Remember when Rush Limbaugh was on ESPN? It’s cool if you don’t. You could have missed it if you blinked or yawned or were addicted to and arrested for painkillers (too soon?).

If you’re worried that by missing Rush on ESPN you missed some seminal moment in pop culture or intellectual though, don’t worry, the only thing he did of note was say this about Donovan McNabb: “overrated … The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well…There’s a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he didn’t deserve.”

Fast forward to the last couple years. McNabb gets hurt and some competent QB who got plastic surgery to look like Jeff Garcia (if you’re a Lions or Browns fans, you know there’s no way that was actually him) leads the Eagles to the playoffs. The Eagles draft Kevin Kolb in the second round. McNabb comes back, supposedly doesn’t play well, and Eagles fans and media types spend hours every week skewering him and saying he’s done with the Eagles. But what if I bet you $1000 of Angry T’s (the person not the site) hard-earned money that the media has decided they want to invest in seeing him viewed negatively the same way Rush said they invested in building him up? You’d probably take that bet because you’d use the arguments I mentioned above to show that he really isn’t that good. Before you take my money, take a look at this…a comparison between McNabb and John Elway.

Here are Elway’s career stats:

Now take a look at McNabb’s career stats:

McNabb’s first nine years are significantly better than Elway’s in completion percentage, touchdowns thrown, interceptions thrown and QB rating. Up until the 2005 season, McNabb was Philadelphia’s golden boy, so we’ll compare his numbers since that time to the same portion of Elway’s career, seasons 7-9 of his career (1989-1991).

Completion %: Elway 55.4%, McNabb 59.5%

Pass Yards/year: Elway 3277, McNabb 2826

TD Pass/year: Elway 15.3, McNabb 17.7

Int/year: Elway 14.7, McNabb 7.3

Avg. QB Rating: Elway 75.9, McNabb 90.1

Games missed: Elway 1, McNabb 15

Super Bowl Wins to this point in their careers: 0

Go back to those stats above, if a 32 year old McNabb throws 10 TDs and 17 interceptions, how quick do you think we will be shown the door? I don’t think I am breaking new ground in saying that media scrutiny of athletes has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Every mistake that McNabb makes is put front and center on any number of clips shows and periodicals. As a Detroit Lions fan, nothing would make my happier than to see an All-Pro like McNabb in a Honolulu blue and silver jersey, but in Philadelphia, it seems that better than Elway simply isn’t enough.

So why does everyone talk about Elway like he was great every second of his career and McNabb like he’s headed for Arena Football? Is it because of “The Drive?” Well McNabb had “4th and 26” which you could argue is more impressive because it involved Freddie Mitchell catching a meaningful pass. Is it because Elway had been to 3 Super Bowls already? Herm Edwards has an answer for that. Elway didn’t win one for another 6 years. I’ll leave those stats open for you to interpret, but I don’t see why McNabb is a has-been at this point. In fact, if you look at a side-by-side comparison of each season of their careers up to that point, McNabb is better every year. We all know what Elway did from then on, so I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss ol’ Donovan if I were you.

I bet you wish you wouldn’t have taken that bet. You can send the $1000 directly to me, Rush…if you still have that much lying around.

Tenacious E

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