugh in his face when he doesn't succeed."
The likelihood of Mitchell's heading to New England appears slim, but everywhere else is fair game. The Vikings supposedly offered a sixth-round pick and the Eagles might not do better after coach Andy Reid admitted at the owners meetings that Mitchell talks too much.
"I think sometimes I come off as arrogant," said Mitchell. "People don't get my humor. I come into an interview and say, 'I just want to thank my hands for being so great.' Some people say what an arrogant [expletive]. Why didn't he thank the QB for throwing him the ball? Why didn't he thank his team? It's not my fault those people don't have enough of a personality to understand a joke when they see one."
When it comes to being outspoken, Mitchell said the league applies a double standard.
"I would love for them to be like, you know what, Freddie? No more interviews. Just play," he said. "But they've got to understand what drives our business. Guys like me, guys like T.O. drive our business. We get people talking."
Speaking of Owens, Mitchell said he deserves whatever he can get after hiring agent Drew Rosenhaus to renegotiate his contract.
"He should renegotiate," Mitchell said. "I hope he gets his due. I wouldn't say he's underpaid, because if you sign a contract, you signed a contract. Whatever T.O. does, it's great for him. He's worth all of $25 million up front."
Mitchell's looking at significantly less than that for his next contract. If his Philadelphia career does end before next season, Mitchell is asked how he wants to be remembered.
"I love Philly and want to retire in Philly, but the business won't let me," he said. "I would ask fans to rewind the highlights that I made. Everyone's going to remember fourth and 26. Everyone's going to remember the 14-second play in Dallas when Donovan scrambled around and found me deep.
"No matter how much you hate me, I'm going to be in Eagles history."
www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/11349305.htm
Mitchell's stinging words
By John Tomase
FOR THE INQUIRER
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - His Eagles career all but over, Freddie Mitchell took stock of the last four years yesterday, and he didn't like what he saw.
A quarterback who had no confidence in him. A team scared of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. An organization that buried him.
And now he sees the writing on the wall. He'll likely be traded or released before the season, his mercurial run in Philadelphia coming to a disappointing end.
"I've been thrown so many curveballs on 2-0 counts when everyone else is getting d**n fastballs down the middle," he said. "If people knew what I've gone through and had to adapt to, they'd probably feel sorry for me. You have to know my story to know my glory."
Never at a loss for words, Mitchell had plenty to say during a wide-ranging interview from a picnic table in the heart of the Harvard Business School campus. In town for a three-day league-sponsored seminar on business opportunities after football, he touched on a range of topics. To wit:
Eagles QB Donovan McNabb lacked the confidence to throw to him. "You need that rapport," Mitchell said. "And it just wasn't there."
His teammates should have supported him after he incited Patriots safety Rodney Harrison prior to the Super Bowl. "I could have sworn we were playing tennis," he said. "They didn't back me up because they were scared."
He believes wide receiver Terrell Owens should renegotiate his contract. "He's worth $25 million up front."
He has some choice words for Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who criticized him again in a speech last week. "I want to see how he does without his coordinators," he said. "At some point, we need to sit down and talk."
He believes his Eagles career is over. "A lot of people would say trading me or getting released would be the best thing for me," he said.
"I'm not going to say that. I'm still under contract and I intend to honor it. I'm still an Eagle. And I love Andy Reid."
It's part of the Mitchell dichotomy, at once praising Philadelphia while writing his ticket out of town. He spoke matter-of-factly and without rancor for an hour yesterday, the interview interrupted 11 times by well-wishers he had met this week in Boston.
At the conclusion of his final class, Mitchell remained behind 10 minutes after the last player had left, engaged in an animated conversation with a professor.
"I'm an extrovert," Mitchell said after giving a student his e-mail address with instructions to contact him if she ever needed a reference.
"I draw crowds."
Unfortunately, Mitchell never blossomed into the No. 1 target Philadelphia expected after making him the 25th pick of the 2001 draft out of UCLA. He has caught just 90 passes in four seasons, with a high of 35 in 2003.
Part of the blame, Mitchell said, belongs to his shifting roles. He played three different positions in the Eagles' wide receiver sets his first three years.
"Other receivers learn one and just have to perfect that," he said. "It hindered my performance to have so many plays running through my mind."
But even worse, he said, was the lack of chemistry with McNabb.
"You have to have certain relationships with certain people to succeed," he said. "Me and Don need that relationship, but I don't feel like it's there. I can't throw myself the ball. There were times I got more tired doing jumping jacks on the field than actually playing in the game itself."
Mitchell noted his propensity for big plays. None was bigger, of course, than his 28-yard reception against Green Bay that helped put the Eagles in the 2003 NFC championship game.
