Cowboys, Redskins lose; McNabb benched
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
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."
Comments (85)
ut oh, QB controversy in Washington!!!— DjCj
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- "...Shanahan said after the game that he felt Grossman gave the Redskins the best chance to win in the 2-minute drill..." The Mc5 apologists owe everyone a collective apology now.
— DennyP - Mc5 is/was/continues to be horrid in the 2minutes O. See our Superbowl and the extra long drives.
- McNabb benched...priceless. Welcome home 5.— phillyjhawk
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Donny will be the first to tell you "Things like that HAPPENS all the time in Washington"
Bernard Hopkins..Right again— jiggs111 - Dallas is 1-6 not 1-5..... might want to correct that.
And Shanahan doesn't trust Don to run the two minute drill? Guess he's watched a lot of Eagles games from the last few years!— jimyd0315 - Mcnabb benched !!!! Get your popcorn ready— klew
- Comment removed.
- Everybody makes mistakes right 5?— Corey301
- Eagles right again about 5? hahaha!— Norm3
- Imallaboutdatruth: Moron. Truth is 5 has no air in his guitar But you've got nothing but air between your ears.
— jjthree 
The Redskins were better off with Jason Campbell. Under genius Mike Shanahan, Campbell would have developed into an elite QB.— road515
Ugly loss for the Deadskins at the Lions. Oh, and who is their QB now?— wylies99- lol @ Imallaboutdatruth.. you're nothing about the truth you fraud.. Dumbest coach in the NFL has McNabb for his qb, and then benches him against the Lions, the LIONS hahahahah, at least Reid benched him against a GOOD TEAM like the Ravens... the LIONS hahahahahahahahahahaha..
and maybe if you knew how to spell "the" instead of spelling it "da" you would know a thing or two in this world, i guess the school systems have been doing wonders out in D.C.— Because Im Right - Comment removed.
- only surprise is it took 8 games for shanahan to realize #5 is washed up..where's that contract extension sit at now????— jabac
- Put in AJ!
- McNabb's benching proves once again that the reason for the Eagles 10 year winning run was overwhelming due to Jim Johnson and his defenses...NOT Reid and #5.— Carlos2
- You have just moved up to #1 on the Philly.com dumbest comments of all time...Congratulations...How exactly does his benching by the Redskins this year take away from all the games he won when he played for the Eagles???As much as I am glad #5 is gone you cannot ignore the fact that he was responsible for a lot of victories while he was here. — Bifocals for the Blind
- And the McNabb obsession goes on...— birdseed
- Comment removed.
- I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD 5 is a Skin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— george22
- But does Grossman play Air Guitar?— azarze
- Ha Ha Ha ha haaaa.........McSlob BENCHED! That's all I needed to hear to make my Sunday! Haha! And 'Imallabout...' is a complete jackanape who switches names every month or so. Ha ha! Deadskins, deadskins.....FAIL! FAIL TO THE DEADSKINS!!!! YAY! GO EAGLES! I can't wait until we get to DC in a couple of weeks!
- Really, is there anything more satisfying, on a day we couldn't watch the Eagles play, than to see the Cowboys go down in flames? The game wasn't even as close as the score would seem to show.
Icing on the cake was the Redskins loss, though I have no anomosity toward McNabb. His benching is interesting. Is Washington about to self-destruct?
The Giants remain the Eagle biggest problem, though.— Stoshie - The Worminator says, "I will return".— Romus
Um...I wonder how McNabb's contract negotiations are going?— ej610- Comment removed.
- Put a sock init Wilma!!!! — pjv13
1 Year removed from the Baltimore benching...priceless.- Fans are "losers" because they support their hometown teams, according to Imallaboutdatruth?!?
Clearly, he has no idea what being a fan really means. I suspect he may also be one of those poor souls who judge their own worth by what someone else does, while he sits in a chair, drinking beer and watching them do it on TV. Sad.— Stoshie - JJ was the only reason we were good?? I liked JJ but some of our fans are just stupid. Reid is the reason the Eagles are good. No Superbowl but we never went 1-6 to start a year either. Go Eagles -- die Giants Deadskins and Cowgirls.
