McNabb Can Withstand Any Rush [Limbaugh]

Washington Post ^ | 1/15/04 | Leonard Shapiro

[Dr. Scarpetta]

From Limbaugh to Blitzers, Eagles' Quarterback, Donovan Mc Nabb, Has Persevered. Donovan McNabb and his Philadelphia Eagles teammates would prefer not to be remembered as a team that played in three straight NFC championship games and lost every one of them, including two at home.

"Really, it doesn't motivate me," McNabb said Wednesday as the Eagles prepared to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, with a trip to the Super Bowl in the balance. "At times, it ticked me off. I'm just being a man about it. You go on and prepare and you can't get it done. Well, you use that as a little fuel to the fire. . . .

[discostu]

Yup, but the record stands, Philly won, they should win Sunday.

[GigaDittos]

I believe the word "racist" in quotes, was for a reason.

[Lost Highway]

This whole thing still amazes me. All Rush did was say McNabb was overrated. You can listen to any sports talk show 7 days a week and hear 10 different players from every sport called overrated.

Rushes offense was that he said something negative about the media. There is a huge pile of people who's careers where ruined because they could not learn to play nice with the press. A coach with a loosing record that gives the press what they want will get 2nd and 3rd chances over and over. A coach with a loosing record that ticks off the press is gone immediately.

[drjimmy]

I never heard Rush use the tagline from the Broadway show "Now and Forever" (Cats) to his statements about McNabb. I guess his detractors decided to add it. Rush was right at that time.

You weren't listening, then. In referring to McNabb, Rush said, "I don't think he's been that good from the get-go." Rush's defenders continue to bring up the canard that he was "right at the time," since McNabb had started the season so poorly. Contrary to the claim, Rush clearly refers to the entirety of McNabb's career.

The fact that the Eagles managed to earn the best record in the NFC and make it to the championship game this year without nearly as good a defense as it had the previous two years is simply icing on the cake to prove Rush wrong in saying McNabb gets credit he doesn't deserve.

[Tricorn]

What gets me about this whole Rush/McNabb thing is how fragile the sportswriter's world must be. There are thousands of sportswriters in the country, and yet Rush shows up for 2 weeks and turns their world upside down. They're still talking about it 4 months later. They ask questions of McNabb like: "How are you doing, big guy?" as if he must be crying himself to sleep every night. What a delicate, sensitive creature a sports media person must be to get so upset. They're all in need of counseling now. Chris Collingsworth weeps openly. Tom Jackson's wittle wip is all aquiver... Gee whiz, ladies! Get over it!

[jamz]

McNabb STILL isn't that good. Look at the basics. Look how many low throws he made...heck...I could've even thrown some of those ducks he threw last Sunday. The only thing that saves him is his strength and speed. Put him on the run and out of the pocket...trying to throw across himself...get your shotgun out and get ready to pity shoot that bird.

[Tricorn]

"The fact that the Eagles managed to earn the best record in the NFC and make it to the championship game this year without nearly as good a defense as it had the previous two years is simply icing on the cake to prove Rush wrong in saying McNabb gets credit he doesn't deserve."

Is this the new standard when judging QBs? What was Feeley's record when he took over for McNabb last year? McNabb, by this new criteria, is still looking up at Trent Dilfer -- in fact most QBs in the league still don't rate as highly as Dilfer, who never got the credit he deserved. How about Brad Johnson? Is McNabb better than Brad Johnson?

[discostu]

They got where they are on the strength of a triple threat run offense. 16 TD passes on the season is not how you carry a team to the playoffs, counter acting that with 11 INTs really shows that McNabb is not the reason they are #1 in the NFC.

[Lost Highway]

