McNabb's "duh" moment | Philadelphia Inquirer

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

McNabb's "duh" moment

Inquirer sports writer Don McKee writes:

People who witnessed Donovan McNabb’s jaw-dropping revelation on Sunday afternoon probably thought the Eagles quarterback could weather this latest storm.
Saying he had no idea games could end in ties, then wondering out loud what happened in the playoffs and the Super Bowl, seemed astonishing, but not fatal.
Now, I’m not so sure. The wave of hilarity that swept across the nation yesterday may be a killer. In all of the previous controversy surrounding McNabb — being booed on draft day, Rush Limbaugh, Terrell Owens — the quarterback was the victim.
Now, like the “did he or didn’t he puke at the Super Bowl” debate, he seems like a buffoon.
For a team leader, that’s fatal.
McNabb is on Web sites and every football show nationwide, most of them treating it as a “duh” moment.
Never bashful Tiki Barber poured it on yesterday.
“That’s an indefensible comment that he made,” Barber, now a commentator for NBC Sports, said in an interview that will air Saturday on Bloomberg’s On the Ball radio program. “He will live to regret it for a long time.”
The admission raises the question of whether McNabb had a sufficient sense of urgency as the clock wound down, Barber said.
“For Donovan to be in the situation and not press for it, that tie, even though it wasn’t a loss, it kills them,” Barber said. “They’re almost out of the playoff race right now.”
The analysts in the studio said they thought McNabb was joking when he first said he didn’t know the rule, Barber pointed out. If there was any doubt, McNabb compounded the blunder by not knowing that playoff overtimes are played until a winner is determined.
“I hate to see what happens in the Super Bowl and I hate to see what happens in the playoffs, to settle with a tie,” McNabb said.