- Shanahan is NOT a great coach! A GREAT QB LIKE ELWAY MADE HIM LOOK LIKE HE COULD COACH! super stars like JORDAN,RUSSELL,KOBE,WILT etc makes it much easier to win!!!!!!!!!!!!!— bill poore
- Funny or sad but watching a McNabb interview after the game what I noticed most was the ROSE COLORED GLASSES.— JACK V
- Think Chris Cooley wants to revise his stupidest NFL trade ever assessment. How about McD's comments when the Eagles benched Kolb, guess that's the way it goes down there too huh Donovan. Looks like one year and movin on in DC for #5, Sam & Wilma will not be happy about this.— brs50
- Hate to say I told you so, but most posters on this site told you so over the last few years. Vindicates Andy Reids judgement of when a player is finished.— JACK V
- Comment removed.
The Cowboys will not win a playoff game as long as Jerry Jones is the owner. Long Live Jerry Jones!— AuH20- Yep, he won 3 Super Bowls 15 years ago thanks to Jimmy Johnson and the idiotic Minnesota Vikings manlove for Hershel Walker. Then his ego took over and he thought he should be the GM. Until he gives that up they will not win it again. Period. Oh, and also, Al Davis has also won some Super Bowls, but no one disputes that he is the sole reason the Raiders have sucked. — jackinhtown
- 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 - Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- If you read Shanahans comments this year after the Skins games, he never spoke glowingly of McNabb. He generally said, to paraphrase, there needed to be improvement. To me, the writing seemed to be on the wall. Some of the talk is McNabb is having trouble picking up the offense. He's an 11 year veteren, that should not be a problem.— watsonmr
- All the McNabb fans trumpeted, "Wait until you see what a REAL coach like Shanahan does with him!" Well, today you saw.— dasher
- Wah wah wah wah - McChoke— Liberty4All
- Howeird said on "Football Night in Philly" that McNag has trouble reading defenses when things speed up? HUH? He's an 11 year vet? How is that possible? Get ready Deadskin fans........you're in for a looooooooooong year with this lame.
- Oooh Pooor McNeed a Team this is what U askd for the team We were trying to send U too was the Raiders Remember U could have been playing AFC instead U choose was to stay in the Division so deal with it we have to the plan was too get the Raiders best CB. That way we would have Deep threat Gaps but it'll be ok I feel the Reid will prevail He's had bigger problem before oh & Washington Ur Welcome . Eagles Ball Touch Down ,Fly Eagles Fly— PhenomD
- somebody else's troubles— notch44
- OK— rneal
- Let's hear Ma and Pa Mcnabb whine about this one and about how their son is being done wrong.Nice to see some things never change.— superssjdan
- Hasn't anyone noticed? The Cowboys are 1 - 6, not 1 - 5, 1 -5 was last week.— sportsreader
- Gotta love it. Cowgirls get blown away by a subpar team and NcNabb does his usual. Priceless.— etc757
- It took Shanahan 8 games to figure out something that Reid never did figure out, that the dope Mc Nabb should not be on field with game on the line. Don't worry Seed, Don will look good in Buffalo next year.— Phil Checchia
- Comment removed.
- A glorious Sunday - Birds rehab; 'Pokes stuck by a fork; and #5 flames out and gets pulled... we got our treats...— M60tanker
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Couldn't have happened to a bigger cry baby " Things like that HAPPENS in Washington" ROTFLMAO
Bernard Hopkins, DooDooFresh..Right again— jiggs111 - LOL X 3— TVGuy22
- All i can say is, Laugh out Loud.— valorius
- i'm glad to see that the decision to put grossman in the game worked out so well for shanahan... idiot.— GoPhils09
- Grossman played under Kyle Shanahan last year for the Texans. He threww 9 passes all season completing 3 of them and never ran the 2-minute offense. Ouch.— TBD@Gburg
1
Popular Posts
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
