It was by no means a brilliant passing performance by Donovan McNabb in his return to Lincoln Financial Field, but he did leave the city with the win. He threw for a measley125 yards by connecting on only 8 of 19 throws with one touchdown and one interception.
We saw the best and worst of McNabb during the Skins 17-12 win over the Eagles. He threw some balls into the ground, as usual, but he also took off on a couple of back-breaking scrambles with the game on the line.
Those scrambles don’t show up in the quarterback rating but they’re just as important as throwing a laser-like pass down the middle for the first down.
He missed a wide open Fred Davis on a deep route in the first half, then he came back and made a perfect throw to Chris Cooley for a score.
He threw a bomb to Anthony Armstrong that should have gone for a touchdown, but Armstrong lost him balance and fell while catching the ball. On another deep throw to Armstrong who had his man beaten, McNabb threw the ball out of bounds on that play or it could have been another long touchdown play.
The former Eagles threw an awful interception in the second half, which was picked off by rookie Nate Allen.
We all know the strengths and weaknesses of McNabb.. At times, he misses open receivers and throws ball into the ground. That happens whether it’s an NFC Championship game or just another regular season contest.
On the other hand, the guy creates big plays with his physical gifts; namely his arm and his legs. Many times, he avoids open blitzers and rushers, while extending plays.
His arm is strong enough to hit a receiver no matter where he is on the field, but that comes with his inaccuracies.
McNabb isn’t a great passer, he is a great playmaker. It’s similar to what you have in basketball. Some guys are great shooters and other guys are great scorers despite being only good shooters.
If I were to size up what I see in Donovan McNabb. I see a guy who has achieved a great deal of success in the NFL, despite his limitations as a passer. He has overcome those limitations because of his hard work and will to win.
The guy will never be a great passer, but he does find ways to win.
As for his comments after the game, he was telling his true feelings, in the locker room when he said the Eagles made a mistake. This is no big deal and is something that star quarterbacks do throughout the league.
Many times the guys feel one way but can’t say it publicly. For instance to you really think the Eagles players feel as good about their chances with Kevin Kolb as the quarterback as they feel with Michael Vick.
They’re expected to lie and say the right thing.
Here’s McNabb in the locker room after the game.
Yeah he played brutal in the 2nd half but he made a couple key runs that were just as good as throwing for good yardage or first downs. And at the end of the day that’s what matters. He could have checked it down to his RBs all game if that’s what was there but we played more man than them so those plays are there as much. I’d give our defense some credit for stopping washington in the 2nd half we all know that McNabb has garbage to throw the ball to and their line is as bad as ours. If Vick would have played the entire game, we would have won because he is just better than Kolb. Kolb is no replacement for McNabb and I’m glad he got benched. We need Vick to not miss a lot of time. If he does, then our season will be over as we enter into the tough part of the schedule.
That pass to davis was davis’s fault. you gotta keep running you cant stop and jump. other wise that would have been an over the shoulder catch easy
I would say that was an off day though. For the McNabb haters I wouldn’t expect another one of those the second time around. It says a lot that a team that won what 4 games last year beat a team that won 11 games last year and are perennially at the top of the NFC East with McNabb having a mediocre day and mummified WRs.
Not to mention a defense squad playing a 3-4 that doesn’t really have the correct personnel to run a 3-4 effectively.
look i was way agianst the d5 trade
but as i stated numerous it wasnt for my love for 5 it was because i couldnt accept a downgrade at the position
now if vick keeps playing the way he does its not as bad as i thought it because he is playin top notch football and in many aspects probably is the upgrade i wanted
now to make this trade for kolb though
i just wanna know who’s the man behind the d5 has to go because this kolb kid is better which personnel guy said that is all i wanna know
this kolb is bubby brister
Top Teams in the NFC after Week #4
#1) Falcons (3-1) – a Big comeback win at home with an improved Defense in 2010
#2) Packers (3-1) – lots of Offensive Firepower who will have to out-gun opponents all season
#3) Saints (3-1) – Offense is not the same without RB’s R Bush and now P Thomas
#4) Bears (3-1) – Offense came to a screaching halt versus the GIants but are 3-1 Overall
#5) Redskins (2-2) – Running game has added a spark to team, defense is slowly improving
#6) St Louis Rams (2-2) – Play hard and have one of the best young Head Coaches and Staff in th NFL and appear to be on the right track for a very good Future
The rest of the NFC is a a bunch of ho-hum teams though I do believe that both the Cowboys & Vikings will be better teams as the Season goes on where the remainder of the NFC is just plain medicore. Teams like the GIants,Eagles,Seattle,Cardinals,49ers,Bucs and will be up and down all season long looking good some weeks and looking bad in others but no real threat for the post-season…
I would take Bubby Brister over Kevin Kolb…
at least Bubba could take a sack like a man….
yes bubby had heart have to agree with u
checkdown man has heart in press conf tho
The McNabb that played for Washington yesterday would have lost to a Campbell QB’d team.
