Healthy McNabb key to Eagles’ fortunes (Or is he…?)

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, September 04, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

Philadelphia Eagles
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!

The preseason prognosticators all echo on the Philadelphia Eagles' fortunes in 2007. The fortunes of the Eagles rest on a healthy Donovan McNabb; if McNabb's around, Philly can go a long way; Donovan McNabb must remain healthy to keep Super Bowl aspirations alive; a healthy Donovan McNabb is the key.

Sure, on the face of it, the hype is believable. Since McNabb was handed the reins as starting quarterback in 2000, the Eagles have gone 75-37, good for a winning percentage one win over .667. If you take out the statistical aberration year caused by Hurricane Terrell, that record rises to 69-27, an outstanding .719 mark or 11½ wins per season. In the '00s, the Eagles have made the playoffs six times, the NFC championship game four times and the Super Bowl once.

In terms of individual stats, McNabb has achieved a lot. He's No. 2 all-time in terms of interception ratio, giving up just one per 45.26 pass attempts. He owns the franchise passing record book, and his career QB rating is a very respectable 85.18.

But, at the risk of exhuming Rush Limbaugh's career in football commentary, do the Eagles really need McNabb? After all, the anxieties regarding McNabb's health and the resultant fortunes of the Eagles have been essentially cloned from preseason to preseason. Take another look at the stories linked in the first paragraph; that last one? It's from 2002.

In fact, it was in '02 that Eagles fans got their first taste of an injured McNabb. Two years after placing second in MVP balloting and - interestingly enough - leading the team in rushing yardage by a wide margin, McNabb was knocked out about halfway through the season. A couple of scrubs took over (we'll refer to them as Koy Feeley) and went 5-1, just enough to get Philly the conference's No. 1 seed.

In 2005, the team of McNabb and T.O. that had gotten Philadelphia to the Super Bowl the previous year proved incendiary in the huddle. Though Owens is typically blamed for the woes of the '05 Eagles, a phenomenal string of injuries played its fair part, and the truth is that the Eagles ran up a mere 4-5 record before McNabb was placed on IR (and was 4-3 with Owens on the field).

Finally, there was last season. While it's understandable that most have erased the traumatic memories of the Indianapolis Colts' championship season and all the lead-up to the Lombardi Trophy, the unwavering faith in McNabb is astonishing in today's world of short-term memory sportswriting.

A quick refresher, then. After predicting a 13-win season for his team, McNabb got the Eagles off to a 4-1 start and was an early bandwagon choice to top the NFC - never mind that the wins came against the Houston Texans, Drew Bledsoe's Dallas Cowboys, the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. The wheels then came off the midnight green machine, sending the Eagle bus plummeting to three losses in a row and four out of five before McNabb once again was knocked out for the season, in Week 11.

In hindsight, the pragmatist says that McNabb's torn meniscus was the best thing to happen to the 2006 Eagles. Universal object of skepticism Jeff Garcia came in to lead the team to wins in five of the next six and even tack on a playoff victory.

This means that, in the 2000s, starting quarterbacks other than McNabb have gone 12-8, including three losses in the final week of the season when the Eagles' playoff seeding was already determined. That's a .600 regular-season winning percentage overall, and just over .700 in games that mattered.

The real secret to the Eagles' success in this decade? Ask any McNabb-fearing fantasy football club owner: It's the 'D', dummy!

The Eagles boasted a top-five defense every year between 2000-2004. How did Philly manage to go 5-1 under Koy Feeley in 2002? Simple: In those games, the admirably stingy defense allowed just over 12 points per game.

Now, far be it from this writer to suggest that McNabb is not worthy of the starting position - he's still one of the premier QBs in the NFL. Coupled with the man's shameless behavior in not disguising his petulant dissatisfaction at the Eagles' drafting of Kevin Kolb and, well, one gets to thinking if a future without Donovan McNabb would really be that bad.

History shows that the guys on the other side of the Eagles' ball could pull them through again, and it is for a healthy defense that Philadelphia fans should truly be wishful.

Examining sacred cows all year-round at RealFootball365.com
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report