Philadelphia’s season rests on McNabb

Donovan McNabb should make one request of the NFL franchise in Philadelphia.

His request… Donovan McNabb should make one request of the NFL franchise in Philadelphia.

His request should be that the team change their name to the Philadelphia McNabbs. When I heard this from my friend’s younger brother while watching last weekend’s game, I thought it was funny, but after giving it some thought; it kind of makes sense.

After all, without McNabb, the Philadelphia Eagles would have gone nowhere this season. Isn’t this the same guy that Rush Limbaugh, who knows nothing about football, claimed got undeserved credit for Philadelphia’s success?

According to Limbaugh, McNabb’s performance had nothing to do with the Eagles’ success over the past few years. McNabb was able to take advantage of the media’s desire that a black quarterback do well.

Well, McNabb and all of his blackness has single-handedly led his team to the NFC Championship. Philadelphia was 2-3 through its first five games, and everybody wanted to bench him. Through those five games he threw two touchdowns, as compared to five interceptions.

There was one problem – McNabb was hurt, and not everybody can perform hurt like Tennessee Titans’ quarterback Steve McNair. That’s why McNair was a co-MVP this season, but playing hurt should not be expected from every athlete.

McNabb weathered the storm and led his team to a record of 10-1 over their final 11 games. During that stretch, McNabb threw for 2426 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions.

The argument that McNabb is just another Kordell Stewart is ridiculous. First of all, the argument around Pittsburgh is that Steelers’ quarterback Tommy Maddox is better than Stewart. If Steelers’ fans want to believe that, then there is no way that McNabb is another Stewart because you can’t compare Maddox to McNabb. It’s ridiculous.

McNabb can make plays out of nothing, sort of like Stewart could. Maddox is done as soon as the pocket collapses. In the Eagles’ victory over Green Bay last weekend, McNabb was able to shake off Packers’ defensive linemen Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and Grady Jackson and hit Todd Pinkston in the end zone to bring the Eagles within three points of the Packers.

After a last-minute drive that ended in a game-tying field goal, Brett Favre gave the Eagles a late Christmas present by throwing the ball up for grabs in overtime. Brian Dawkins picked off the ball and returned it into Packers’ territory, which set up kicker David Akers’ winning field goal.

Without McNabb, this would not have been possible. For that matter, the Eagles are a 6-10 team and miss the playoffs, just like their Western Pennsylvania counterparts. Let’s face it, Philadelphia is not a very good team, but somehow it managed to reel off nine straight wins en route to its third NFC East title in a row.

Philadelphia uses three running backs, but none of them have been able to distinguish themselves enough to be named the outright starter. The Eagles’ wide receivers are average. The factor that balances the equation is McNabb.

In order for the Eagles to make it to the Super Bowl, McNabb is going to have to have a big game. They cannot depend on Carolina Panthers’ kicker John Kasay to miss three field goals and an extra point like he did in the two squads’ meeting earlier this season.

I am one of those people who thought Philadelphia would be one-and-done in the playoffs, and they would have been, had Favre made a wiser decision. The key to the Panthers advancing to the Super Bowl is to make sure that they do not allow the Eagles to hang around too long.

Green Bay was inside of the Philadelphia 10-yard line twice within the last 35 minutes of the game and came away with only three points. Had the Packers been able to put away the Eagles earlier in the game, McNabb would be sitting on his couch along with us this weekend watching the Conference Championship games.

Carolina cannot afford to allow Philadelphia to hang around. It also must force running backs Steven Davis and DeShaun Foster down the Eagles’ throats, because Philadelphia cannot stop the run.

One playmaker and a terrible defense, which was ranked 20th overall this season, are not a good recipe for winning a championship, so Carolina has to step up and prevent a potential Philadelphia Super Bowl appearance. But it starts with coming in with a solid game plan to shut down No. 5.

Kevin Nash is the assistant sports editor for The Pitt News.