The Legacy of Donovan McNabb
"Just put me at the one-foot line, give me all three of my timeouts, and give me my boys."—Terry Bradshaw
The 2009 NFC Championship Game is a microcosm of Donovan McNabb as a Philadelphia Eagle. It would be inaccurate to say this game will be his legacy. We have seen this game many times already. In the end, it is just a reaffirmation of his legacy, who he is as a quarterback.
Before we get to the quarterback, let me say that he was not responsible for losing the game. The Eagles' defense came up very small in Arizona. Forget about Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald playing pitch & catch in the first half. And I acknowledge their shut down job on the Cardinal offense during the third quarter. However, Quentin Demps had no business being on the field on defense, especially during crunch time. The moment—the game—just seemed to overwhelm him. His personal foul for unnecessary roughness on Kurt Warner was dumb, dirty, and downright bush league. That fifteen-yard penalty cost the Eagles three points. Everyone seems to have forgotten that fact. That penalty occurred during the Cardinals' final drive of the first half, at the 1:27 mark. With three seconds left, Neil Rackers kicked a forty-nine yard field goal. Minus those fifteen yards, it would've been an NFL record sixty-four yard field goal attempt at worst and a Hail Mary attempt at best. Those were three gift points; and those three points turned out to be really, really big, didn't they? As Mike Quick said during the radio broadcast, the game was too big for Quentin Demps, and he needed to not be on the field.
Then there was the fourth quarter drive. Donovan McNabb's sixty-two-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson gave the Eagles a 25-24 lead to overcome the 24-6 halftime deficit. After the ensuing kickoff, Arizona began their next possession from their own twenty-eight with 10:39 to play. By the time the Eagles offense next came onto the field, they trailed 32-25 and had only 2:53 left on the clock. That Arizona drive? Fourteen plays. Seventy-two yards. 7:52 taken off the clock. During that nearly eight-minute drive, the Cardinals converted two third downs and one fourth down. All the Eagles needed to go to the Super Bowl was to get one stop. One stop. As the Cardinals drove deeper into Philadelphia's territory, the Eagle's top priority was keeping the red birds out of the end zone. If the Cardinals could have been held to a field goal, the Eagles would have been able to win the game with a field goal of their own. A Cardinal touchdown, on the other hand, would require the Eagles to get the ball into the end zone themselves.
When Kurt Warner threw a screen pass to Tim Hightower on 3rd & Goal from the eight, Quentin Demps, the rookie who should not have been on the field at the time, had a chance to tackle the running back at the two. But instead of wrapping up and properly tackling Hightower, Demps went for the big hit. Hightower bounced off the hit and fell into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
I'm not going to absolve the kicker of blame, either. David Akers missed a forty-eight yard field goal. That's understandable—and forgivable. But then, Akers also missed an extra point. That is not acceptable in any game, let alone a playoff game. That missed extra point cost the Eagles two points when you take into account the failed two-point conversion after their next touchdown. The two missed kicks really cost them a total of five points in a game they lost by seven.
So in the end, the defense and the special teams cost the Eagles the game. They are the reason the Eagles lost the game. But they are not the story. The quarterback, Donovan McNabb, is the story.
I am not an Eagles fan—never have been—but I am a Philadelphian, and I do follow all the Philadelphia sports teams. I know what goes on in the hearts and minds of Eagles fans. I know what they want.
When it comes to the quarterback—when it comes to football in general—the stat line is largely irrelevant. Football is not baseball. The stat line does not tell you how good a player is. The stat line does not tell you how well a player played. The stat line does not tell you the story of a game. Look again at that quote from Terry Bradshaw. It is the embodiment of what any football coach or quarterback wants. All you ask for is to have the ball in your hands with a chance to tie or win the game at the end. That's what Donovan McNabb got.
McNabb's numbers in the championship game were fantastic. 28-47, 375 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception, 97.4 quarterback rating. Those are great numbers. Those numbers look like NFC championship clinching numbers. Against the Arizona Cardinals, though, those numbers amounted to "not quite enough".
You cannot judge Donovan McNabb, or any other quarterback, by his numbers. How you judge them, really, is by what they do in the big games when they are presented with a chance to tie or win the game. With the lone exception of a divisional round playoff game in January 2004, Donovan McNabb has not done that in the postseason.
Since the end of the NFC Championship Game, I have heard numerous national sports pundits question the Philadelphia sports fans and their issues with Donovan McNabb. On ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning, I heard former NFL quarterback Kordell Stewart ask, "What more does he have to do?" What he has to do, Kordell, is win.
Donovan McNabb is a very good quarterback. The Eagles fans, however, do not want a very good quarterback. They do not want an excellent quarterback. What they want is a Super Bowl champion.
Yes, I know Donovan McNabb has won many games as the quarterback of the Eagles. I also know that his career postseason record is 9-6. His record in the championship rounds (NFC Championship Game or Super Bowl) is 1-5. Some might say, "The Eagles made it to five NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl during this era. Is that not enough?" In professional sports, it is not enough. The NFL is not the NCAA; every team has an equal opportunity to build a championship squad. The Super Bowl title is a realistic goal for every NFL franchise. A team that is 1-5 in the championship rounds is good—very good—but it is not a team that is accomplishing the goal.
Some years ago I was told that one of the keys to achieving success is to not settle for being very good. Being very good often gets in the way of being great. When explaining this concept to people, I often use the analogy of Tiger Woods changing his swing. He went into a so-called slump for a while afterward, but we all know what happened once he was finally comfortable with the new swing. He did not let already being the best golfer in the world stop him from making himself an even better golfer.
