Donovan McNabb is Silencing the Critics

October 2, 2006 - Prior to Fall 2004, everyone said that Donovan McNabb was nothing more than a scrambling quarterback who could will his team to victory with his feet. And while he was often forced into doing just that, nobody took notice of his great arm and tremendous decision making.

Fall 2004, enter Terrell Owens; the prolific receiver who turned Philadelphia's offense into a passing juggernaut. He changed the approach of the team so much, that they went from a team who was inefficient at the passing game to a team who relied on it too much. T.O.'s arrival also meant that Donovan McNabb finally had a number one receiver for the first time in his career. And when given that opportunity, for the first time, he used it marvelously as he passed his team all the way to the Superbowl.

But of course, everybody said that the emergence of McNabb as a passer was because of Terrell Owens. And those same people basically chose not to acknowledge the fact that McNabb probably could have done what he did that year with any receiver who was capable of being a go-to guy. And so when T.O., McNabb and the Eagles Organization had their issues and T.O. was dismissed, many people thought that McNabb would digress back into the quarterback who "allegedly" only won games with his feet.

WRONG! This fall, McNabb has had the best start to any season of his career, including his amazing 2004 season with T.O. In his first 3 games, he was thrown for over 295 yards in each of them and he has seven touchdowns with only one interception. Going into week three he was the leading passer in the NFL and he boasted a quarterback rating of 105.3. Subsequently, McNabb is receiving praise from all of the NFL analysts, the same who said he would not be the same without T.O., and he is an early leading candidate for the Most Valuable Player award this season.

Who is to blame for McNabb's success? Well, some may point to the arrival of Donte Stallworth, but those people would be wrong once again. While Stallworth is a great receiver who can stretch the field, he is nothing more than another reliable receiver who can get open, just like T.O.

Some people might say McNabb's early success is based on the emergence of an Eagle's running game this season. And while a running game will help any quarterback, nobody was saying that McNabb was a great passer in 2003 when he had a terrific 3-headed attack in the rush game and led the Eagles back to the NFC championship for what would be the 3rd consecutive time at that moment.

The real reason for McNabb's success this season is that he is just a successful quarterback and he has always been! Believe it or not, the guy wins, and he does it just as much with his feet as he does his arm.

To put his passing ability into perspective, look at Mike Vick. Just about all of Vick's success has come via his running ability. McNabb does not have nearly the speed of Vick and yet he has won many more games. Why? Because when teams have the answer to his scrambling ability, McNabb answers the call by passing it down the other teams' throats.

Look at his history. In the 3 seasons prior to T.O., McNabb took the Eagles to 3 straight NFC championships. In those same 3 seasons, he started 42 of a possible 48 games and threw for 58 touchdowns and only 29 interceptions. He had over 136 plays of 20 plus yards, which means he had over 3 such type plays a game. He threw for 208 yards a game, which is not great, but if you take into consideration that in those seasons he had only one other skill position player go to the pro-bowl and he did not have a receiver who averaged 60 yards.

So say what you will about Donovan McNabb and the evolution of his passing game, but the guy has always been a great passer who did the most with what he had. Tom Brady never had a prolific season before last year when Deion Branch emerged and yet Brady's passing skills were never questioned because he was not a mobile quarterback. But that's okay, whatever biases the media has for McNabb, it does not matter, as Donovan was named the NFC Offensive player of the month for September. There is no T.O. there and yet McNabb is managing to win games and win them with his arm. So if you haven't already, jump on the bandwagon now, because it might to be too full once McNabb is being presented with a golden trophy at the end of the regular season.

-Uzo Ometu