2003 Regular Season

NFL · AFC · NFC

Quarterback Passing
Player	Team	G	Att	Att/G	Cmp	Pct	Yds	Yds/G	Lng	TDs	Int	Sck	SckY	Rate
Sage Rosenfels	MIA	2	6	3.0	4	66.7	50	25.0	21	1	0	0	0	131.9
David Garrard	JAC	2	12	6.0	9	75.0	86	43.0	28	1	0	0	0	122.2
Gus Frerotte	MIN	16	65	4.1	38	58.5	690	43.1	72	7	2	5	22	118.1
Billy Volek	TEN	7	69	9.9	44	63.8	545	77.9	50	4	1	6	45	101.4
Steve McNair	TEN	14	400	28.6	250	62.5	3215	229.6	73	24	7	19	108	100.4
Doug Pederson	GB	16	2	0.1	2	100.0	16	1.0	14	0	0	0	0	100.0
Peyton Manning	IND	16	566	35.4	379	67.0	4267	266.7	79	29	10	18	107	99.0
Todd Bouman	NO	4	13	3.2	7	53.8	81	20.2	19	1	0	2	8	98.6
Tim Rattay	SF	11	118	10.7	73	61.9	856	77.8	61	7	2	7	54	96.6
Daunte Culpepper	MIN	14	454	32.4	295	65.0	3479	248.5	59	25	11	37	196	96.4
Trent Green	KC	16	523	32.7	330	63.1	4039	252.4	67	24	12	20	130	92.6
Jake Plummer	DEN	11	302	27.5	189	62.6	2182	198.4	60	15	7	14	73	91.2
Vinny Testaverde	NYJ	7	198	28.3	123	62.1	1385	197.9	61	7	2	6	48	90.6
Brett Favre	GB	16	471	29.4	308	65.4	3361	210.1	66	32	21	19	137	90.4
Todd Collins	KC	5	12	2.4	9	75.0	74	14.8	20	0	0	0	0	90.3
Mark Brunell	JAC	3	82	27.3	54	65.9	484	161.3	65	2	0	9	46	89.7
Matt Hasselbeck	SEA	16	513	32.1	313	61.0	3841	240.1	80	26	15	42	246	88.8
Aaron Brooks	NO	16	518	32.4	306	59.1	3546	221.6	76	24	8	34	195	88.8
Brock Huard	IND	2	3	1.5	2	66.7	22	11.0	13	0	0	1	3	88.2
Jon Kitna	CIN	16	520	32.5	324	62.3	3591	224.4	82	26	15	37	249	87.4
Tom Brady	NE	16	527	32.9	317	60.2	3620	226.2	82	23	12	32	219	85.9
Rob Johnson	WAS	2	7	3.5	5	71.4	39	19.5	14	0	0	3	15	84.8
Tony Banks	HOU	7	102	14.6	61	59.8	693	99.0	46	5	3	13	57	84.3
Chad Pennington	NYJ	10	297	29.7	189	63.6	2139	213.9	65	13	12	25	160	82.9
Doug Flutie	SD	7	167	23.9	91	54.5	1097	156.7	73	9	4	8	27	82.8
Brad Johnson	TB	16	570	35.6	354	62.1	3811	238.2	76	26	21	20	111	81.5
Marc Bulger	STL	15	532	35.5	336	63.2	3845	256.3	48	22	22	37	288	81.4
Jake Delhomme	CAR	16	449	28.1	266	59.2	3219	201.2	67	19	16	23	168	80.6
Jeff Garcia	SF	13	392	30.2	225	57.4	2704	208.0	75	18	13	21	104	80.1
Shaun King	TB	3	22	7.3	15	68.2	130	43.3	20	1	1	3	25	79.7
Donovan McNabb	PHI	16	478	29.9	275	57.5	3216	201.0	59	16	11	43	253	79.6
Koy Detmer	PHI	16	5	0.3	3	60.0	32	2.0	15	0	0	0	0	78.8
Tim Couch	CLE	10	203	20.3	120	59.1	1319	131.9	71	7	6	19	116	77.6
Patrick Ramsey	WAS	11	337	30.6	179	53.1	2166	196.9	64	14	9	30	206	75.8
Tommy Maddox	PIT	16	519	32.4	298	57.4	3414	213.4	53	18	17	41	242	75.3
Rex Grossman	CHI	3	72	24.0	38	52.8	437	145.7	59	2	1	4	41	74.8
Kelly Holcomb	CLE	10	302	30.2	193	63.9	1797	179.7	68	10	12	21	166	74.6
Rich Gannon	OAK	7	225	32.1	125	55.6	1274	182.0	46	6	4	17	90	73.5
Drew Bledsoe	BUF	16	471	29.4	274	58.2	2860	178.8	54	11	12	49	371	73.0
Byron Leftwich	JAC	15	418	27.9	239	57.2	2819	187.9	84	14	16	19	90	73.0
Kurt Warner	STL	2	65	32.5	38	58.5	365	182.5	37	1	1	6	38	72.9
Jay Fiedler	MIA	12	314	26.2	179	57.0	2138	178.2	59	11	13	19	126	72.4
Anthony Wright	BAL	7	178	25.4	94	52.8	1199	171.3	64	9	8	19	125	72.3
Quincy Carter	DAL	16	505	31.6	292	57.8	3302	206.4	64	17	21	37	185	71.4
Kerry Collins	NYG	13	500	38.5	284	56.8	3110	239.2	77	13	16	28	164	70.7
Josh McCown	ARI	10	166	16.6	95	57.2	1018	101.8	60	5	6	25	174	70.3
Jeff Blake	ARI	13	367	28.2	208	56.7	2247	172.8	71	13	15	19	132	69.6
David Carr	HOU	12	295	24.6	167	56.6	2013	167.8	78	9	13	15	90	69.5
Brian Griese	MIA	5	130	26.0	74	56.9	813	162.6	80	5	6	12	83	69.2
Michael Vick	ATL	5	100	20.0	50	50.0	585	117.0	49	4	3	9	64	69.0
Rows: 1 - 50 · 51 - 77 · All

