5=7

Sam Donnellon makes the McNabb=Elway comparison that my brother and friends have been making for years.

Key excerpt:

Balls were dropped on him, too. The defense was so porous that in the end, 24-zip seemed to be a charitable score. McNabb answered a question about the team's young players by saying they will learn and play better, phrasing it in a way that fueled more doubt and debate about his strengths and flaws.

"It all starts with me," McNabb said yesterday.

"I have to raise my level of play," he said yesterday, but then he kept going with this:

"And everyone else has to, as well."

Ugh.

Truth is, McNabb is good enough to quarterback a Super Bowl team. If he spent some or all of his 11 seasons operating in a different offense, he might even have a Super Bowl ring by now. Put him with Ray Lewis' Ravens defense, or with Jerome Bettis in Ben Roethlisberger's rookie season. Put him with an offense that runs the ball habitually and limits the number of times it asks its quarterback to execute a big play.

The Eagles are 6-0 this season when McNabb has attempted fewer than 30 passes. All teams pass more when losing, but Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg habitually go to it earlier and against less adversity than their peers.

 
I totally agree with the Elway comparison. Everyone seems to forget that Elway was labeled a choking loser until he won the SB late in his career when he didn't have to carry the whole team (and handoff to Terrell Davis). Same thing with Peyton Manning.

But here's the thing in this excerpt that stuck out at me. The way the Philly media scrutinizes and parses every snippet of McNabb-speak looking for some greater insight. To wit, his quote about upping his level of play and then suggesting that teammates could play better too. Which Donnellon interprets as undermining the young players.

Isn't what McNabb said the truth? He admits he has to play better and suggests the team also has to play better. Doesn't anyone who watched sunday's debacle agree that all phases of the game and players have to do better? Why is it when McNabb says it - while at the same time shouldering much of the burden - its somehow this big negative?
The guy really can do nothing right with many people - media included - in Philadelphia.