Posted on 02/07/2005 8:48:24 AM PST by gopwinsin04
It looked like Donovan McNabb saved his jitters for the Super Bowl. McNabb spent the week telling jokes, being loose and insisting that he felt no pressure leading the Philidelphia Eagles versus the New England Patriots.
But the five time pro bowl QB had a shaky performance in the most important game of his career Sunday, a 24-21 loss to the Patriots. McNabb turned the ball over three times, including crucial interceptions in the first and fourth quarters.
McNabb misfired on several passes early, held the ball too long in other instance and made several poor decisions. One of the best scramblers in the National Football League, McNabb had zero yards rushing on just one carry.
McNabb rebounded from his rough start with a strong second quarter, finally leading the Eagles into the end zone after sqandering several scoring opportunities. But he made a critical error midway through the 4th quarter right after the Pats took at 24-14 lead.
After he connected with Terell Owens on a 36 yard pass, McNabb badly underthrew his reciever Smith on the next play and was intercepted by linebacker Tedy Bruschi.
McNabb had the best season of his six year career, leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl for the first time in 24 years after three consecutive losses in the NFC title game. But McNabb couldn't deliver the Eagles first championship since 1960.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
>>Elway wasn't considered a winner, either, until the last two years of his career.<<
That isn't true. Anyone that followed Elway knew he was a winner, just one that hadn't got over the hump.
McNabb isn't even close to Elway, even Elway before his 2 SBs.
I suspect they were winded, needing the huddle to catch a breath. And they did score a TD on that drive on an excellent pass play.
"I suspect they were winded, needing the huddle to catch a breath. And they did score a TD on that drive on an excellent pass play."
I thought the clock management by Philly sucked and cost them the game. I am a Pats fan, so ultimately I am glad my team won but was very surprised they did not go into "no huddle offence" mode.
wow...it is personal.
the glory days...i was a kid and too young to know it....glad i got to see it though.
sounds like Bart Starr.
name cognition is great for car dealers.
here we have Darryll Waltrip somethingornother.
I blame Reid for the 2 minute fiasco. Belichick would have had all of his players hustling to the line.
*Dodges battery*
Not at all.
In ANY sport? Ever hear of John Wooden?
How on earth did I forget John Wooden and his great college teams? Must be CRS...
Philly - 10, Indy - 4.
Both teams started slow. Remember that they both came in after more than a two week break.
You have to cut both teams some slack here.
How about the 1926 to 1964 Yankees? In 38 seasons, they played in 28 World Series and won 21 of them. They had several streaks of winning 5 WS in a 6 or 7 year span.
The Yankees did this in a much more mature sport than 1950's era NBA. It is far easier for one team to dominate when a sport is young and immature. As a sport matures, parity tends to set in. College football is a prime example - when it was a young sport, Harvard dominated. Now that it is mature, the sport has parity with any number of teams being able to compete for the national title.
Women's college basketball is a sport that is still young so you see teams like UT and UConn dominating. Once the sport matures it will resemble the parity of mens college basketball.
Great Yankee teams, but five ain't eight and eleven in thirteen years is unreal.
I'm not one to say that those old timers (I'm an old timer too. Can ya tell?) could play the game today, either. The only way 99 44/100% could get into a game today is to buy a ticket.
Women's basketball? What the hell is that?
;O)
I'm guessing that this is "run after catch" stuff from TO and Westbrook. From what I saw in the playoffs, McNabb's deep balls are floaters.
If the NFC is so weak, why hasn't some other NFC team been able to do what the Eagles have done? Surely one other team could be a consistent winner over 5 years.
The NFC East has had other winning teams most years (2000 and 2002 Giants, 2003 Cowboys), though part of the credit to most of that division looking bad has to be the Eagles just kicking the snot out of the other teams most years these past five years.
I think McNabb should have been ordered to scramble more. He's so obsessed with not looking like a "traditional" black scrambling QB that he hurts the team.
