Cowboys, Redskins lose; McNabb benched
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Cowboys, Redskins lose; McNabb benched
Daily News staff
If you are an Eagles fan and watching the scores roll in today during the Birds' bye week, you had to be pretty happy.
Things went from bad to really bad for the Cowboys with a 35-17 loss to Jacksonville. David Garrard, whose passer rating was virtually non-existent against the Eagles, equaled a team record with four TD passes and ran for another, along with posting a nearly perfect passer rating.
Dallas is 1-5, its worst start since 1989 and is also 0-4 at home. Quarterback Tony Romo was on the sideline with a broken clavicle. Jon Kitna was 34-for-49 for 379, but threw four interceptions.
The Cowboys have now given up 41 and 35 points in their last two games.
According to the Associated Press account of the game, this is how bad it was:
The mood was summed up by two fans holding this sign, which somehow made it onto the humongous video boards: “Hurry up Cowboys, I have a Rangers game to go to.” Some of the biggest cheers were for a beefy, mustachioed fan wearing a blonde wig and a skimpy Cowboys cheerleader outfit, bare midriff and all. He proved so popular that he was shown several times, including the kiss-cam segment; he got the smooch, too.
Chants of “Let’s go Rangers! Let’s go Rangers!” broke out in the second quarter and again in the third. By the fourth, there were hardly enough people left to even make boos echo.
In Detroit, the Redskins fell to 4-4 with a 37-25 loss to the Lions. Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes, including a final one on fourth down with 4 minutes left.
The big news there, though, is the benching of an apparently healthy Donovan McNabb, whose interception led to the go-ahead score.
Washington coach Mike Shanahan put Rex Grossman in for McNabb and Grossman fumbled on his first play. Ndamukong Suh returned it for a TD.
This is the second time that McNabb has been benched in his career. The other, you might recall, was in 2008 when he was benched at halftime for Kevin Kolb. Both times the backup QB led to defensive touchdowns -- Grossman's fumble and Kolb's interception that was returned 108 yards by Ed Reed.
Here is McNabb, via the Washington Post: "He makes the decisions. I just continue to go with it and just cheer for my team ... When you get benched, you get benched. Just have to learn from it and move on."
"I continue to focus as if I'm the starter," he added. "He said I'm still the starter."
Just for comparison's sake, here was McNabb on that chilly day in Baltimore in 2008: “You go along with it. You just continue to try to motivate the rest of the guys to rally around Kevin and help us win this game. Unfortunately, that didn't happen." McNabb said his first reaction was "wow."
Where are all the national media folks who laughed at Eagle fans for being happy #5 was gone. Craw out from under your rocks and admit he's OVERRATED!— jimk24- Staley, Trotter, Bobby Taylor, Vincent, Douglas, Runyan, Tra Thomas, Hugh Douglas, McNabb--these were the high profile players the Eagles either let go of or traded after their contracts were up--or in Donovan's case--they just wanted to start over. You guys can trash Reid if you want, and the one fan who said it was JJ's defenses that kept the Eagles good--well, Reid brought JJ to Philly when Marvin Lewis didn't want to be DC in Philly.— bobbyuk
- Yeah, 1-*6*: please correct.
McNabb is what he is--a very successful QB. Played in 5 Pro Bowls. Won a lot of games--more than 95% of the QBs in the league.
*Shocking* benching though. Interesting. Trying to light a fire under him? not exactly how you build a relationship, that's for sure.— Jim C. - McNabb will lead the Redskins to victory over the Birdbrains on MNF in 2 weeks. Heard it here first.— UncleEddie
- The way McNabb is playing, he'll be lucky to be the starting QB in 2 weeks. Oh, and the Eagles will beat the Deadskins on MNF in 2 weeks. Michael Vick will be @ QB and he's better than McNabb. — PhillySportsFan_1
- It sure didn't look that way a few weeks ago when Vick tapped out down 14-0 to the Redskins. — jtj06
- Funny reading Eagles fans calling Washington the "Deadskins". Those Deadskins have 3 more Super Bowl rings than the Eagles LOL.— 69chargerse
- 69charger, spell much? Who cares what the Deadskins won in the past? This is 2010, in case you didn't know better. When was the last time they won, dummy? GO EAGLES! Betcha Mike Vick won't get benched! HA HA HA!
- "Spell much?" "Dummy." Wow, good ones. Keep drinking that kool-aid. When was the last time the Eagles won anything? The Eagles are the most over-rated team in Philly sports history. — 69chargerse
- McNabb will have a nice reunion with Brad Childress next year....assuming that Childress still has a job.— SteveS11
- COWGIRLS GET SMOKE AND MCDOPE GETS BENCH WOW WHAT A SUNDAY— AP 1
- Bozo for a high 2nd round pick. Mike Shannahan, you got punked!— Keep_It_Real
- Who did Donnie Mc throw under the bus??? Obviously someone else on the offense, coaching staff, cheer leading squad, beer vendors that caused him to be benched...— Bifocals for the Blind
- It took almost ten years for Andy Reid to bench McNabb. It took Mike Shanahan eight games. That's why Shanahan has two Super Bowl rings, and Reid none.— rhawnhurster
- Jim C. wrote:
"McNabb is what he is--a very successful QB. Played in 5 Pro Bowls. Won a lot of games--more than 95% of the QBs in the league."
You do understand that Reid coached in 4 of those ProBowls as a result of his team losing the Championship Game. That's how it works: The losing coach of the AFC & NFC Championship Game coaches the ProBowl that year. The losing coach is also allowed substitutions/add-ons to the team, which, I believe, is how Donovan got to play in at least 3 ProBowls. So let's put that "5" ProBowls to rest.
I do agree that Donovan was "clicking on all cylinders," as he likes to say, in his first years in the NFL; as an Eagle fan I will always cherish and appreciate him and his talent for those years. But he had a short life span that was well-masked by Andy Reid's and Jim Johnson's schemes and talents.
And now he has been unmasked. Shanahan is pretty astute, and figured it out quickly; and unlike Reid, Shanahan has no loyalty to the guy.
I wish McNabb well, and thank him for what he gave Philly when he was motivated/interested. I guess too much money understandably makes people comfortable. Comfortable doesn't win football games.
— phillyPA