The decision to trade him was right. Just not to a division rival.
For the Record, not sure if there is any argument left to be made about McNabb..
If Vick was healthy, I think the Eagles would have a shot at 10 Wins (just as they would if they keep McNabb) but since they moved McNabb, they were able to get S Nate Allen who has been one of the few bright spots on Defense and has a bright future and filled a big need at Safety..
With Kolb, they are probably looking at 6 wins
McNabb is certainly a shadow of himself, and it was time for him to go. There was just too much blame being placed at his feet by the media.
In my opinion, it’s been a blessing in disguise, because the real Andy Reid is now being seen. I am surprised to learn that Reid is an even worse coach than I thought. His handling of Kevin Kolb has been totally unprofessional and the state of his offensive line is unforgivable. After all, we had 13 picks, and the two losses to Dallas clearly illuminated the need for an upgrade.
McNabb seems to have a black cloud following him.
I’m sure his choice to go to DC was predicated upon them having one of the top defenses in the league for past the 4 or years, or so. Now, with Jim Haslett at the controls, that defense looks pretty bad. Once again, McNabb has no receivers and few other offensive weapons. Add to that list his eroding skills, and voila, you have a tepid offense.
At least his coach has the sense to run the ball in this situation.
Screw Mcnabb, I’d rather lose than win with him.
With Kolb, Vick or Joe Montana, this team probably cannot win 6 games. They are not ever going to get the ball. The next 3 games are Frank Gore, the 2 guys from Atlanta and Chris Johnson. The Qback position is irrelevant if you are getting the ball run down your throat, straight up the middle up and down the field. Play action is going to be there for deep scores as they press up to try and stop the run. Who cares how much time Vick misses?
It’s going to be a rough stretch for the Eagles will be playing against some the most physical teams in Football in 49ers,Titans,Bears,and even the Falcons have become more of a physical team under Coach M Smith..
The silver lining is that they go against some up and down inconsistent QB’s who have been known to lose a game in Alex Smith, J Cutler, V Young.. but if the Eagles cannot stop the Frank Gores, Chris Johnsons, Matt Forte,Chester Taylor,Mike Turner, and Jason Snelling, then it won’t matter who is playing QB…
Ha, got the drop on ya that time P
The problem with Vick is that:
A.) He’s friends with McNabb and there’s a good chance he’ll probably never sign a long term deal in Philly.
B.) Given all of the controversy that’s swirled around Black QBs Philadelphia over the last 30 years and the clear love of an unproven White QB I’m sure the guy has to wonder about how smart it would be to sign a long term QB.
C.) With the Eagles saying they are still committed to Kolb as the next QB they aren’t going to keep him on the bench long which means there’s no long term plan with Vick in it at this point. Friends or not if he knows in his heart that Kolb isn’t a franchise QB and he (Vick) is consistently viewed as an emergency plan QB he’s probably not going to want to play out the rest of his career embroiled in QB controversy after QB controversy.
My guess…The Eagles will end up with Kolb and will be attempting to resuscitate JeMarcus Russel’s career next year IF they don’t end up with a draft pick high enough to get a franchise QB in the draft.
All of the stuff where Gary and others want to say McNabb is a poor passer is garbage. Dan Marino is probably the closes comparison QB to McNabb in terms of a QB that consistently played without exceptional WRs.
Dan Marino’s Career QB rating: 86.4
Donovan McNabb’s Career QB rating: 86.5 – / +
For sh_ts and giggles
Troy Aikman’s Career QB rating: 81.6
John Elway’s Career QB rating: 79.9
Phil_Simms’ Career QB rating: 78.5
Mark Rypien’s Career QB rating: 78.9
Trent Dilfur’s Career QB rating: 70.2 (ok this is the company people tend to talk McNabb the passer into and that’s just flat out wrong)
________________________________
I omitted Tom Brady because without cheating during the great years it’s more likely than not that his numbers would be dramatically different.
I omitted Montana and Young because they played with the greatest receiver to play the game and Young had TO with Rice for a couple of years I think.
I omitted Manning because he played with the 2nd or maybe 3rd receiver of all time and then Reggie Wayne.
90 percent of the QBs throughout history haven’t had the unique advantages these couple of QBs have had.
