Donovan's Demotion: Thoughts from a Lifelong Philadelphia Eagles, and McNabb Fan

Things happen quickly in today’s world—sports and otherwise.

To illustrate my point, I have given myself no more than 30 minutes to hammer out some of my thoughts on the strange benching of supposed franchise quarterback Donovan McNabb by Redskins football czar Mike Shanahan.

And, did it take more than 30 minutes for McNabb to go from: a) possible Redskins savior who came into Philly to beat the Eagles; to b) a quarterback who was benched (to make room for Rex Grossman) in Detroit in the final couple minutes with a team down by less than a touchdown; to c) signing a supposed $78 million contract extension; to d) this: being told to ride the pine as the third-string quarterback while the mathematically eliminated Skins play out the 2010 string?

Did anyone get whiplash just from reading that long sentence?

And then with each development, there’s spin, counter-spin, accusation, vindication, passion, vitriol—and occasionally, even some real thought. In service of real thought, I will try to simultaneously collect (and publish) mine.

How Shocking Was This Move?

The Redskins (5-8) are out of the playoff hunt, as they don’t play in the NFC West.

If McNabb were benched in favor of a Sam Bradford-type hot young franchise quarterback, it may not have done much more than raise some eyebrows. But when Rex Grossman and John Beck are, um, beckoned, it does more than that.

Still, I don’t know if anything coming out of Redskins-land—and with Mike Shanahan at the helm—can be considered shocking.

Did the Redskins Badly Underachieve This Year?

For the most part, the Redskins (4-12 last year under Jim Zorn) were competitive in most games, and both won and lost some very close games. They were never a pretty team to watch, and their offense, with an exception here and there, never really clicked.

This columnist projected the Redskins—with McNabb at the helm—would go 7-9, and they were probably headed to 6-10 with McNabb.

By the way, I saw the Philadelphia Eagles (11-5 last year) as a 9-7 team, and at 9-4 currently appear to be heading to right around 11 wins again.

This Skins season was an ugly one, with the Albert Haynesworth debacle that dragged out for the offseason, preseason and most of the campaign, numerous injuries, close losses, the aforementioned Detroit benching and now this.

Not sure if the team underachieved, but they had lots of winnable games that got away in a year where the NFC (thanks to the tanking of the Cowboys and Vikings) was/is pretty wide open.

Vindication for Eagles Fans?

A lot of my Eagles Nation brethren—the type I have been forced to endure while passionately following Gang Green—are crowing about McNabb’s bad season, and demotion.

That is their right; last I checked, there’s no law against pettiness, vindictiveness and stupidity.

So what do McNabb’s apparent struggles this season mean to me?

Except for brief stretches, Donovan has not played well this year. He has, uncharacteristically, been plagued by interceptions, and it does not take great insight to regard his low passer rating.

Does that mean he could not have gotten it done had he stayed in Philly this year? No, not necessarily.

Michael Vick has played brilliantly, and has elevated an Eagles offense that was very good last year to greater heights in 2010. So, Eagles management must feel some vindication for that controversial intra-divisional Easter Day trade.

Nobody knows how McNabb would have performed in a 12th season under the same coach, surrounded by his best supporting cast ever.

It’s easy to look at passer ratings, and McNabb’s has been terrible.

Of course, passer rating is affected by the offensive line (The Eagles O-line is average, the Redskins’ is worse.), the running game (Ryan Torain has shown flashes when healthy, but LeSean McCoy is having a Pro Bowl season) and the receivers (Would the Skins’ best receiver, Santana Moss, even start for the Birds?  DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are better, and Avant is a bigger, more sure-handed possession receiver.)  Chris Cooley is good, but not special, and is he better than Brent Celek?

How about the coaching?  For all his warts, Andy Reid (and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg) does a pretty good job of establishing a system and calling a good game. If you prefer Mike and Kyle Shanahan, that’s your prerogative.

By the way, how did the sainted Peyton Manning perform without Dallas Clark, Collie and Joseph Addai?  And he still had better talent, and a much better line than McNabb has had this year. And more stable coaching.

Is This the End for McNabb?

I would think (and frankly hope) that McNabb has seen his last play as a Redskin.

Amazingly, if so, his last play would be a nine-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal down by seven points to tie the game. Well, it would have tied the game if the punter/holder did not botch the snap for the game-tying extra point.

You can’t script this stuff, but let me get back on track.

I would also like to think (and certainly hope) that McNabb will bounce back somewhere. I think he has two or three solid years left as a good starting NFL quarterback.

He probably needs at least one more strong campaign to get into the Hall of Fame and erase this nightmare of a season.

And for what it’s worth, I’ll still be rooting for him.

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