Gruden, Jaws debate McNabb's future
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Gruden, Jaws debate McNabb's future
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
The debate about whether Donovan McNabb will be the Eagles' starting quarterback in 2010 continued during the Pro Bowl broadcast on ESPN Sunday night.
Analysts Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden chimed in with their thoughts as McNabb entered the game in the second quarter.
"I know Andy Reid too. You're not the only guy that knows Andy Reid," Gruden said to his broadcast partner. "Now, they're not trading Donovan McNabb to Minnesota, and they're not gonna trade him to Arizona because they're not gonna trade a great quarterback to a team that has a chance to beat Philadelphia. That I know. This guy is a winner. Eight times he's taken the Eagles deep into the playoffs. I really think there's just a lot of elevator music right now."
Jaws seemed a little less convinced that McNabb should definitely be back next year.
"I'm not disputing anything you said. In fact, I totally agree," Jaworski said. "But at the end of the day, you gotta find a way to win a championship. And that's the one kink in the armor of Donovan McNabb. He hasn't been able to deliver the Vince Lombardi trophy. He's played very well. Everything he does... you look at the numbers. They're outstanding. You said it's about winning, Jon."
Jaws then got cut off as they pulled up a graphic, comparing McNabb's numbers to Jaworski's and pointing out that the only category Jaws had the leg up was interceptions.
As for McNabb's play, not that it matters in the least, but he was 3-for-9 for 78 yards, a touchdown and an interception (as of this writing). The pick came courtesy of Brian Dawkins, by the way.
DeSean Jackson caught four balls for 84 yards and two touchdowns, including a 58-yarder from McNabb. The Inquirer's Bob Brookover got Jackson's take on the QB situation last week, but he was asked again about it Sunday night during the TV broadcast.
"Like I say, it [blows my head] sometimes just because what I know, what his legacy, and you know how great of a career he had in Philadelphia," Jackson said of the McNabb speculation. "That's all I kind of know is playing with him for two years so it'll be good to have him back, but if we don't, we still gotta get to business."
And finally, McNabb did a TV interview in the third quarter, but said nothing different than he said last week. When asked why he thinks the same questions come up after every season, McNabb said, "I don't know, but I'm still not gonna answer it. I love Philadelphia."
Talk about overrated, how about Chuckie Gruden?? People talk about him like he's Lombardi. Has had enough opportunities and did win a SB in his first yr. w/ Tampa (luck?) and failed to sustain the success. Lastly, when discussing QB play he ought to have the good sense not to walk over the opinion of a guy who proved he could play the position well. Watching film and seeing McNabb a couple times a yr. ain't the same as seeing him 20X/yr. for 10 yrs. It's not heart surgery but these ahole "experts" think they're the only ones who understand the game....as they always say, "we watch a lot of film".— stoneman- rad - stop stststuuuudddddering— SkipinWV
- Gruden needs to stay in the booth..He calls it straight..Popping those stats up on Jaws and McNabb was like a KO blow to Jaws and all the haters..LOL— mongoS
- Bottom Line what did you think they'd say, It's their jobs to sugarcoat this guy, he is what he is a good QB nothing more. But a change of scenery would probably do him good, out with old in with the new, time for kevin kolb to show his worth!— dave54
- 22 tds/10 ints and 90 plus qb rating while missing a couple indicates his current scenary is doing him just fine.— mongoS
- atp2007... McNabb beats Kolb in a foot race hands down, and stays on his feet longer than Kolb would with guys hanging on him.. Give me a break! Bunch of haters! YOU might as well be a Cowboy fan! But then again you probably are...— Reizorc
- That's funny that a guy would scoff at McNabb's performance at a Pro Bowl (???). Wouldn't occur to you that maybe, just maybe, the 12th man could have been the one who got the interception? McNabb's like any other QB. Some TD get negated by penalties, and some int get negated by penalty. Also, it's funny that people are ripping Gruden. I didn't like Gruden either, but the fact is he has a ring, and he took the Raiders to a SB, as well. And I was real young, but I don't think Jaws "choked" in the SB. But all you fanatics do is criticize a QB when the team loses, and lionize the QB when the team wins.— PhillyHouse JayDuce
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At this point, I'm ready to trade McNabb and Vick for draft picks. Kolb is the starter and sign Jeff Garcia as the veteran back-up who could play if he had to. I think the Eagles could get to the playoffs and lose with Kolb just as easily as they do with McNabb, so why not get the draft picks now while you can?- Comment removed.
- I still think that DMac would be better off with a change of scenery, especially in an offensive scenario where the Head coach 'gets it' that you have to run a balanced 'O' in order to get to the SB. Did Indy rest on its laurels with just Joseph Addai? No, it went out and drafted Donald Brown in the first round. And that is with the best QB in the biz. As someone said above, it is really AR that needs to go. I have been a lifelong rabid Eagles fan and I am so disgusted with the past few years of the Reid era, that my enthusiasm has seriously waned. And we can hope against hope, but my guess is that he isn't going to change. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. By this definition, AR is insane.— ArizonaMike
- That graphic about Jaws interception/TD ratio was fun. Great humor.— tacklinjoe
- Comment removed.
- ...stoneman, fyi, gruden actually head-coached against mcnabb, gruden's bucs beat mcnabb/Eags in the 2003 NFC championship, and went on to win the super bowl; gruden was an offensive coach, I think he knows the offensive side of the ball, so I think he has a strong basis for what he says about mcnabb; I agree with gruden that mcnabb should not be traded to an NFC contender, like Arizona or the Vikings; however, though I've always been a mcnabb supporter, I think it it's time for him to go elsewhere, I think you need to get mcnabb away from reid, it looks to me like reid thinks mcnabb is montana, and puts too much of the offense on mcnabb's shoulders; reid runs a much more balanced offense with any other QB besides mcnabb; I think it's time to see if Kolb can play and I like Garcia as his back-up...— JimCC
- Comment removed.
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