Wish there was an edit button
From what I have read and heard Vick and McNabb are not super close or anything, and Vick and Kolb have actually become decent friends. Philadelphia has had more black Qbacks than anywhere else I can think of starting with Randall, and all of them made very substantial amounts of money, which will influence Vick’s decision far more than your racist conspiracy theories. G has said it repeatedly, and I am begging you, not more of the racial trash. It degenerates into a maelstrom of insults and wasted space. It is not going to get solved on a football website. It is personally insulting to a great many when open ended accusations of racism are leveled at people who have no way to either defend themselves , nor any reason to need defending.
No O-line, No defense. Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas and Peyton Manning couldn’t win with this team. Seriously, why would anyone think this team can win another game? The ghost of the Andrews sisters strikes again with the Max Jean-Gilles holding penalty on the play Vick got hurt. They set the O-line back years. At least we have the Phillies….
The play at then end of the first half confirms my belief that AR is the worst game day coach. He prepares well, but cannot think and make decisions at game speed. He was simply outcoached in this game. Mr. Laurie, please make a call to Bill Cowher.
G:
Do I really think that the players feel as if they have as good a chance with Kolb as they do with Vick? I hope they do. But that’s not the right question. Whether Vick provides them with a better chance to succeed or not, he won’t be able to play for at least a couple of weeks, from what I’m hearing. If the players don’t believe in him, then Kolb has to provide leadership; but the rest of the team, individually, have to give him a chance to prove himself – in Vick’s absence. Kolb has no choice but to lead. He’s either going to earn their respect, or he’s going to fail. But Vick sure looked hurt real bad yesterday. If he’s feeling pain worse than a broken rib then we’re in kidney stone territory – only this one sounds like it’ll last a lot longer than the latter.
They need help in the middle of the defensive line – they have for a while. You’ve written about it. And I’ve had to digest another faux All-Pro performance by Chris Cooley against our linebackers and safeties. The Eagles just have not selected well at linebacker in either the draft or free agency. Unless these guys gel a lot more than what I’ve seen, the Giants and Cowboys will be looking to duplicate what’s been happening for a few games each year for the last two seasons plus – power running game, dump to the TE left, power running game, fake dump to the tight end, completion to the WR on a deep slant right.
All options are on the table at QB for the rest of the season.
Did we hear Ernie Sims name yet? oh yeah …roughing the passer. The jury is still out on Bradley…to me he’s average at best…and when was the last time someone heard Patterson’s name called for collapsing a pocket? How is it that New England, Baltimore and other teams get stout players in the middle yet the Eagles stay soft by drafting and bringing in speed with no toughness to sure up the middle? We have not had a cover linebacker since we let Emmons go to the “G” Men….Something is wrong with our talent evaluation process….it’s seriously flawed.
Getting rid of McNabb was fine if you were replacing him with someone good. But people were against the trade for 2 reasons:
1) To a division rival
2) Kevin Kolb
Vick stepped in there and saved Andy’s butt but make no mistake about it, this team traded McNabb to start Kolb and that was a mistake. Period. Just got lucky with Vick. And remember, McNabb is still playing for a new coach, new offense, without weapons and an oline. If he was here he would be lighting it up with Jackson and Maclin just like he did last year. You can’t just compare with McNabb isn’t playing in the same situation as he was last year. I know in washington they are probably saying the same thing we were saying at the beginning of the decade…. “give him a number 1 receiver and then see what happens”.
We all expected a big throwdown between McNabb and Vick but the Football Gods gave the McNabb haters what they deserved – a clumsy defeat by McNabb over Kolb; confirming once again how ill conceived was the McNabb trade. Get well soon Mike!
Rank Quarterback Passer Rating
1 Steve Young 96.8
2 Philip Rivers 96.3
3 Peyton Manning 95.6
4 Tony Romo 95.5
5 Tom Brady 93.8
6 Kurt Warner 93.7
7 Joe Montana 92.3
8 Drew Brees 92.3
9 Ben Roethlisberger 91.7
10 Matt Schaub 91.7
11 Chad Pennington 90.1
12 Daunte Culpepper 87.8
13 Carson Palmer 87.6
14 Jeff Garcia 87.5
15 Donovan McNabb 86.5
16 Brett Favre 86.4
17 Dan Marino 86.4
18 Trent Green 86.0
19 Jay Cutler 84.8
20 Rich Gannon 84.7
21 David Garrard 84.7
22 Marc Bulger 84.4
23 Jim Kelly 84.4
Just to throw it out there. O-line should be in the mix too. Mcnabb had a great one. which should neutralize the lack of great wr here. He had Jackson here last yr and we barely made the playoffs. Watching the skins game , the dirt balls, even if the redskins wr are bad, they did not even have a chance to catch a ball because of 59% passing qb.Mcnabb real test was the SB and championship games and there was too many 3 and outs and wide open receivers.