Defending Rush Limbaugh

MSNBC ^ | 10/2/2003 | Allen Barra

[shoedog]

Defending Limbaugh

Rush was right: McNabb isn’t a great quarterback, and the media does overrate him because he is black

By Allen Barra SLATE.COM

Oct. 2 — In his notorious ESPN comments last Sunday night, Rush Limbaugh said he never thought the Philadelphia Eagles’ Donovan McNabb was “that good of a quarterback.” If Limbaugh were a more astute analyst, he would have been even harsher and said, “Donovan McNabb is barely a mediocre quarterback.” But other than that, Limbaugh pretty much spoke the truth. Limbaugh lost his job for saying in public what many football fans and analysts have been saying privately for the past couple of seasons.

LET’S REVIEW: McNabb, he said, is “overrated ... what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well-black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.” “There’s a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.” Let’s take the football stuff first. For the past four seasons, the Philadelphia Eagles have had one of the best defenses in the National Football League and have failed to make it to the Super Bowl primarily because of an ineffective offense — an offense run by Donovan McNabb. McNabb was a great college quarterback, in my estimation one of the best of the ’90s while at Syracuse. (For the record, I helped persuade ESPN Magazine, then called ESPN Total Sports, to put him on the cover of the 1998 college-football preview issue.) He is one of the most talented athletes in the NFL, but that talent has not translated into greatness as a pro quarterback. McNabb has started for the Eagles since the 2000 season. In that time, the Eagles offense has never ranked higher than 10th in the league in yards gained. In fact, their 10th-place rank in 2002 was easily their best; in their two previous seasons, they were 17th in a 32-team league. They rank 31st so far in 2003.

BY THE NUMBERS In contrast, the Eagles defense in those four seasons has never ranked lower than 10th in yards allowed. In 2001, they were seventh; in 2002 they were fourth; this year they’re fifth. It shouldn’t take a football Einstein to see that the Eagles’ strength over the past few seasons has been on defense, and Limbaugh is no football Einstein, which is probably why he spotted it. The news that the Eagles defense has “carried” them over this period should be neither surprising nor controversial to anyone with access to simple NFL statistics — or for that matter, with access to a television. Yet, McNabb has received an overwhelming share of media attention and thus the credit. Now why is this? Let’s look at a quarterback with similar numbers who also plays for a team with a great defense. I don’t know anyone who would call Brad Johnson one of the best quarterbacks in pro football — which is how McNabb is often referred to. In fact, I don’t know anyone who would call Brad Johnson, on the evidence of his 10-year NFL career, much more than mediocre. Yet, Johnson’s NFL career passer rating, as of last Sunday, is 7.3 points higher than McNabb’s (84.8 to 77.5), he has completed his passes at a higher rate (61.8 percent to 56.4 percent) and has averaged significantly more yards per pass (6.84 to 5.91). McNabb excels in just one area, running, where he has gained 2,040 yards and scored 14 touchdowns to Johnson’s 467 and seven. But McNabb has also been sacked more frequently than Johnson-more than once, on average, per game, which negates much of the rushing advantage. In other words, in just about every way, Brad Johnson has been a more effective quarterback than McNabb and over a longer period.

WIN OR LOSE And even if you say the stats don’t matter and that a quarterback’s job is to win games, Johnson comes out ahead. Johnson has something McNabb doesn’t, a Super Bowl ring, which he went on to win after his Bucs trounced McNabb’s Eagles in last year’s NFC championship game by a score of 27-10. The Bucs and Eagles were regarded by everyone as having the two best defenses in the NFL last year. When they played in the championship game, the difference was that the Bucs defense completely bottled up McNabb while the Eagles defense couldn’t stop Johnson. In terms of performance, many NFL quarterbacks should be ranked ahead of McNabb. But McNabb has represented something special to all of us since he started his first game in the NFL, and we all know what that is.

Limbaugh is being excoriated for making race an issue in the NFL. This is hypocrisy. I don’t know of a football writer who didn’t regard the dearth of black NFL quarterbacks as one of the most important issues in the late ’80s and early ’90s. (The topic really caught fire after 1988, when Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins became the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl.) So far, no black quarterback has been able to dominate a league in which the majority of the players are black. To pretend that many of us didn’t want McNabb to be the best quarterback in the NFL because he’s black is absurd. To say that we shouldn’t root for a quarterback to win because he’s black is every bit as nonsensical as to say that we shouldn’t have rooted for Jackie Robinson to succeed because he was black. (Please, I don’t need to be reminded that McNabb’s situation is not so difficult or important as Robinson’s-I’m talking about a principle.) Consequently, it is equally absurd to say that the sports media haven’t overrated Donovan McNabb because he’s black.

I’m sorry to have to say it; he is the quarterback for a team I root for. Instead of calling him overrated, I wish I could be admiring his Super Bowl rings. But the truth is that I and a great many other sportswriters have chosen for the past few years to see McNabb as a better player than he has been because we want him to be. Rush Limbaugh didn’t say Donovan McNabb was a bad quarterback because he is black. He said that the media have overrated McNabb because he is black, and Limbaugh is right. He didn’t say anything that he shouldn’t have said, and in fact he said things that other commentators should have been saying for some time now. I should have said them myself. I mean, if they didn’t hire Rush Limbaugh to say things like this, what they did they hire him for? To talk about the prevent defense?

