RAMONES!!!

ARE WE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE OUR OWN OPINIONS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!

damn...free speech my ass

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Come on

dy156

Slate article


I don't think this has been posted yet, and I'm glad someone that probably knows more about the NFL agrees with me on this.sports nut


Rush Limbaugh Was Right
"Donovan McNabb isn't a great quarterback, and the media do overrate him because he is black.
By Allen Barra
Posted Thursday, October 2, 2003, at 3:33 PM PT



Limbaugh leaves over unfair football flap

In his notorious ESPN comments last Sunday night, Rush Limbaugh said he never thought the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb was "that good of a quarterback."

If Limbaugh were a more astute analyst, he would have been even harsher and said, "Donovan McNabb is barely a mediocre quarterback." But other than that, Limbaugh pretty much spoke the truth. Limbaugh lost his job for saying in public what many football fans and analysts have been saying privately for the past couple of seasons.

Let's review: McNabb, he said, is "overrated ... what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well—black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well."


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"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. The defense carried this team."

Let's take the football stuff first. For the past four seasons, the Philadelphia Eagles have had one of the best defenses in the National Football League and have failed to make it to the Super Bowl primarily because of an ineffective offense—an offense run by Donovan McNabb. McNabb was a great college quarterback, in my estimation one of the best of the '90s while at Syracuse. (For the record, I helped persuade ESPN Magazine, then called ESPN Total Sports, to put him on the cover of the 1998 college-football preview issue.) He is one of the most talented athletes in the NFL, but that talent has not translated into greatness as a pro quarterback.

McNabb has started for the Eagles since the 2000 season. In that time, the Eagles offense has never ranked higher than 10th in the league in yards gained. In fact, their 10th-place rank in 2002 was easily their best; in their two previous seasons, they were 17th in a 32-team league. They rank 31st so far in 2003.

In contrast, the Eagles defense in those four seasons has never ranked lower than 10th in yards allowed. In 2001, they were seventh; in 2002 they were fourth; this year they're fifth. It shouldn't take a football Einstein to see that the Eagles' strength over the past few seasons has been on defense, and Limbaugh is no football Einstein, which is probably why he spotted it.

The news that the Eagles defense has "carried" them over this period should be neither surprising nor controversial to anyone with access to simple NFL statistics—or for that matter, with access to a television. Yet, McNabb has received an overwhelming share of media attention and thus the credit. Now why is this?

Let's look at a quarterback with similar numbers who also plays for a team with a great defense. I don't know anyone who would call Brad Johnson one of the best quarterbacks in pro football—which is how McNabb is often referred to. In fact, I don't know anyone who would call Brad Johnson, on the evidence of his 10-year NFL career, much more than mediocre. Yet, Johnson's NFL career passer rating, as of last Sunday, is 7.3 points higher than McNabb's (84.8 to 77.5), he has completed his passes at a higher rate (61.8 percent to 56.4 percent), and has averaged significantly more yards per pass (6.84 to 5.91). McNabb excels in just one area, running, where he has gained 2,040 yards and scored 14 touchdowns to Johnson's 467 and seven. But McNabb has also been sacked more frequently than Johnson—more than once, on average, per game, which negates much of the rushing advantage.

In other words, in just about every way, Brad Johnson has been a more effective quarterback than McNabb and over a longer period.

And even if you say the stats don't matter and that a quarterback's job is to win games, Johnson comes out ahead. Johnson has something McNabb doesn't, a Super Bowl ring, which he went on to win after his Bucs trounced McNabb's Eagles in last year's NFC championship game by a score of 27-10. The Bucs and Eagles were regarded by everyone as having the two best defenses in the NFL last year. When they played in the championship game, the difference was that the Bucs defense completely bottled up McNabb while the Eagles defense couldn't stop Johnson.

In terms of performance, many NFL quarterbacks should be ranked ahead of McNabb. But McNabb has represented something special to all of us since he started his first game in the NFL, and we all know what that is.

Limbaugh is being excoriated for making race an issue in the NFL. This is hypocrisy. I don't know of a football writer who didn't regard the dearth of black NFL quarterbacks as one of the most important issues in the late '80s and early '90s. (The topic really caught fire after 1988, when Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins became the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl.)

So far, no black quarterback has been able to dominate a league in which the majority of the players are black. To pretend that many of us didn't want McNabb to be the best quarterback in the NFL because he's black is absurd. To say that we shouldn't root for a quarterback to win because he's black is every bit as nonsensical as to say that we shouldn't have rooted for Jackie Robinson to succeed because he was black. (Please, I don't need to be reminded that McNabb's situation is not so difficult or important as Robinson's—I'm talking about a principle.)

Consequently, it is equally absurd to say that the sports media haven't overrated Donovan McNabb because he's black. I'm sorry to have to say it; he is the quarterback for a team I root for. Instead of calling him overrated, I wish I could be admiring his Super Bowl rings. But the truth is that I and a great many other sportswriters have chosen for the past few years to see McNabb as a better player than he has been because we want him to be.

Rush Limbaugh didn't say Donovan McNabb was a bad quarterback because he is black. He said that the media have overrated McNabb because he is black, and Limbaugh is right. He didn't say anything that he shouldn't have said, and in fact he said things that other commentators should have been saying for some time now. I should have said them myself. I mean, if they didn't hire Rush Limbaugh to say things like this, what they did they hire him for? To talk about the prevent defense? "

livingitup101

At the end of the day, Limbaugh was paid by ESPN to state his opinions. Whether you agree with him or disagree with him, he has a right to his opinion.

