"Franchise" quarterback Donovan McNabb returns this year after suffering a torn ACL (without any contact whatsoever, just running out of bounds) in week 10 last season.
That's not to be confused with the broken ankle that cost him 6 weeks in 2002, or the Sports Hernia that allowed him to play only 9 games in 2005.
McNabb has been an enigma. At times he's looked brilliant, but at other times he's showed a disturbing lack of touch and accuracy (especially for someone who's been in the league as long as he has).
On the one hand, he's never had great receivers (with the exception of T.O.'s brief, tumultuous visit to Philly) and arguably Donte Stallworth. On the other hand, he's very obviously gotten away from the scrambling style that used to at least create some opportunities for even his less-than-average receivers, and instead decided to become a strict pocket quarterback which has allowed opposing backfields to dominate the Eagles' receiver corp.
Now, I'm not stat-junkie, and I'm certainly not a fantasy-league geek, I'm just a guy who grew up watching the games. But it's always seemed to me that what I was seeing on the field never quite jived up with the numbers that people threw around about McNabb (and the Eagles offense in general).
So, thank to SalPal for doing the lifting on debunking Donovan's pre-injury 2006 season:
That oft-repeated, seldom analyzed conventional wisdom about McNabb's being on an "MVP pace" last season needs a reality check. Yes, before he was injured on Nov. 19, he had 18 touchdown passes and just six interceptions with a quarterback rating of 95.5.
But the Eagles lost four of his last five starts, beating only the lowly Redskins in Philadelphia (and in that game, McNabb completed just 46 percent of his passes). He lost in New Orleans, threw three picks in a loss to the awful Bucs in Tampa, couldn't get in the end zone at home against the Jaguars and exited the game against Tennessee with a quarterback rating of 33.5.
Now we learn that McNabb thinks he may have to play the whole season with a knee brace which is probably going to do absolutely nothing for his mobility, and which is kind-of at odds with what coach Andy Reid has previously said about the brace.
For too long the Eagles organization and head coach Andy Reid have been too personally invested in Donovan McNabb's success (going all the way back to McNabb being booed on draft day), that they've put that pride ahead of the good of the team. In fact, a large part of the problem has been that for too long "the Eagles organization" = "Andy Reid". Thanks Jeffrey.
Perhaps with the drafting of QB Kevin Kolbe, and the front-office talk of Kolbe being a "franchise-type quarterback", the team is finally willing to unhitch its wagon from #5's train.
Of course, we here in Philadelphia know what becomes of "franchise-type" players (Lindros, Iverson, Roland, Drew, Burrell). If they win, it ain't here.
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