Donovan McNabb and 10 NFL Players Who Should Have Lost Their Starting Jobs

You hate to make snap judgments after one week—after all, there are still 15 games left to play and a lot can happen. More to the point, All Pro players and Super Bowl teams have certainly bounced back after a tough Week 1 in the past. 

But there were a handful of players out there who really unimpressed and either lost their job heading into Week 2 or, at the very least, are in danger of doing so.

And while head coaches and the front office certainly hate to make hasty decisions, there may be no choice in the matter.

Now, some of these players may be sent to the sidelines because of poor play, but in several cases, the name behind them on the depth chart is just as much a reason. 

Doug Legursky, RG, Pittsburgh Steelers

Two weeks ago, I was stunned to learn that Doug Legursky was named the starter at right guard, ahead of Ramon Foster. I was equally stunned yesterday to learn that Foster was declared inactive prior to Sunday's debacle in Baltimore. 

Of course, Foster is neither Alan Faneca nor even Chris Kemoeatu, but it's hard to think that he could have done any worse than Legursky did against the Ravens.

The pounding Rashard Mendenhall received on that fumble came because Legursky couldn't handle Haloti Ngata, and that single play really crushed the Steelers' hopes of a comeback, even if it was at the start of the third quarter.

There's a huge difference between 21-7 and 29-7. 

Now, you can't blame him for the interception (Ngata's tipping of a Ben Roethlisberger pass) that occurred on the next series. It looked as if the line ran a twist and it was Maurkice Pouncey's job to bump back down the line.

But several of the pressures and sacks that followed, you can chalk up to Bronco Legursky. 

You can expect Foster to at least be active this weekend against Seattle, if not in the lineup. 

Tyson Jackson, DE, Kansas City Chiefs

There is plenty of blame to pass around following the Chiefs' horrific showing (41-7 at home to the Bills!!!) on Sunday.

And the Chiefs secondary deserves a ton of it for allowing Ryan Fitzpatrick to look like Jim Kelly with four touchdown passes on only 25 attempts. 

But the loss of Eric Berry on the first defensive series contributed greatly to the embarrassing effort, so heaping the blame on the secondary wouldn't be right.

Instead, point the finger at the Chiefs pass rush for getting virtually no pressure on Fitzpatrick. 

Jackson could be the fall guy on that unit—and not because he recorded just one tackle—considering he has behind him Allen Bailey, who may have slipped in the draft but is enormous and has enormous potential.

Glenn Dorsey isn't losing his job. 

Kerry Collins, QB, Indianapolis Colts

From a distance, Collins' performance on Sunday was admirable.

He completed over 50 percent of his passes for nearly 200 yards and a score.

Not bad for a guy who recently retired, then unretired, had to learn a new offense and was thrust into the starting job all in the span of less than a month.

But by the time Collins started to get in sync, the game was over. The Colts had 61 total yards of offense in the first half and that lone score came courtesy of a Houston turnover deep in their own territory. 

By no means am I saying the Colts lost because of Collins' play. The way the entire club played, they wouldn't have had a chance with Peyton Manning in the lineup.

But if the Colts are headed for a well-under .500 season (and they are) they might as well see what Curtis Painter has. 

Seattle Seahawks Punt Coverage Team

I'd like to put Pete Carroll and special teams coach Brian Sneider in this entry but since this is a players-only list, I can't. 

So instead, the whole lot earned a pink slip on Sunday.

There's no doubt that Ted Ginn is an explosive return man. And that 102-yard kickoff return that gave the 49ers a two-score lead was a great individual play.

But the 55-yard punt return that followed four plays later was inexcusable. Three players had legitimate shots at bringing him down and totally whiffed.

Preventing that touchdown wouldn't have kept the Seahawks from losing—the rest of the team was pretty bad as well—but since Ginn also had punt returns of 26 and 14 yards earlier in the game, it was an embarrassing performance.

And things won't get any easier for the Seahawks' punt coverage when Seattle hosts the Arizona Cardinals and Patrick Peterson (who had an 89-yard punt return yesterday) in two weeks. 

Michael Bennett, DE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This one is less about Bennett's individual performance and more about the rookie sitting behind him.

Four tackles from a defensive lineman is pretty solid.

The only thing that kept Da'Quan Bowers from being a top three pick in April's draft was the uncertainty about his knee. Well, he survived training camp and contributed a ton (including a tackle-for-loss) in the Bucs' loss to Detroit. 

Considering how little pressure Tampa Bay put on Matthew Stafford (zero sacks, zero hits on the quarterback), don't be surprised if Raheem Morris switches things up and has Bowers start and Bennett rotate in.

