Philadelphia Eagles: Is the Donovan McNabb-T.O. beef a conspiracy?

Do Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owen’s hate each other? Maybe. Are they using this perception to remain relevant well past their primes? You tell me Philadelphia Eagles fans.

Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens played 22 games together with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2004-05.

That’s it.

They didn’t have a 10-year career together, they didn’t retire together, they didn’t even come up together, and yet, if you’ve had the unfortunate honor of keeping up with their never-ending beef most closely associated with that of an old married couple that has secretly grown to hate each other, you’d assume the duo have known each other for decades.

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Well, if you made that assumption, technically you’d be correct, as 2005 was 16 years ago but this particular hate came on like six months into their unholy union.

Since Owens forced his way out of Philadelphia – doing so in quite possibly the most entertaining interview in sports history – the two grown men have fired shot after shot at each other at seemingly every opportunity for seemingly no reason at all.

But maybe, just maybe that’s intentional.

Not to get to ‘Pepe Silvia‘ here, but think about it for a second. T.O. loves attention. He had his own reality show, he had a similarly confusing beef with the Hall of Fame and has tried to field a comeback via Twitter every season since he stopped playing in 2010.

Do you know who else likes attention? Donovan McNabb.

How many times have you heard McNabb throw his two cents in on everything from Doug Pederson‘s hiring to Carson Wentz‘s durability, to Nick Foles‘ status as a franchise quarterback? You remember those Campbell’s Chunky Soup ads, right? They were everywhere.

Now could the duo legit hate each other? Not only could they, but they almost certainly do, but maybe they periodically put that hate aside in the mutually beneficial pursuit of 2020’s greatest currency: Clout.

I mean Brian Dawkins was on First Take this morning pleading with the duo to make up and those three probably haven’t been in the same room in 15 years. We’re in the middle of Super Bowl week, a week dampened by the untimely passing of a true sports legend, and somehow Donovan and T.O. found a way to be a steady topic of conversation deep into their 40s.

I’d be angry if I wasn’t so impressed.

Look, for better or worse, Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owen’s will go down as Philadelphia Eagles all timers and will forever be linked due to their shared tenure. If the duo want to keep this going forever that is their right, but to paraphrase Matthew McConaughey ‘It’d be cooler of they didn’t ‘.