Week 4: Lil Donny Comes Home

[Feva]

I have no doubt that McNabb is a closet Republican.

Haha!

[ice grillin you]

I have no doubt that McNabb is a closet Republican.

because it supports your theory that hes dumb as a rock?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

More like he's a selfish idiot.  Can't you see him, a black man from Chicago, pulling the lever for McCain over Obama?  I sure can.

Plus, it will help him get caked off by Danny Snyder.

[ice grillin you]

i think hed vote for mccain to show he isnt a running quarterback

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

i think hed vote for mccain to show he isnt a running quarterback

I laughed.

Scouts Inc says McNabb is way better than Vick.  Let's debate this shtein.

[ice grillin you]

Arm strength:  Edge: McNabb.

stopped reading then puked

vick probably has the strongest arm in the history of the league

[smeags]

He can make any throw asked of him and excel in poor weather conditions.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I agree.  McNabb does an excellent job of throwing with his whole body, and he certainly has a gun.  But, Vick reminds me of Randall Cunningham (in this way among others) in that he can basically flick his wrist and throw the ball 50 yards.  His natural velocity is off the charts impressive.

[paco]

I have no doubt that McNabb is a closet Republican.

Why would this be a surprise?  Most NFL players vote Republican.  

[mussa]

McNabb is great at 20+ yard throws. Anything under that gets sketchy. I really haven't seen any difference in Vick so far. Years past he was hit or miss short or deep. There really is not enough evidence for the case. At the end of the year we will now what kind of QB Vick is.

[ice grillin you]

He can make any throw asked of him and excel in poor weather conditions.

they probably arent counting humidity as a poor weather condition

[PhillyPhanInDC]

Sam Donnellon: Debate on McNabb has simply relocated
By Sam Donnellon
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Sports Columnist

ST. LOUIS - We may all die of natural causes without a definitive answer, the way husbands and wives argue their realities until death do they part. Was Donovan McNabb a great quarterback inside of flawed systems or a flawed quarterback inside of great systems?

This was the year we were supposed to find out once and for all about our soon-to-be-34-year-old prodigal son. Or at least get some big hints.

New taterskins coach Mike Shanahan wasn't allergic to running the ball the way Andy Reid was, won a couple of Super Bowls thanks as much to Terrell Davis as John Elway.

That was the party line.

Shanahan would balance the run game with the pass game and thus improve the Donovan game.

That was the game plan. Anyway that's what we were told. That's why Shanahan stockpiled big-name running backs in the offseason, sprinkled some prospects onto his practice squads. That's why he traded for McNabb. He would show us the folly of Reid's stubborn ways. He would help establish the greatness of 5, once and for all.

So here comes Donovan for the much anticipated homecoming this week, and what do you think is all the talk in Washington? Red-zone woes, Shanahan's abandonment or lack of patience with the run, struggles on third down.

And Donovan. The man. The myth.

McNabb passed for 236 yards Sunday, eclipsing John Hadl for 19th place on the NFL's all-time passing list. Despite two straight losses - both via second-half comebacks - he has passed for 833 yards this season, has completed more than 60 percent of his throws.

But his team is 1-2 and in both losses he had the ball in his hands late with a chance to reverse its fate. And as he said Sunday, "When you put yourself in a position where you can change the outcome, you have to do that."

After an opening-night shocker over the Cowboys, Washington has lost the second half two Sundays in a row, and the games, too. St. Louis only overcame a 16-14 deficit, but Houston scored the game's last 16 points to shock the 'Skins in overtime 2 weeks ago, in Washington.

Seems the taterskins couldn't run the ball effectively against the Texans, could not salt away time and the victory. McNabb threw for 426 yards. The taterskins rushed for 18 yards.

Sound familiar?

McNabb has thrown the ball 102 times already this season. He has two touchdown passes. The taterskins failed to score a touchdown in three trips to the red zone vs. St. Louis, although McNabb did connect with Santana Moss for a 21-yard score. It's a brief and incomplete comparison, but Michael Vick has been inside the 20 eight times this season, and the Eagles have seven touchdowns. He has six touchdown passes.

Of McNabb's passing yardage, another 56 came on a beautiful pass to Moss on the first play of the second half that set up the taterskins with a first down at the 8-yard line.

It resulted in - you guessed it - a field goal.

Three straight runs netted 5 yards.

The taterskins were 1-for-10 on third down, continuing a seasonlong pattern. Red zone, third down, "It's just being on the same page," McNabb said. "There were a lot of miscues. No excuse. If it was a holding here, whatever it might have been . . .

"We just have to understand what happened and come out next week ready to make a change."

McNabb completed five of six passes for 49 yards during a final meaningless drive that ended on the Rams' 30 as the clock expired. It followed a much more meaningful drive that ended with McNabb throwing a pick under pressure, breaking a streak of 145 attempts without one.

It was a bad throw at a bad time, a panic play really, and it led to a field goal that iced the game for the Rams. Fair or not, it conjured up all the negative karma of his last few years in Philly, the dispersal of blame afterwards, the debate over whether he was a great quarterback in a flawed system, or the opposite.

As he comes our way for the first time in a different uniform this Sunday, the debate lives, and so do all the defenses. More weapons are needed. More balance to those games within the game.

Burgundy, Midnight Green, it really doesn't matter. After a dozen years of it, we're married to the guy, and to the debate.

Til death do us part.

Didn't know that stat about the Eagles redzone efficiency, pretty awesome.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Also, the one time Vick didn't get a TD, he should have.  He could have strolled into the end zone but instead attempted to squeeze a pass in to DeSean.

[Magical_Retard]

Arm strength:  Edge: McNabb.

stopped reading then puked

vick probably has the strongest arm in the history of the league

I've never seen Vick even put any effort, or have to, in his deep balls. Its really effortless.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

"Andy spent 11 years developing Donovan," said Ravens coach John Harbaugh, a former Eagles assistant. "He knows the guy better than he knows his own wife. That should come in handy."

...and certainly better than he knows his kids.