He didn't scramble or run because the Patriots made sure that the running lanes were not there. The Patriots played a 4-3 front all night (really a 2-5 with the outside linebackers in a 3 point position as defensive ends), rather than their usual 3-4; and with those 4 guys blocked the 4 gaps that exist in a 5 man offensive line, with the 3 middle linebackers and the strong safety playing outside and middle containment. He tried to run one time, and Harrison came up and stuffed him hard. Please note that the Eagles running backs were unable to run at all either. Other than 22 yards on a draw play near the end of the half and the Patriots in a prevent defense, the Eagles were 15 rushes for 24 yards. McNabb didn't run because the Patriots focused on taking away the Eagles running game and making the team one dimensional, forcing all the load onto McNabb and figuring that if he was forced to pass enough, he would eventually cough up the ball when properly pressured even if they gave up some big plays in the process.
Essentially they gambled on their secondary being able to make the stops when the front 7 or 8 did not, and it worked out for them, although they were almost burned in the end until the Eagles flubbed the 50 second drill.
I think the Patriots realized that with the 3-4 front, they were vulnerable to runs, screens, and draws by McNabb or the running backs to the side of the field against the pass rush, as they saw in Pittsburgh where Rothelisberger and Staley were both able to break containment to the outside opposite the rush. In a 3-4 front, the center is covered by the Nose Tackle, and the D-Tackles sit on the A-gaps near the O-Guards. Then 1 linebacker, usually McGinnest with the Patriots is brought from one side to rush, leaving one Tackle unblocked. If you then set the Tight End in motion to the side of the unblocked Tackle you've got a great front to run behind and through or to form a screen. The Patriots took that away from the Eagles.
Give the Patriots Defense some credit for executing a brilliant game plan.
When almost every pass you throw is less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, you should complete 70 percent of them. McNabb normally completes around 75% of his short passes to the tight ends and running backs. It has nothing to do with secondary coverage, because when you face quick passes like that no secondary is going to be able to force many incompletions.
The Eagles secondary was more than capable of 1-1 coverage. As I pointed out, they gave up no deep passes where a wideout was racing a cornerback down the field when Brady attempted a couple.
No, McNabb regularly made throws that were 60 yards long through the air by yardage. I think his range is around 80 yards actually.
For example, in the second Redskins game:
2-5-WAS49 (13:03) D.McNabb pass incomplete to T.Owens. PENALTY on WAS-S.Springs, Defensive Pass Interference, 47 yards, enforced at WAS 49 - No Play.
A 47 yard pass interference call means that the receiver was that far down the field when he was interfered with prior to the catch.
1-10-PHI16 (:30) D.McNabb pass to T.Pinkston to WAS 4 for 80 yards (R.Clark).
This pass was actually caught around the WAS 20, so it went around 64 yards from the line of scrimmage, or around 75 yards from the point it was thrown from.
Here's one from the Vikings game:
1-10-MIN45 (7:48) D.McNabb pass to T.Owens for 45 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Eagles' Owens runs straight fly pattern to end zone and grabs McNabb pass inside the 5 and dives over the goal line for TD.
Here's some from the first Dallas game:
2-1-PHI41 (8:13) D.McNabb pass to T.Pinkston for 59 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Pass caught at the Dallas 5 before running into the end zone.
That's a 54 yard pass from the line of scrimmage, so actual air distance from the point of throw would be around 65 yards.
3-10-PHI25 (3:09) D.McNabb pass to F.Mitchell to DAL 15 for 60 yards (N.Jones). McNabb under pressure right; roll back left before throwing downfield.
That one was caught about 3-5 yards back before Mitchell was pancaked by two defensive backs.
Remember too that a number of "run after catch" throws to Westbrook he made this year were about 10-20 yards down field, and about 30-40 yards across the field, so they were long throws but in a different direction.
Here's one such from the Green Bay game:
3-1-GB41 (5:45) D.McNabb pass to B.Westbrook for 41 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Eagles' Westbrook catches McNabb pass behind the GB secondary at the GB 19.
That pass was 12 yards forward from the line of scrimmage, but all the way across from the left hash marks to the right sideline, roughly a 30 yard distance.
From what I saw in the playoffs, McNabb's deep balls are floaters.
Any ball thrown 30-50 yards is going to "float" because it must be heaved so high up to get there. Rocket like fastball passes are generally under 30 yards of actual throw (think about how hard it is to throw a rocket from 3rd to 1st on a full size baseball field - thats around 40 yards).
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