I for one think McNabb is a good QB. But, when he was out last year the #2, then #3 guys went a combined 4-1. So that does beg the question, is the Philly defense carrying this team. I would guess that 75-80% of Eagles fans would agree that the Philly D has all too often, won games for them.

This issue has been turned upside down by the media. They made a non-story, a story, by plastering it on the front page of every newspaper (sport section) in the US.

bond007

I think EVERYONE is missing the point on this one. McNabb is, arguably, the best QB in fantasy football. this has directly contributed to his reputation as being a great QB in real life, NFL football.

so, don't blame the liberal media... blame the roto geeks!

Lestat

McNabb IS overated and not because he's black.

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Konichiwaneko

Actually you guys can kick my ass for saying this...but I think Rush is partially right.

Reason being is most Black Qb's I know have so much raw talent they add rushing games to their repetoire. White Qb's tend to not be able to run as well, and thus tend to be pocket qbs.

Statistically this makes it that white qb's are not hit as much and as hard thus they stay in the game longer (yearly and career wise). Elway, Montana, Young, Aikman...all pocket qb's. Cunningham, McNabb, Vick...all of them run.

Who was that kick as qb for FSU in about 94..I loved that guy...he got injured.

Remember when Dusty baker made that comment about Darker skin people fairing better during day games, science can prove him right...I think it can in this situation also. People are just overreacting because Rush is White.


And people...I'm asian.

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rgr22j

I agree with you in general, Konichiwaneko, but I have a slightly different take. Do you think Black QBs run because they have so much raw talent, or does the media focus on black QBs that run? In other words, perhaps we think black QBs can run because comparatively less attention is paid to classic pocket passers that are black.

I ask because I don't think that black QBs can necessarily run better or throw worse than white QBs, but that the media plays up black QBs that do run in a way to somehow make them distinct, different. In their early careers Young and Rich Gannon were considered "running quarterbacks" as well. Elway was, by yesteryear's standard, a good running quarterback. By today's standards he's a snail! In contrast, Warren Moon, in his long (Hall of Fame-bound) career, was more of a classic pocket quarterback. Steve McNair has significantly better mechanics than Donovan McNabb, but less attention. Vick, well, is Vick. QB or not were he not injured he'd be battling Dante Hall for highlight reels on SportsCenter.

Or, how about this? Consider the career of journeyman quarterback Jeff Blake in comparison to McNabb. Better QB rating, about the same completion percentage, higher yards per attempt, but lower touchdown-interception ratio. And, of course, since Blake isn't a running quarterback, less rushing touchdowns on average. In part, Blake has had an awful supporting cast, but he's actually a fairly solid backup quarterback. And there lies my case -- Blake, a non-running quarterback with similar numbers to McNabb, is considered a journeyman backup. McNabb, with a dash of running and a significantly better supporting cast, is hailed as one of the best in the NFL. So, I ask, if we hypothetically insert Jeff Blake into Donovan McNabb's place, would he be the one deep in the playoffs? Or does that little touch of running bring that much to the Eagles' offense? And if not, then is he not a bit overrated?

Mostly I fear that the media, by overexaggerating the advantage that a mobile quarterback brings, are forcing black quarterbacks to conform to their own little vision, so much that we think the only good black quarterbacks are the ones who can run. And that would be terribly racist. As an example, allow me to point you to Randall Cunningham's incredible season with the Vikings -- who knew he could throw? (Ignore the following season, of course) And what potential black Joe Montanas or John Elways have been passed by because we are looking for black running quarterbacks rather than just quarterbacks? Were we looking for a running quarterback and got a Kordell Stewart when a black Peyton Manning was right in front of our faces?

A lot of questions, no satisfying answers. But at least, to me, despite being a world-class moron, Rush is right in this instance. As they say, even stopped clocks are right twice a day.

-- Alvin

maximusveritas

It's probably true that the media gives McNabb extra credit for being a mobile QB, but I don't think it's unwarranted. Too many people look at QB ratings alone to judge QBs. Those ratings, however, fail to take into account a QB's rushing ability. So although Vick and McNabb may not have the highest QB raing or best passing stats, their ability to run the ball and save broken plays gives them that extra dimension that helps their teams suceed.

Back to Rush: he said the media overrates McNabb becauses he's black, not because he's a mobile QB. Rush never provided any evidence for this other than invoking the "liberal media" boogeyman he hates so much. The only football guy I've seen support Rush is this Sports Nut guy, whose name really says it all. Most people who support him admit they know nothing about football, but that he could be right since they know there's a liberal media. Sorry, but Rush is wrong, period.

Just look at the situation for the Arkansas Razorbacks. They have 2 QBs: Matt Jones, a white mobile QB, and Ryan Sorahan, a white pocket QB. While Sorahan is the better passer, Jones is loved by the media, fans, and coaches. It's obviously not because of his skin color. It's because he brings excitement to the game and gives the Hogs a better chance to win with his running ability. That's exactly what McNabb brings to the Eagles.

MontanaXVI

dy156,

I think you just about hit it on the head. I did some VERY ROUGH estimates on my own at NFL.com and using about 10 different QB's Plummer, Brooks, Manning, Garcia, Montana, just to name a few stat wise McNabb DID NOT come out that much ahead if at all vs. these guys like I said it was very rough and not the most accurate data crunching around. Philly's DEF deserves more credit than they get for helping carry them along the past few years.

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shaq=ignorance

I agree, anytime you interject race into an argument, automatically the slippery slope pops up. Even if the intended comment is perceived as harmless, everyone takes his or her own interpretation of your statement. Rush is intelligent, and he should have known better than to enter the realm or race, especially over such a trivial issue as football. I guess he forgot about what happened to ole Jimmy the Greek.