Dukes: McNabb haters don't know football
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Dukes: McNabb haters don't know football
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
In an interview this week with ESPN 950's Jody Mac and Harry Mayes, NFL Network's Jamie Dukes had some advice for Eagles fans who boo Donovan McNabb or think he is the problem."Understand how hard it is to find a quality quarterback in this league," Dukes said. "Those who are booing, they have a problem with 5. And I can pull 10 teams up right now that would give an arm for that kid and so that’s why to me it’s silly, and to me it goes to -- Do these people really understand this game? Or are they just casual fans who know nothing about football?”
To Dukes' credit, he did not stereotype all Eagles fans. He clarified that he was referring only to the ones who boo McNabb and want him out of town.
His defense was a familiar one. He argued that the formula for success in the NFL has to include talent at the skill positions, and the Eagles don't have that.
"I hope they run McNabb out of town," Dukes said. "And I hope they run the coach out of town so that somebody else whose team is struggling can get somebody, because that other team is going to give him some weapons. Everybody else knows we gotta give this guy some weapons and we know this guy’s a great player."
When asked if the criticism that McNabb can't come through in the clutch is a fair one, Dukes said it was not.
"He pulls all the things out of his keester he could to get them to that point," Dukes said.
Comments (48)
#5 is the best thing to happen to this town. You ignoranuses who want to run him out on a rail don't remember Pete Liske, John Reaves, Mike Broyola, Matt Cavanaugh or Bobby Hoying, do you?— va philly fan- Dukes is right on the money. Remember, John Elway "couldn't win the big one" until he was 37. Now people realize that he was one of the greats of the modern era. If Elway had played in Philly, people would have been trying to run him out of town by 1992.— sil campusano
- Lets get something straight, McNabb is a very good quarterback, not a great one. Let's get something else straight, us Philly fans don't hate McNabb because we think that he is not good, we just can't stand his attitude. When he is having a good game he is incredibly arrogant, doing Michael Jackson dances and picking up phones on the opposing team's sidelines. However, when he has a bad game, he wants to be an a**hole and act like it is everyone else's fault, blaming the lack of talent around him. McNabb just needs to shut up and play, doing a little celebrating sometimes is okay as long as you remember that you are not the greatest of all-time or even of this era. Also, he needs to admit that the benching in Baltimore saved their season. In the two previous games he played what was arguably the worst 8 quarters of football in the history of the game. Then, all of the sudden he gets benched. Then he plays very well for the rest of the season but continues to cry about the benching. Donovan, you are a very good quarterback, just shut up and play football. P.S. Peyton Manning is the most overrated quarterback of all time, he chokes way more than Donovan ever has (and he has way more weapons to work with also) and his only ring came thanks to Bob Sanders fixing the Colts defense in time for the playoffs. 4 TDs and 10 INTs in the playoffs where he got his ring doesn't say much for Peyton. Also, he won Super Bowl MVP in a game where he had two of his running backs run for over 100 yards each. How does that happen? Dukes also mentions Andy Reid. Andy is also very good, not great. His lack of a running game is a reason that Donovan doesn't have a ring and his poor personnel decisions (no return game in 07, no FB in 08, no #1 receiver and year except 04, etc.) are what has kept this team from becoming great. Notice that they he got them from bad to very good in just his first couple of years and they have not gotten any better since.— woogie
Comment removed.- the fact this is an issue is shameful. mcnabb please leave this place. let them go back to their glory days before you arrived. we all know you made Curtis drop that pass last week and your effort on defense was horrible in the 4th qtr.— mongoS