All those who suggest Eagle fans should be satisfied with this era of making five conference championship games and one Super Bowl are telling those fans to settle for being just very good. Why should they?
Sports are not just about the present. They are about making memories. I have heard people say that Eagle fans will miss Reid and McNabb when they are gone, that Eagle fans will look back on this era as a special time. I say the fans will look back and remember Aeneas Williams' interception, Joe Jervicius and Ronde Barber running down the sideline forever, DeShaun Foster running over Mark Simoneau twice on the same play, the world's slowest "hurry-up" offense, and a whole slew of infamous images from the University of Phoenix Stadium. This has been an era of missed opportunities.
I know there are people out there who prefer it this way than to be a team who only wins it all once and then fades into oblivion. As a Denver Broncos fan, and I would much rather have my team have its history with only one playoff victory during the past ten years than to have been an Eagles fan with their five conference championship game appearances. Why? Because the memories of the victories in Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII are priceless. Settling for less is a losing mentality. Similarly, I think Bears, Buccaneers, Rams, and Ravens fans would all refuse to trade their Super Bowl winning memories of yesteryear for a repeatedly "competitive" team. Sure, the Eagles fans have had it much better than Bengals, Browns, Chiefs, and Lions fans. But, really, whose goal is merely to be the tallest midget in the circus?
Furthermore, you must take into account the Eagles' division. The NFC East is not the AFC East, AFC North, or any other division. By any measure, the Eagles are the least successful NFC East team of the past thirty years (they are, actually, the least successful NFC East team of NFL history, but I'm trying to keep the scope of this argument within one generation). The next least successful team has won three Super Bowls during the past thirty years. Which team is that? It doesn't matter; each of the other teams in the division have won three Super Bowls during that time period. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's other NFL franchise is about to play for their sixth Lombardi trophy. So while the Eagles' four chief rivals have won a total of sixteen Super Bowls to their zero, Eagle fans are supposed to be thrilled? (And let's not forget that even the Baltimore Ravens have won a Super Bowl this decade.)
This is where the Eagles fans are. They don't care about the quarterback's stats. They don't care that only Kurt Warner has thrown for more yards in a Super Bowl than Donovan McNabb. They don't care that Tom Brady and Brett Favre are the only active quarterbacks with more postseason victories than McNabb. They don't care that he has the lowest interception percentage in league history. They do care that the quarterback of their team will drive the team down the field to win the game. Repeatedly, especially in the playoffs and most definitely in the championship rounds, Donovan McNabb has failed to do this.
The loss to the Cardinals dropped the McNabb-led Eagles to 1-3 in playoff games decided by less than ten points. All three of those losses have occurred in the championship rounds. That does not even include the 2003 NFC Championship Game against Tampa Bay. In that game, the Eagles trailed 20-10 when McNabb threw an interception to Ronde Barber. That play began with 3:27 left on the clock and the Eagles at the Buccaneers' ten-yard line. It does not include the 2004 season's conference championship game loss to the Panthers. That was a 14-3 game, a home postseason game lost without scoring a single touchdown (only the 1978 Rams, 1979 Buccaneers, 1988 Bears, and 2000 Raiders have failed to score a touchdown in a conference championship game played at home). The one win was the 4th & 26 game against Green Bay. Donovan McNabb came through big time in that game, and he led the Eagles to an overtime victory. He has not done it since.
Let's look at those three losses. The first was the McNabb-Reid Eagles' first appearance in an NFC Championship game. January 27, 2002, in St. Louis. The Eagles trailed by five with two minutes left and had the ball around midfield. On fourth down, McNabb threw an interception to the Rams' Aeneas Williams.
The next was Super Bowl XXXIX against New England. Again, McNabb's numbers were great. 357 yards and three touchdowns. But he threw three interceptions, two of them crushing. The first, to Rodney Harrison, took place at the New England four-yard line when the Eagles had a chance to register the first score of the game. The second, to Tedy Bruschi, occurred at the midpoint of the fourth quarter. Because of a number of missed opportunities in the first half, the Eagles trailed 24-14. That interception was the very first play after a thirty-six yard gain by Terrell Owens that put the Eagles at the Patriots' thirty-six. It ended the Eagles chances to win the game without a miracle. And when the Eagles did get the ball again, they ran the slowest hurry-up offense in football history.
At least this year's game did not end with an interception. But it did end. On a 4th & 10 incomplete pass that followed a 3rd & 10 pass that sailed behind a wide open Hank Baskett and a 2nd & 10 pass that missed a wide open DeSean Jackson. The McNabb-Reid Eagles are now 1-4 in NFC Championship Games (1-3 as the favorite, 0-4 against teams they had played in the regular season, and 0-3 against teams they had defeated in the regular season). Each of the last three losses resulted in the only Super Bowl appearance for the winning team in that team's entire history.
It is easy, especially when looking from a national perspective, to look at each of these games as single entities. At the individual level, none of them are McNabb's "fault." When you look at the whole, you see the pattern; you see that Donovan McNabb does not win the game. As long as he is the quarterback of a contending team and unless the Eagles are going to blow out every team ala the 1985 Chicago Bears or 1989 San Francisco 49ers, he will need to be able to lead that championship-winning drive. History has shown us that he does not do that. Accepting this, being happy with this, only lowers the ceiling for the team. Why should Eagle fans tolerate that?
In the end, Donovan McNabb did not have a bad game in Arizona. He did not lose the game. He is not the reason the Eagles lost the game. But given two minutes, a timeout, and a chance, he did not win it. He does not win it. That is his legacy.
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