The legend of Donovan McNabb has always been nothing but a myth. Despite the kind words of an adoring press, McNabb has put up mediocre quarterback numbers his entire career. He has won games on the strength of his team's defense, and in turn, become the only superstar on his team. Tonight though, the fraud was finally exposed.
McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles once again played miserably in the national spotlight and were stopped short in their quest for a Super Bowl berth by the overachieving Carolina Panthers. And know this; despite the excuses the media will make for McNabb tonight, there is no doubt where the blame should lie for the Eagles losing their third straight NFC Championship game. It’s all on number five.

The Carolina Panthers did exactly what they needed to do to stop the Eagles. They applied a moderate pass rush, spied McNabb with different players and waited for him to make a mistake. He obliged, throwing three interceptions and making perhaps the most selfish sports decision in recent memory.
Even the most ardent McNabb supporters will agree that he played awful. Most will be inclined to blame the injury. But keep in mind two important facts.
1) McNabb wasn’t doing anything special before he limped off the field. To listen to Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth, one would assume that McNabb had been running circles around the Panthers front-four all game until the injury. But he hadn’t. Before the injury the Eagles managed two punts in two possessions, with McNabb playing his typical game. He was under throwing receivers, missing open men and misreading the defensive formations. He looked like Jamie Foxx coming off the bench in Any Given Sunday. Then, when McNabb did get hurt, he took himself out of the game for one play, came back in, and had his best throw of the night that resulted in the only Eagles points. After that, well... can you honestly say you were surprised?
At that point it was 7-3, Panthers, with 2:56 left in the 1st half. FOX showed video of McNabb getting hit before the field goal and speculated as to what injury he might have suffered. When he came back on the field he didn’t look hurt; he saved his wincing for after plays, a la Kobe Bryant. Maybe McNabb really was hurt, maybe he wasn’t. It doesn’t matter though, he stayed in the game. That leads us to the second important point.
2) If the injury is what caused McNabb to continue to playing horribly, then he should have taken himself out of the game. If Andy Reid and the Eagles put their trust in McNabb to win them football games, they equally trust him not to lose football games. If he really was hurt, McNabb should never have put himself back on the field. The injury can’t be blamed for a poor performance. Only Donovan can be blamed for putting his team in a situation that allowed the injury to hurt the chances of his football team. Either he played crappy and they lost, or he shouldn’t have played, still played crappy and they lost. There is no middle ground.
Regardless of injury, here is what happened each time McNabb dropped back to pass after he put himself back in the game.

Completion to Mitchell, 10 yards
Sacked, 7 yard loss
Completion to Staley, 10 yards
Intercepted
Sacked, 7 yard loss
Halftime
Completion to Staley, 19 yards
Incomplete
Intercepted
Incomplete
Intercepted
Complete to Buckhalter, 3 yards
Incomplete
Incomplete
Incomplete

So, after he came out of the game, McNabb went 4-12, 42 yards, 3 INT. Those look like MVP numbers to me, Wilbon. (McNabb’s numbers for the game weren’t any better, 10-22, 100 yards, 3 INT).
The funny part is, Donovan is going to get a pass in the press for his performance against the Panthers. Some will blame the injuries, some will blame dropped balls, but nobody will place the blame on the shoulders of the man who deserves it.
The media obsession with McNabb is baffling. He has done nothing to deserve all the adulation, yet is still seen as the second coming of Joe Montana. The way he’s playing, McNabb is not even the second coming of Kordell Stewart. At least Slash made a Super Bowl.

Playing in three straight NFC Championship Games is a great achievement for the Philadelphia Eagles. Losing in three straight NFC Championship Games, including two at home, is one of the all-time biggest chokes in NFL history.
Donovan McNabb is overrated. It shouldn’t be a taboo subject and it has nothing to do with his race. He is overrated because he doesn’t possess good quarterbacking fundamentals, panics in big games and routinely makes poor decisions that negatively affect his team. He is a supposed big-game quarterback, yet doesn’t show up to big games.
Make no mistake about it, the Philadelphia Eagles will watch the Super Bowl on TV because of the bad play and selfish-behavior of Donovan McNabb. And with Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs back in the NFC East, it will be a long time before McNabb gets that close again.

Other Weekend Thoughts
- The opening line for the Super Bowl is, Patriots - 7. At first glance, this seems like an easy call. Take the Panthers, plus the points. A game pitting those two defenses will more than likely be a low-scoring affair. Expect this spread to drop in the next two weeks.
- Predictions Record for the Weekend: 4-2 (including both NFL wins).
For the Year: 6-4
- Maryland's free-throw shooting is miserable. I haven't seen anything that bad since I watched Just Married on HBO-Latin.
- Watch Letterman tonight, I will be in attendance. The Newlyweds and Al Green are guests. The only reason I'm going to Letterman is because I got put on the waiting-list for tickets to Last Call with Carson Daly.
- Real World/Road Rules Challenge finale is also on tonight. Looks like Alton should have brought Theo back instead of Coral. She seems to be injured and will probably cost her team the $150,000 grand-prize. Well, I guess it could have be worse; Alton could have picked Donovan McNabb.