Bryant McFadden, CB, Pittsburgh Steelers

When the defending AFC Champion lays an egg in Week  1 against a hated division rival, they have plenty of questions going forward.

That's how two Steelers ended up on this list. 

McFadden was beaten by Anquan Boldin on the second play from scrimmage for the game's first touchdown, then was continually picked on by Joe Flacco and the Ravens passing game. 

Right now, Pittsburgh doesn't have a great option to replace him: William Gay wasn't much better in the Super Bowl loss to Green Bay. But they did draft two rookies this year, Cortez Allen and Curtis Brown.

One of them has to be able to put up a better fight than McFadden did. 

Garrett Reynolds, RG, Atlanta Falcons

Reynolds wasn't named the starter at right guard until Monday so it's hard to think that he blew away the competition for the job during the preseason.

Still, there had been a lot of confidence placed in the third-year former Tar Heel.

But the Falcons' offensive line was manhandled by the Bears' front four yesterday, and given how tricky it can be to replace a center at this point in the season (Joe Hawley struggled almost as much), if a change is going to be made, it would be with Reynolds.

The Bears defensive tackle Henry Melton twice brought down Matt Ryan, and the rest of the defense put a total of 11 hits on Ryan, in addition to their five sacks.

The Falcons' dream offense can't operate when Matty Ice is under that kind of pressure.

Since Tyson Clabo was a pro bowler last year, any deficiencies with the right side of that line fall on Reynolds.

The only question would be, who is capable of taking his place? 

Donovan McNabb, QB, Minnesota Vikings

No one said that Donovan McNabb had to have a Cam Newton-like debut in Minnesota in order to prove he still had some tread left on the tires.

But he certainly had to do better than this.

McNabb ran for nearly as many yards (32) as he passed for (39), completed less than half of his passes, had his first attempt intercepted via a tip and led the Vikings offense to four punts and just 21 yards of offense in the second half.

It's not going to be easy to make the switch to Christian Ponder, a rookie that didn't have an offseason and had question marks to begin with.

But they need to. 

A.J. Jefferson, CB, Arizona Cardinals

Jefferson isn't on the hook for the game's biggest play, Cam Newton's 77-yard touchdown to Steve Smith...unless he decided on his own to blitz from the corner, leaving Kerry Rhodes out to dry deep down the field.

But step back and look at what the Cardinals secondary did on Sunday.

They allowed a rookie quarterback to complete 24 passes for 422 yards: the 24 passes on 37 attempts is almost more shocking than the yardage total. 

Since Patrick Peterson played well in his NFL debut and the Adrian Wilson/Kerry Rhodes duo at safety is fairly well accomplished, any tweak to the secondary would be with Richard Marshall taking Jefferson's spot.

There's just too little experience on the corners for the Cardinals right now. 

Jesse Holley, WR, Dallas Cowboys

If you watch the replay of that blocked punt that the Jets returned for a touchdown—easily the turning point of that game–it's not easy to determine who was at fault. 

But I'm going to make an educated guess. 

Dallas' punt team isn't traditional in the sense that they have a personal protector aligned in the backfield. But as wings, Holley and Martin Rucker seem to be the closest approximation. 

Rucker had his hands full with Isaiah Trufant—who returned the block for a score—off the edge. All Holley did was help out with a mass of rushers already being blocked. You have to figure that his job was to secure the inside then help out with the outside rush. 

John Phillips and Mike Balogun had a shot at getting a hand on the unblocked Joe McKnight, who ultimately blocked the punt, and perhaps they were at fault.

But if Holley had kept his eyes up and just barely gotten in the way of McKnight—he didn't even have to block him, just get a hand on him—that punt doesn't get blocked, doesn't get returned for a score, and the Cowboys escape the Meadowlands with a win. 

Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, New York Giants

This one comes with a qualifier. 

Of course the Giants shouldn't "bench" Bradshaw; they just gave him a huge contract and he had a fairly decent day carrying the ball (13 carries, 44 yards, and a touchdown).

But he should come off the field in short yardage situations.

Twice in the second half, the Giants faced critical short yardage plays inside Redskins territory (a 4th-and-1 and a 3rd-and-1) and came away with no points.

Now, the offensive line did nothing to open up holes on either of those plays and Bradshaw really had no chance to get to the line of scrimmage, let alone get the necessary yard.

But the Giants really don't have any alternatives with the offensive line.  

They do have an alternative for short yardage situations: Brandon Jacobs, who is a much bigger load at 264 pounds and only carried the ball six times.

They made the decision to keep Jacobs, even though there was speculation he'd be traded or cut.

They might as well try and use his size to their advantage.