- McNabb is simply not good enough. He played poorly in the first half when they needed him to be accurate and make those throws to keep up with the Cards and Warner. Yes, he played great in the third quarter but it doesn't take away from his poor first half, when they needed him to come out sharp. Once again, Donovan was too amped up, overthrowing guys, not hitting them in stride, throwing too hard, underthrowing and not seeing wide open guys down the field. And, on the last drive, he didn't get it done--like he never does in those situations in the biggest of big games. Donovan choked in the second half against the Rams in '02 conference final game, choked against the Bucs in the '03 conference final, played poorly against the Panthers in '04, choked against the Pats in the Super Bowl (three INT's, taking too long on last drive, etc.). Donovan is a good, sometimes very good QB. He is NOT GREAT by any means. He has his fair share of flaws and has not given us even one Super Bowl in 10 years. That's not acceptable. He is not a Hall of Famer, even though they are paying him to be, and drafted him to be. Too many flaws to be one of the BIG BOYS.— McNabbnotgoodenough
- Woogie is right on. No kidding McNabb is a good player, but his attitude and lack of heart aren't very endearing and at this point there is little hope remaining that he could be the one to deliver the next parade after his latest choke.— ItsOnLikeDK
- Dukes is right. #5 has some shortcomings but is absolutely a top ten QB in this league. Kolb ain't ready period. Get one better than #5 then ok, but until then APPRECIATE WHAT WE GOT! It was a great playoff run. Back on top of the NFC East after that run. Need to work on a few things to have a better regular season so the playoff games are at the Linc.— DMC5
- yepp, that lack of heart really kills the eagles. he never threw 4 TD passes on a broken leg or anything like that.
- Jim, that was 5 years ago before TO came in a F'd his head all up. We all loved Donny back then but the latter half of his career has been pretty lack luster.— ItsOnLikeDK
- So after reading all the comments from the last week, I had to go back and watch the first half again. you know, the one McNabb was so horrible in. Fact: McNabb completed 11 of 19. Opinion: I count 3 bad passes, he was knocked down on 2 of the 3, the other was just a bad throw on 3rd and 14 from the shotgun. I count 3 significant drops, lewis got 2 hands on and dropped, Jackson got 2 hands on and dropped, and Curtis got 2 hands on the ball which was a pick, fumble recovery by desean. ***YOU ARE AN NFL RECEIVER, 2 HANDS MUST = CATCH***. I counted the remaining 2 neutral, including the Avant pass interference non call and the 3rd and 9 from the shotgun deflected incomplete. Still can't build a case for McNabb = horrible. He's the best thing to hit this town at this position since Jaws, that's a fact.— birdfannnj
- 1-4 in NFC championship games and 0-1 in one upchucking, turnover-plagued Super Bowl. Hey, McNabb's good, but erratic, during the regular season. But Eagles fans want more than regular-season wins. They want success deep into the playoffs and McNabb has proven that he can't do it...time after time after time. That said, don't give him away. But I'd take a No.1 pick.— iceman
- Dukes sounds very bitter. We should get him a gun or bible to cling to. Anyway, I agree we need more weapons. You don't need to be a network analyst to realize that. Andy the GM needs to go. There is way to much group think in this orginization. We need somebody to take a Parcells-type role or hire a real frigging GM who Andy is held accountable to, and who wont let him trade our first round draft picks.— beeron
- Dukes says that McNabb's problem is that he doesn't have enough weapons (which I agree), but instead of acknowledging that Reid is responsible for that, he seems to imply that Reid is also unfairly treated. Can't have it both ways, buddy.— androoo
- I don't see why people are so quick to dump on Mc5 like we have a long legacy of Super Bowl winning QB's that Donovan's not living up to. I mean, I loved the excitement that Randall brought to the game. But last I checked, HE didn't bring a title to Philly. Yet, the city still has love for him after how many years away from the game? The problem that McNabb has is the lack of a coaching staff that will subscribe to a running game and a valid big time threat on the outside. In '04, T.O. was giving defenses fits and Westbrook was a beast catching/running. What happens? Birds to the Bowl. You'd think that management would want to emulate (if not improve upon) their own success from that year and go after a Boldin, Chad JOHNSON (forget that Ocho Cinco mess), or any other WR of that magnitude. If for no other reason, to show us fans that we don't know what WE'RE talking about.— daero215
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Sheil Kapadia is in his fifth season writing about the Eagles and the NFL for philly.com. His earliest
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