The All-American Quarterback Model
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
The All-American Quarterback Model
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
And, no, it probably isn't Donovan McNabb, when you get down to it. But McNabb is neither as good as his worshipful legions would suggest nor as bad as his detractors insist.
Everyone else has had a swing, so you can read, judge and react to my take on McNabb/Super Bowl Failure/Last-Minute Drives/And So On in Friday's editions of the Inquirer and online at Philly.com.
Doing the research I came across some interesting things about other quarterbacks and their Super Bowl histories. It's true that nine Super Bowl MVPs are quarterbacks who went on to make the Hall of Fame (Starr, Namath, Dawson, Staubach, Bradshaw, Montana, Aikman, Young, Elway), but this list was also the SB MVP: Jim Plunkett, Phil Simms, Doug Williams, Mark Rypien.
Overall -- not just on that one day, because Simms and Williams had career days in the Super Bowl -- would you take any of those four over McNabb? I wouldn't. But they not only won the SB, but were considered Most Valuable. That is the line missing from McNabb's resume, and, until he fixes it, that is all that matters.
How often does a Super Bowl win require a last-minute drive? Only nine Super Bowls in the last 25 years were decided by seven points or less, but six of those occasions came in the last 10 years. So, perhaps as a result of greater parity, the games are getting closer and teams are within a late drive of becoming champions. It happend that way for the Giants last year, obviously, and both Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger were up to the challenge this past Sunday.
Guys who didn't get it done late in games, along with McNabb, include Jim Kelly (1991) and Brett Favre (1998). Kelly got the Bills close enough for the 47-yard field goal that Scott Norwood famously missed, but McNabb would have been ripped for not moving the ball further.
Jim Kelly and Brett Favre. That's not terrible company. Better than Jim Plunkett and Mark Rypien. Right?
Football, like baseball, basketball and hockey is a team game. It's like Jimmy said during the Phillies parade, no one player was responsible for the Phillies winning the WS, it was a team effort. Unfortunately and probably unfairly, the QB gets the blame more than any other player in any major sport. And McNabb is the poster boy, at least locally, of that phenomenon. If Norwood made that field goal, Kelly wouldn't be called a choke artist. And if Santonio Holmes doesn't stay inbounds, Big Ben's throw wouldn't have been so perfect. (Actually it wasn't because he thought it was going to be intercepted and Holmes made one of the greatest catches I've ever seen.) David Tyree caught the ball with this helmet and Eli is named MVP. He would have been another scapegoat, like Ben, if the receiver came down with empty hands. Go figure.— EL Zorro- I McNabb reaches another Super Bowl and passes for 40k yards by the time he retires he will eventually be enshrined.— Stephen_Niksa
Comment removed.- Of Jim Kelly, Brett Farve, Jim Plunkett, Mark Rypien and McNabb, only Jim Kelly and McNabb have been to but not won a Super Bowl. You can't compare McNabb to the others because they won. Jim Kelly put up some serious numbers during his career and made it to I think 4 Super Bowls without winning. So, by that statistic alone, Kelly is better than McNabb. So, of all the quaterbacks you mentioned, McNabb has to be at the bottom of the list. However, McNabb is right in pointing the finger at the defense against Arizona. Also, he only had a serious threat at WR one year of his career. Who knows what would/could/should have happened if he had a great WR for his whole career. We'll never know. I'd like to see the McNabb era come to an end. He bores me, its always the same story. Close but not quite. Please turn the page.— joey bagadonuts
- What's happening with the comments?— EL Zorro
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- Bill, you are sounding like lonewolf. That's pretty scary, for you obviously.— EL Zorro
- It is a TEAM sport guys! Winning is in the details! I have worked in outdoor sports all my life. i have spent countless hours with world class athletes. the best do the details better. They stick to a solid core concept, that if executed correctly, will create constant winning results. Team sports work the same way. You need core concepts and you need to ignore the fact you are ignoring the static to do vary your concept too much. This is not to say you cannot innovate. It can be narrow to look at only World Championship and Olympic wins. Certainly those are the goals of elite athletes and teams. 1. A team can have a good year and win with an avg qb and great defense as well as a superstar qb. McNabb is just fine. 2. you might win a Super Bowl once and not make playoffs for awhile. 3. The best teams in pro sports are almost always in a position to go deep in the playoffs, even when injuries hamper as with Eagles this year and when Garcia subbed for Donovan. Same is true this year. Yes, Patriots did not make playoffs, still had a great run with a backup who did not start in college. I may note they totally thrashed Phoenix at home just as the Eagles did! SUMMARY: the best franchises in Pro Sports are 1. The ones who go to the Super Bowl and win a bunch (Pitt and NE) 2. The ones who go to the Super Bowl a bunch, win or lose (Denver finally won and Buffalo was there FOUR years in a row) 3. The ones who almost always are in playoffs and can go deep and all the way: READS: Patriots, Pittsburgh, Eagles, Giants In the NBA LA,San Antonio, Utah Jazz, Detroit. If we go back ten years to know these are the most successful teams in the two sports. They have in common stable management, a core concept and an ability to deal with static. Philly: you are blessed! Be thankful! Your day is still near the top of the heap. Support your team with positive reinforcement and watch the karma come back— billgfc
- Here's the thing: If McNabb can just win one SuperBowl with the Eagles, he'll always be a hero here. Missing out 5 times means nothing to me. There is no accomplishment in coming in 2nd or 3rd for this town.— Linus VP
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- Bob and Calabrese: my point: Shawn Andrews:)— billgfc
- billgfc - good post.— ag
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- Yea cause Eli beat the Pats all by himself...they only scored 17 points...I guess when you rank the best QBs of all time all the Super Bowl winners come first so Trent Dilfer ranks ahead of Dan Marino...you can't use numbers for some and super bowls for others, be consistent...by the way what did Eli do againse McNabb this year, other than lose 2 of 3 including 1 in the playoffs...McNabb has beaten Eli in the playoffs two times in a row...— PoppiDamus
