The McNabb Malady

There’s no schedule for Dibbles and Bits.  I do what I can, when I can.  But this week, for the first time in a while, I have two posts on consecutive days.  The reason?  I’m tired of Donovan McNabb.

I’ve known he’s a little more than worthless for a while now, but for whatever reason a news story today started my mind racing.  In a radio interview, McNabb said Jay Cutler, the Bears quarterback, is “the Tony Romo of the Midwest.”  In full, he said:

"He's the Tony Romo of the Midwest.  Can he play in this league? Absolutely, he's proven that. But a quarterback is measured by your body of work, meaning your wins and losses record, the numbers you put up. And the end-all be-all is how many playoff wins do you have? How many playoff appearances do you have? If you only have one to show for almost a decade of play that means you can't lead your team to the playoffs.   The question is why?  Because you're so talented, the potential is there, but why haven't you been able to do it? You can only say for so long that it's been the talent. They have some talent around Cutler, that's never been the issue. Now can you put it all together? To be honest, the answer is no.""

McNabb was a good quarterback in his day, and he has some legitimacy to discuss QBs and their ability to lead teams.  He went to the NFC Championship Game five times with one Super Bowl appearance.  He’s also 17^th on the all-time passing yards list (for the time being). 

And yet, this is another example of the McNabb Malady.  Symptoms may vary, but the prevailing effect is the belief by the patient that people care about his football opinion.  This belief, often irrational, is expressed through speculative opinions that are based on the patient’s larger-than-life belief in himself as a football genius.

Many of you may think I’m harsh, but McNabb has not acquitted himself terribly well since becoming a member of the media.  He clearly enjoys an inflated opinion of himself.  In 2013, he told anyone who would listen that RGIII should heed his advice when it came to dealing with the Shanahan regime in DC. He then antagonized most of the South when he referred to NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson as “definitely not an athlete.”  He also led the “Brady and Belichick era is over” charge this year, only to see them rattle off three straight victories.

I admit freely that some portion of this post is motivated by McNabb’s abysmal performance when he played for the Redskins.  He was a disappointment, and basically got called out for being unable to jog 100 yards by Mike Shanahan.  And he wonders why RGIII doesn’t look to him for advice?  But there’s been a pattern of behavior here that goes beyond team loyalties.

The most recent kerfuffle over Cutler and Romo does have an element of truth to it.  Neither QB has been “great”, with nothing approaching McNabb’s 9-7 postseason record.  But was McNabb really that much better than either of these guys?  Eye test tells me he and Cutler have been about equal based on this point of their careers, and the numbers bear that out for the most part.  Through 105 games, Cutler has 24,612 yards and 159 touchdowns.  McNabb at the same point had 23,860 yards and 160 touchdowns.  Romo has about 8,000 more yards than McNabb did after 114 games, and a whopping 54 more touchdowns.  Note: McNabb didn’t throw many picks compared to either Romo or Cutler, so there’s some mitigating stats here. 

It strikes me that Donovan McNabb thinks he was a winner, and therefore a step above Cutler and Romo.  But the straight numbers above don’t encapsulate McNabb’s inability to win without Andy Reid as his coach.  Good quarterbacks transcend their systems, and he clearly didn’t do that.  Both Cutler and Romo have had plenty of coordinators in their day, and yet they have equal or better numbers.  He doesn’t have much room to criticize these guys if he does think he stands above them.

I digress.  I have no interest in defending either Cutler or Romo.  The focus here is on a former NFLer who certainly isn’t in the media based on the accuracy of his opinions.  He has been quick to judge sports situations, bases many of his thoughts on what he thinks he knows (except for the discussion on NASCAR drivers, because they aren’t athletes), and then repeats the same progression the next time some radio station brings him on the air.  That he continues to generate news stories is a sad state of sports media.

Rant concluded.