Sign up for the NFL.com newsletter
Get information about upcoming features and live chat events, special sale offers in the NFL Shop and exciting NFL programs in your area!

E-mail Address:


 

	NFL.COM Help Section | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Team Employment Opportunities
	© 2004, NFL Enterprises, L.P. NFL and the NFL shield design are registered trademarks of the National Football League. The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated. NFL footage © NFL Productions LLC.

[Hatteras]

From the article:

"...Rush Limbaugh saying he was overrated because he was a black quarterback."

Rush didn't say he was overrated because McNabb was black, he was saying McNabb was overrated because he wasn't as good a quarterback as the media would have you believe. So, the media overrated McNabb because McNabb was a black quarterback. There's a difference.

By the way, would somebody please blitz the FOX announcer's booth and blindside Chris Collinsworth. What an idiot...

[drjimmy]

Thanks for posting this. It's clear that Sage Rosenfels should be in the Pro Bowl and making Chunky Soup commercials instead of Donovan McNabb. Make sure Rush knows about this so he can express his outrage at this further proof of media malfeasance.

[secret garden]

I agree about Collinsworth, the pencil neck.

[Born Conservative]

[Lost Highway]

If it makes you feel better to ignore that McNabb rates behind 18 other QB's playing in at least 10 games for the entire 2003 season then go right ahead. His 2003 rating of 79.6 is down from 86.0 in 2002. So he's proven he can be better. Of course Koy Detmer put up a rating of 115.8 on the same team in the same year.

[Stone Mountain]

All Rush did was say McNabb was overrated.

No, if that was all he said, we wouldn't be talking about this. He said that McNabb was overrated specifically because he was black (that the media over-hyped him because he was black). That's different than just saying a guy is overrated.

I think Rush is somewhat overrated as a talk show host. Fine. That's different than contending that Rush is overrated as a talk show host because he's white and that talk show critics and listeners give him higher ratings than they otherwise would because he is white.

[Doc Savage]

For those of you unaware, the ACTUAL REAL Superbowl is being played THIS weekend in New England. If anyone actually thinks that either the Fleagles or the Pissanthers will actually give either New England or the Colts a decent game they are crazy!

Colts win this weekend. Defeat the Fleagles in SB: 38-13. Book it!

[gdani]

If it makes you feel better to ignore that McNabb rates behind 18 other QB's playing in at least 10 games for the entire 2003 season then go right ahead

FYI -- QB rating is a useless stat that totally ignores various other aspects of the game that affect a QB's numbers (strength of running game, QB rushing yards, individual game strategies, strength of defense, a team's red zone strategies, etc, etc).

[Tricorn]

"He said that McNabb was overrated specifically because he was black (that the media over-hyped him because he was black)."

If McNabb had had Trent Green's numbers this year, if he had had Matt Hasselbeck's numbers this year, he would have been unanimous MVP. He plays on a team that has demonstrated that it does well no matter who the QB is and yet the media consistently refer to him as an MVP candidate and ignore those who perform better than he. By definition, this is overrated. Since sports media people openly campaign for black head coaching candidates and black QB MVP candidates (specifically McNair and McNabb) while ignoring better or equally qualified white candidates, Rush's comments fall just short of demonstrably true. Maybe the media just favor QBs with "Mc" in their names.

[Lost Highway]

QB rating is a useless stat

Most stats are when they don't give the answer one wants.

[gdani]

QB rating is a useless stat

Most stats are when they don't give the answer one wants.

Except that I'm not a McNabb fan. (I think he's in the top third of QBs but certainly not an MVP or a pro-bowler).

QB ratings were devised a few decades ago. No one started using them until recently. There is a reason for that.