Donovan McNabb

Started by PhillyPhreak54, September 21, 2008, 12:23:35 AM

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PhillyPhreak54

Michael Lombardi of SI.com and an ex-NFL personnel guy;

QuoteGive some Brotherly Love to Donovan

Donovan McNabb is great player. Actually, I think that needs to be written in a little stronger tone ... Donovan McNabb is a Hall of Fame player. I live near the city of Brotherly Love, and have spent most of my childhood here, so therefore I have been lumped into a category called a "Philadelphia Sports Fan." There is not a specific definition of a "Philadelphia Sports Fan" but the general consensus would have them as being very passionate, very knowledgeable, very hard core and not afraid to criticize their favorite star player. (Just ask Allen Iverson.) We all know the Philly fans are coarse and even booed Santa Claus, but they do passionately love their Birds. But for some reason they have a very hard time showing love and admiration to their "star." I cannot walk down the hall in my office complex or go to my son's high school game with having someone come up to me and say, "We would have won but McNabb is holding us back." Holding you back? He is your whole team, he makes it go -- get a freaking clue.

It is at this point where I would like to disassociate myself from being a Philadelphia Sports Fan and hope I can explain to everyone that in Philadelphia they don't know how lucky they are to have McNabb quarterbacking their team. My football career has been spoiled being around some of the game's greats from Joe Montana to Rich Gannon. But I also know what my football life is like without a great player at the position. The NFL is a quarterback league and life is just miserable and frustrating when you get up early each morning and head into work knowing you DON'T have a quarterback. Ask the Chiefs, the Vikings and the Jets before Brett Favre. Consider yourself very lucky, Philadelphia.

Monday night McNabb showed the football world he is one of the top players in the game, not just at quarterback, but the whole league. Now, this is not to say Tony Romo was not as impressive, but in Dallas Romo gets love (he also has Jessica) and is never under the constant microscope that seems to follow McNabb in Philadelphia. McNabb was accurate throwing the ball, strong in the pocket, very difficult to tackle and made all the tough throws as he demonstrated poise, confidence and leadership. He has played two games without his two best receivers and has not thrown an interception.

It was crystal clear on Monday night that McNabb is tremendous. The other evident observation to me was that McNabb makes all the others around him better. And isn't that what great players do? McNabb is the one who makes the Eagles offense go, not the one who holds it back. Everyone complains that there is not a No. 1 wideout on the Eagles, but DeSean Jackson looked impressive, if you ignore is premature celebration. Brian Westbrook is very talented and very productive, but he needs someone who can throw him the ball allowing him to make plays in the passing game. If you think the back can make the team, you might want to check in with LaDainian Tomlinson and ask him what life was like as a Charger before Drew Brees started to play well. McNabb needs one more touchdown pass to surpass Ron Jaworski (175) for the most touchdown passes in franchise history and he has 114 touchdowns passes in the red zone with only seven interceptions in his entire career. McNabb is 30-20 in the NFC East and has an impressive 85 QB rating in those 50 games.

Current backup Kevin Kolb may at some point in his NFL career provide this kind of production in the regular season, but it will take him some time. One of the golden rules I followed in my NFL career was that teams always over-evaluate their backups when the current starter is a great player. And I hope McNabb plays for a long time, but life without him won't be as good as life with him. Philadelphia needs to learn how to really show him love.

A thread for McNabb. They need to re-sign him and keep his ass here.

rjs246

Stop it. Trent Dilfer won a superbowl. McNabb is a good QB and perfectly capable of winning a Superbowl, but let's not jerk each other off over him.

McNabb > Kolb, so he should still be the team's QB after this season, but shtein, my little sister would have played better on the last two drives of this week's game.
Is rjs gonna have to choke a bitch?

Let them eat bootstraps.

General_Failure

Quote from: rjs246 on September 21, 2008, 01:17:08 AM
Stop it. Trent Dilfer won a superbowl. McNabb is a good QB and perfectly capable of winning a Superbowl, but let's not jerk each other off over him.

McNabb > Kolb, so he should still be the team's QB after this season, but shtein, my little sister would have played better on the last two drives of this week's game.

If the Eagles defense played like that Ravens defense, and Reid called running plays for Westbrook like the Ravens had, they'd have four rings by now. There's plenty of suck, and plenty of places to place the blame.

The man. The myth. The legend.

rjs246

Agreed 1000%.

My only point is that McNabb has been in a position to win big games on his own, in spite of Andy Reid, and has not done it. So while he is a good QB, the McNabb-semenators need to tuck it away and realize that a little bit more cool under pressure and a little less talent would have resulted in a Lombardi by now.

And also, fire Andy Reid.
Is rjs gonna have to choke a bitch?

Let them eat bootstraps.

General_Failure

Let 'em all go to hell, except cave 17.


Which is currently inhabited by Juan Castillo.

The man. The myth. The legend.

PhillyPhreak54

Quote from: rjs246 on September 21, 2008, 01:34:16 AM
Agreed 1000%.

My only point is that McNabb has been in a position to win big games on his own, in spite of Andy Reid, and has not done it. So while he is a good QB, the McNabb-semenators need to tuck it away and realize that a little bit more cool under pressure and a little less talent would have resulted in a Lombardi by now.

And also, fire Andy Reid.

Or they could be stuck with garbage at the QB position.

The Eagles have a stud QB and people want him run out the door.

Magical_Retard

maybe its the QB position..you get all the blame when you lose and all the credit you win...

cept for mcnabb i don't think he gets the credit when they win. the same ppl who want to run him out of town when they lose, usually try to explain away a victory saying they won in spite of mcnabb.
Marge: I have someone who can help you!
Homer: Is it BATMAN!!??
Marge: No hes a scientist
Homer: Batman is a scientist.
Marge: Its not BATMAN!

Rome

He's no Randall Cunningham, that's for sure.

QB Eagles

He's an elite QB, but he's one of those guys who really needs a Super Bowl win for HoF consideration. Having the lowest interception percentage in history is a nice feather in his cap, but critics can always point out that it's hard to intercept balls pegged into the ground ten feet in front of the receiver. I think there are too many examples of McNabb choking in important games for him to get past the HoF committee.

That being said, I'm glad he's an Eagle, and once he is gone it will probably be several decades before the Eagles have another QB of his caliber.

SunMo

I'm the Anti-Christ. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood.

MadMarchHare

As mentioned in the Dallas thread, I don't think he chokes worse than other QBs.  I think he collapses after making a mistake, particularly in big games.

Oh, and Andy Reid is little better than Marion Campbell, and needs to go quickly.
Anyone but Reid.

shorebird

QuoteIt was crystal clear on Monday night that McNabb is tremendous. The other evident observation to me was that McNabb makes all the others around him better

Yes, until the fourth quarter when he couldn't execute the most basic play a qb has to make, the handoff.

shorebird

Yeah, he makes other players look so much better, that Bwest looked like Walte Payton on that handoff, didn't he??

GODDAMNITT!! WHY AM I HAVING TO RELIVE THIS CRAP AGAIN!?!?!?!?!?

shorebird

Farg it! McNabb is a great qb, but until he proves he can do it in the clutch, like Montana, Unitas, Aikman, Simms, Elway, or any other qb who has won the big one, he'll just be the quarterback who puked in the Superbowl because he couldn't handle the pressure.

Rome

It's interesting how you mention John Elway because no quarterback compares to Elway (especially in his early years) more than McNabb.

Elway had to deal with Dan Reeves bumbling all those years before Pat Bowlen finally got smart, replaced him, and brought in Mike Shanahan.  If the Eagles fail again this season, I think Lurie seriously has to consider parting ways with Reid.