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[texas slim]

Allen Barra said what I wanted to say. McNabb isn't that good and he alienates opposing fans with his hotdog moves to taunt an opposing team. Case in point, two seasons ago while beating the Bears badly, McNabb carried the ball for a touchdown and then spiked the ball over the goal post.
It was both uncalled for and poor sportsmanship but that's what passes for NFL football today, in addition to too many teams and too many mediocre players. I stopped watching the NFL this year. This effort to paint Rush as a racist is part of the overall media/Democrat effort to destroy the reputation of anyone in the public eye who is CONSERVATIVE. Examples: President Bush, John Ashcroft, Miguel Estrada, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rush Limbaugh. I smell Bill Clinton and Terry McAuliffe behind all of it.

[Terriergal]

Rush Limbaugh made the mistake of dragging his political views into the sports arena

I dunno - the media covers both. So how do you compartmentalize your life?

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Should Rush Limbaugh have resigned from ESPN?* 32785 responses Yes. His comments had no place on a sports show41% No. Everyone has the right to an opinion50% I don't know/care10%

[cardinal4]

This is from Slate??

[shoedog]

I appreciate your analysis. However I do believe McNabb is overated. You are exactly right, he does have a poor recieving corp and not the strongest running game. However, the Eagles Defense has put them where they have been the last few years. Also, you cannot try to tell me Donovan is an accurate passer, that won't fly. McNair is a much better all around quarterback. Also McNair has not haid the greates recieving corp around him either.

McNabb is a great athlete, and personally I like the guy, however his numbers are very average and he has come up very small in big games, of course Gannon also came up very small against Tampa's D.

[WHBates]

"Rush Limbaugh made the mistake of dragging his political views into the sports arena."

I guess you disagree with the artical because the author seem to say that what he said was true and not political.

[Terriergal]

Where is that poll?

[Snuffington]

That about nails the football side of the issue. The vengence of the white-guilt crowd won't be affected by this however.

[agitator]

 

 

 

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[SengirV]

Surprising Truthful analysis of what Rush said and the facts that verify it.

Don't ge too caught up in those FACTs in this story. Do you know how many stats are kept for individuals and teams in hte NFL? You can pull stats on 1972 Dolphins team that went undefeated that make them look like the worst team in the league that year. Last year the Eagles set a franchise record for points scored in a season. But how can that be, with the stats that were given in the article? Dig a little deeper before you claim victory. Now what is that saying? Oh yeah - "Lies, damn lies and statistics"

[Dolphy]

To pretend that many of us didn’t want McNabb to be the best quarterback in the NFL because he’s black is absurd.

There are dozens of reasons people want certain players to be the best, for some it may be race, for others it may be the college they attended, for still others it's because they like the guys image. Unless Rush could make a case that more honest assessments of McNabb were silenced because they were intimidated by those who so wanted a black to be the best, he didn't need race to make his point.

More and more, with the developments today, I wonder if Rush wasn't talking about the power of the media to prop up or destroy depending on their emotional or political attachment to their subject.

[Pharmboy]

His comment would be fine on the EIB because that show is his; it's a political show dedicated to Rush' opinions about everything. The ESPN show is a sports show, and mention of race here is full of landmines. Best to shut up about race...no need to bring it up.

The way I see it is that we've been relegated to the kids' table for a long time, and now finally get a chance to sit with the adults and we let off a big fart. (Look--I don't believe the libs are the adults, but I think the analogy holds). Rush should have known better--perhaps he acted out because of the imminent story on the oxycodone.

[Joe_October]

Hey, McNabb is better than Testaverde, don't be complainin!

He's better than Aaron Brooks as well (oops, can I say that?).

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

If the other accusations about Rush are true then he was on drugs when he made the McNabb statement and therefore not responsible for his actions according to liberalism. Sorry Dems, you just lost one of these issues.

[shoedog]

I keep forgetting what a powerhouse offensively the Eagles have been through the years, and oh by the way, how many of those record points were scored by the D and Special Teams???? Also Akers kicked quite a few Field Goals.

[Exigence]

Rush Limbaugh made the mistake of dragging his political views into the sports arena.

Mistake? Can you compartmentalize your life like that? I can't. I am just as distainful of affirmative action-like activities in sports as I am in "real" life.

Your comment made me think of people who only want to be Christian on Sunday. Do you only want to be conservative 9-5, Mon.-Fri.?

If I'm misunderstanding, please explain.

[wingman1]

Jimmy The Greek's comments were pretty much impromptu. As I recall, he was having supper in a restuarant and was pretty much blindsided by a reporter and camera crew.

His statement could be considered racist, but I don't believe it falls into the category of bigotry. People who knew him said he was crushed by the incident. He even sought counsel with, of all people, Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson in order to regain his reputation.

Rush should have known better.

Do you or anyone else here remember Earl Butts - Sec'y of Agriculture under Reagan? Now what he said was bigoted.

[Exigence]

Best to shut up about race...no need to bring it up.

And this helps how? We should hide from reality? Cede the field of race to the Jacksons and Sharptons of the world? Isn't that what we've been doing?

Dr. Phil would ask, how is that working for you?

[virgil]

The Propaganda Machine is working overtime

Yep and it's just a warm-up for the presidential campaign. I think the dems will eventually overplay their hand.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I am not bashing Jimmy the Greek. I just wondered if the comments could be considered equally off the cuff remarks.

Rush should have known that the television audience wasn't his radio audience. And I don't believe he should have resigned so quickly, unless it was ESPN who forced his hand.