Defending Rush Limbaugh

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

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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"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?"

It was A SPORTS SHOW!

Rush has 15 hours a week to discuss race. Not long ago, he made some great points about Millen, the Lions, and Mariucci on his program.

Rush was right--he's made that point and similar ones for years and years on the EIB. However, there was no positive risk/benefit ratio on his decision to talk about it on ESPN. The show is a football show and not a sports media show.

If there were a specific segment on "How the Media Covers Sports" it would have been fine in that context. I believe he was being deliberately provocative--perhaps he was acting out because of the pressure of the imminent oxycodone story.

No, I know you weren't bashing Jimmy. But, the double standard is alive and well today. But even so, what The Greek said was pretty dumb.

I agree with you that Rush should have known better.

ESPN supposedly received numerous calls from Congressmen and civl rights people. So there you have it.

Good point. But the 1972 Dolphins were actually one of the most overrated teams in NFL history. They were undefeated, but they played a very weak schedule and nearly lost the Super Bowl to a surprisingly mediocre Washington Redskins team that any truly great team would have beaten handily.

Your comment on misleading statistics is accurate, but you then proceeded to introduce one yourself. Yes, the Eagles set a club record for points scored in a season last year. But McNabb played in only 10 games last year, and threw a total of 17 touchdown passes while running for 6 more (out of 45-50 TDs scored by the Eagles last year). And the Eagles scored 3 or 4 TDs on defense and special teams, too.

All of these things combined for a "record-breaking year" for the Eagles, and yet the starting QB was involved in no more than half the TDs they scored.

Oh, and one more thing -- the major reason McNabb is considered an overrated QB is that the Eagles have not set any records for points scored in NFC championship games the last few years.

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.

Brian mitchell had one punt return. Akers had 26 field goals. The defense had 2 TDs. But it is obvious to me that you loved rush's, at best, questionable race comments and you hate the Eagles. They put up more points last year than your Giants/Cowboys/Skins(One of them is you team I'm sure).

Oh, and one more thing -- the major reason McNabb is considered an overrated QB is that the Eagles have not set any records for points scored in NFC championship games the last few years.

REally? And here I thought the reason was because he was black. Well, at least that is what rush thinks, and said so on national TV. And THAT is what all the brew-ha-ha is all about.

Who is this "we" you have in your pocket?
Rush is right.
That he says so in public is what seems to concern you deeply.
Free speech?
Or PC ruled and rigidly controlled "semi-free" approved agenda driven speech.
Where in politically correct speech can one find truth?
Rush Limbaugh has stated he will not run for political office, so why must he, or I, or the entire country pretend that PC speech applies to everyone?
Why on earth would we want it to apply to anyone?

"Wow that was MSNBC posting a SLATE article! That's tantamount to a slate writer going into detail about why President Bush was right to go to war with Iraq. THINGS LIKE THIS SIMPLY DO NOT HAPPEN!

Don't get so excited.

The only reason PMSNBC felt they could publish this with a clear conscious is because Limbaugh had already resigned.

If he was still in there fighting, PMSNBC would never in a million years have run an article like this.

It's going to be fun watching the Eagles again. Let's see if the million dollar victim can prove Rush wrong.

I dont. I hope he fumbles every snap. I hope every pass he throws is held onto just enough to call it a catch, and then gets fumbled away. I hope he throws 10 interceptions on Sunday. I hope Mr. Arrington introduces Mr Mcnabb to the turf 10 times. I hope Mr. Bruce Smith taunts the hell out of him 10 times. I hope Mr Snyder takes off Donovans hat and slaps him on the top of his head in a taunting fashion 10 times...

Im a Redskins fan...

Rush should have known better.

C'mon. Grow a spine, will ya.

That's the problem with this PC world.

If we give in to this type of blackmail, we will all be walking on eggshells each and every day, 24/7, scared to death that we might say something the PC Dems consider to be reason for termination.

For pete's sake, they keep moving the PC ball whenever it suits their political purpose. Of course if Rush was not conservative, there would be no limit as to what he could say since he would be considered "enlightened."

I like to watch sports in order to get away from thinking about politics.

That's exactly right. His political comments in a sports arena were not what people were expecting or wanting to hear.

Rush's point is that McNabb is overrated by the media because he is black. My point is that McNabb is "overrated" (as opposed to "deserving of the accolades he receives") because he hasn't yet delivered in a big game.

Something else to remember is that the Tampa Bay Bucs are something like 1-45 when the temperature at gametime is less than 40 degrees out. Their one victory? You guessed it -- last year's NFC champtionship game.

Rush has 15 hours a week to discuss race. Not long ago, he made some great points about Millen, the Lions, and Mariucci on his program.

You're right. None of the other ESPN commentators discuss race -- NOT! I hear it constantly. Why are you suggesting the Rush should have been an exception? Because he's a conservative? Funny... that's what the liberal media thinks, too: conservatives should never talk about race.

"C'mon. Grow a spine, will ya."

I not only have a spine, I gotta a brain also. The show is a sports show.

Therefore, this is what Rush should have said, "Donovan McNabb is overrated".

Limbaugh, a couple of weeks ago, was the only one on the show to pick New England to beat the Eagles in Philly!

Do you think the average dude at the sports bar cares about Limbaugh's view of the sports media or the world in general? I doubt it. It's more like they care about stats, standings, their fantasy teams, and the cute bar maid.

This guy Barra knows sports. He had De La Hoya beating Sugar Shane Mosely 7-4-1. I saw it the same way. And I see it the same way with regards to Rush but Rush should never have resigned. Of course, maybe he wouldn't have had the drug thing not surfaced but we'll never know.

Say anything bad - even if totally true - about a black person, lose your job.

Unless the person who is dark-skinned that you are speaking ill about, lying about is.. Judge Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly....

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