"The argument would be Don doesn't have confidence in me," said Mitchell, who was very animated and clearly not angry, even referring to McNabb good-naturedly in an expletive. "The motherf- had confidence in me on fourth and 26 to get his ass out of a jam. I can name all my catches on third downs. No matter how much confidence he says he didn't have in me, when it came to those situations, the ball was coming my way."
Fewer balls came his way with the arrival of Owens, a fact Mitchell accepted. Misunderstood, he said, was his desire to contribute to a winning team.
"I didn't want the ball for my own stats," he said. "I wanted to help the team win and be a part of it. Society says that's selfish. But is it selfish to want to be able to say, I helped the team win today and I felt great? Who wants to go to a championship without stepping on the field?"
Mitchell said that one of the team's most successful plays in 2003 involved him going over the middle from the slot. But that became Owens' play last year, with Mitchell a decoy outside.
"That was another curveball thrown to me," Mitchell said. "But you know what? I can play next to a T.O. any day of the week. He's going to draw double coverage and I'm going to get matched up one-on-one. I just want to be on a team that exploits the other team's weaknesses. I had a free safety or a linebacker on me in the Super Bowl. Dang. What's going on with that?"
That brings up another point of contention with Mitchell - the Super Bowl. In a light-hearted interview with ESPN, he misidentified the no-name members of New England's secondary. Then he called out veteran strong safety Rodney Harrison, saying, "I've got something for you."
The Patriots used it as inspiration. The Eagles tried desperately to distance themselves from the comments.
"Maybe in another program," Mitchell said, "I would have had players say, 'Fred's right. I'm going at them. I back him up 100 percent, because I'm on the battlefield with him.' But I didn't have that. The program they have here and the kind of people they recruit with the Eagles are laid-back.
"I could have sworn we were playing tennis. They didn't back me up because they were scared. That's what pissed me off the most. I sensed people were scared of the Patriots. And me? I fear no team. I fear nobody. I'll catch balls over the middle."
The Patriots, experts at inventing motivation, jumped all over Mitchell's comments. Harrison fumed, then intercepted two passes in the Super Bowl. Belichick, vanilla all season, labeled Mitchell "terrible" in Sports Illustrated, then hammered him again on the Tonight Show.
Ten days ago during a speech at Bryant University in Rhode Island, Belichick kept up the assault. Asked by a student if he keeps track of those who doubt his team, Belichick replied, "Only Freddie Mitchell."
Mitchell laughed.
"I want him to be part of my marketing team or promotional staff," he said. "He's my Don King right now. My name cannot stay out of his mouth."
Mitchell also issued Belichick a challenge. The New England coach lost offensive coordinator Charlie Weis to Notre Dame and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel to the Cleveland Browns.
"You know what, Belichick? You're talking [crap] about me, but they're the silent investors who are really running the company. You're just a spokesman," Mitchell said. "I want to see what he does next year. Believe me, I'll be the first one to shake his hand if he wins the Super Bowl. And I'll be the first one to laugh in his face when he doesn't succeed."
The likelihood of Mitchell's heading to New England appears slim, but everywhere else is fair game. The Vikings supposedly offered a sixth-round pick and the Eagles might not do better after coach Andy Reid admitted at the owners meetings that Mitchell talks too much.
"I think sometimes I come off as arrogant," said Mitchell. "People don't get my humor. I come into an interview and say, 'I just want to thank my hands for being so great.' Some people say what an arrogant [expletive]. Why didn't he thank the QB for throwing him the ball? Why didn't he thank his team? It's not my fault those people don't have enough of a personality to understand a joke when they see one."
When it comes to being outspoken, Mitchell said the league applies a double standard.
"I would love for them to be like, you know what, Freddie? No more interviews. Just play," he said. "But they've got to understand what drives our business. Guys like me, guys like T.O. drive our business. We get people talking."
Speaking of Owens, Mitchell said he deserves whatever he can get after hiring agent Drew Rosenhaus to renegotiate his contract.
"He should renegotiate," Mitchell said. "I hope he gets his due. I wouldn't say he's underpaid, because if you sign a contract, you signed a contract. Whatever T.O. does, it's great for him. He's worth all of $25 million up front."
Mitchell's looking at significantly less than that for his next contract. If his Philadelphia career does end before next season, Mitchell is asked how he wants to be remembered.
"I love Philly and want to retire in Philly, but the business won't let me," he said. "I would ask fans to rewind the highlights that I made. Everyone's going to remember fourth and 26. Everyone's going to remember the 14-second play in Dallas when Donovan scrambled around and found me deep.
"No matter how much you hate me, I'm going to be in Eagles history."
www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/11349305.htm
