McNabb says he is worthy of Hall of Fame
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
McNabb says he is worthy of Hall of Fame
Daily News staff
The debate about whether Donovan McNabb is a Hall of Famer raged at times while he was with the Eagles, and after he left the Eagles and now that he is out of the game, at least for now.
During an appearance on the FoxSports.com show “The Barfly,” McNabb said his career is not over. He also said he wished he could have stayed with the Eagles instead of being traded to Washington and then spending the early part of last season in Minnesota. He said he expected things to be better for him in Washington in Year 2 after having a season for new coach Mike Shanahan to settle in. Of course, there was no Year 2. In Minnesota, he again was with a new coaching staff, but said he understood why the Vikings decided to play first-round pick Christian Ponder after the team got off to such a bad start.
“I would have loved to have stayed in Philadelphia,” McNabb said over a meal with show host Mark Kriegel and NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen. “But one thing people don’t talk about is it’s a business decision. I was in one of the last years of my deal and the three quarterbacks that were in that situation were me, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Being slotted the way, obviously, we’ve had all of our careers go, there’s a lot of money supposedly being thrown around that they wanted to go to their young guy, Kevin Kolb, who they drafted in the second round. Things didn’t work out as well as they expected to.”
The most interesting conversation concerned McNabb’s chance at the Hall of Fame.
Kriegel: “If you had won a title, there would be no discussion about whether Donovan McNabb belongs in the Hall of Fame.”
McNabb: “What happens a lot of times is we look at what the list says, so we talk about the five NFC Championship Games, the six Pro Bowls and then we come to the end, ‘well, he never won the big game. Well, Peyton never won the big game until he won the Super Bowl. Dan Marino never won the big game. Does that mean his career is a failure? No, not at all. If we want to sit and look at numbers for certain players then we need to look at the number for all of them.”
Kriegel: “What makes a Hall of Fame quarterback?”
McNabb: “First of all is his numbers. How many times has he led his team to the big game? The big game still is the NFC Championship Game, the game to lead you there, and most importantly of all, did he make the players around him better? In his time, in his era, was he a top 5, top 10 quarterback in the league?”
Kriegel: “You were top 5.”
McNabb: “Definitely.”
Kriegel: “Would you vote for you for the Hall of Fame?”
McNabb: “Absolutely. One thing people don’t realize, I never played the game to make it to the Hall of Fame. I played the game because I love it. I played the game to win because I’m a competitor. When I step out on the field, I feel like I’m the best player on the field. Even these last two years, and people may look at it and say, ‘Oh, he’s done.’ I’m 34, 35 years old but I still played at the pinnacle, at the highest level of my career. I played there. I would vote myself for the Hall of Fame and I played with probably two or three Hall of Famers. When you sit and look at the numbers and that’s what it is when it comes to the Hall of Fame. My numbers are better than Jim Kelly, than Troy Aikman and a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame, but the one thing they have is a Super Bowl.”
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One of these QB's is not like the others: Bradshaw, Elway, Montana, Starr, Unitas, Young, Staubach, McNabb. Figure it out.— ManU63- @bmj-I need help? Look in the mirror pal, I am not the guy who refers to my city as the sports capital of america despite it only having won one championship in the past 30 years or would I obsesse over every word that came out of the mouth of a qb who hasnt played in my city for 2 years and then spend a week complaining about him...mcnabbs could happen, and I am sure the people who vote on it will look at his numbers and think he had a pretty good career and won't dismiss him like he was a 3rd string qb like the insecure and thin skinned philadelphia fans and media because he didn't get "it" and feel the need to tell philadelphia every 5 minutes how much he loves them and their city— smiggs13
- Well, the more he speaks, the worse he makes himself look. That's sad... But there's no question McNabb had stinky wide receivers for too many years. If you have any doubt, look at the stats for Torrance Small, Charles Johnson, Todd Pinkston and James Thrash. They are solidly productive with McNabb to the very end of their times here and then immediately fall of the face of the earth. Basically can't catch anything, or can't even make NFL teams. Far from any other team's idea of a starter... Andy Reid's biggest blind spot -- he's got a few, doesn't he -- was not realizing that McNabb wasn't designed to be a west coast offense QB. When McNabb was young and mobile, he needed a great receiver like T.O., or at least receivers who could START on any NFL team, and a top running back like Terrell Davis -- the man who truly made a champion out of John Elway (also not a highly accurate passer, but like McNabb he could scramble and had the big arm to spread defenses). Once McNabb aged and suffered injuries, the window of opportunity had closed... This isn't hindsight: Many people were screaming it at the time. Until Reid finally got a superlative WR, albeit a mentally unstable one.— PhilaLogic
- If anybody should make the HF it should be the fans! After putting up with bad ownership, head coaches, bad players, Winning the division a few times and the championships and only 2 SB in and both of the they lost! The last good team was in 1960!— losteagle
- What was he supposed to say? I'm not a big DM fan, but if I were him I would have said the same thing. I DO recognize the success this franchise achieved while he was here, even though I think he threw his teammates under the bus and wasn't the leader he thought he was. Over time people will reflect more positively on his days with the Eagles just they do with Cunningham and Jaws.— Sam Crow
- He's making hit pitch for the Hall of Fame, but unfortunately it's in the dirt short of the electors' panel.— joeygolf
- After the interview McNabb was beamed up to a waiting space ship and transported back to his home planet.
— s - HA! HA! HA! HA! It's both pathetic and humorous that McNabb so desperately tries to stay relevant. — essell
- Wow. Did he just say that he played at the pinnicle of his career in Washington and Minnesota? Did he recast "the big game" as the division championship instead of the Superbowl? What a dope. I keep hearing that he's going to end up with a career on TV, but if he keeps talking like a delusional idiot, that will end up skidding out of bounds like one of his trademark shoelace shredders.— TGRE
- There's not a Quarterback in the league during McNabb's stay in Phila who was outfitted with receivers as bad as McNabb had on a consistent basis.
McNabb career parallels the career of Jim Kelly who also made AFC Championship games, and never won a Super Bowl.
Let's not exaggerate the facts. Whether you like McNabb or not, he's definitively the best Quarterback Philly had since Sonny Jurgensen.— Dexter - yeah Jim Kelly got his team to the Super Bowl 4 times, compared to
McNabb not even waiting to SB to choke as he went 1-4 in NFC Championship Games, losing to very beatable pedestrian teams each time (compare Eagles under McNabb to NYGiants NFC Champonship Game record of 5-0)— warbiscuit - hahahahaha....oh boy...haha...now that's funny!— Warhound
- If he were a hall of fame quarterback, he wouldn't be looking for a job now. Like all Eagles QB's, he's benefited from a pass happy offense. Most of McNabb's yards came form dump-offs to Westbrook.— ej610
- Getting to the Super Bowl avails you NOTHING. By May the year of the contested Super Bowl, Fans forgot who loss the game.— Dexter
- Anyone who thinks Mcnabb was a great QB ask yourself this question----Did you ever in a big game in which the Eagles lost, see Mcnabb have a good game? The answer would be no. You never looked back and thought " Man the Eagles sucked today, but that number 5 sure played great"! It's because we usually lost because of 5 having a bad game not Jim Johnson' s defense.— Corey301
