Jox Populi: The Curious Case of Donovan McNabb

Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb feels that he is owed a “financial apology” for his halftime benching in last season’s 36-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. (Photo courtsey Philadelphia Eagles)

When asked last week what he had learned by watching Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger in Super Bowl XLIII, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb replied “Nothing,” adding “I mean I watched a great Super Bowl. That’s all that matters.”

Nothing? Really?

This would not be surprising coming from Peyton Manning, say, or Tom Brady—you know, quarterbacks who have actually won Super Bowls. Coming from McNabb, however, this strikes one as rather odd. Why? Well, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

NFL.com is kind enough to make available a slew of statistics for each player in its searchable database including, unfortunately for McNabb, such examples as “Passer Rating In The Last Two Minutes Of A Half” and “Passer Rating While Score Is Tied,” and so on.

Looking at the first of those stats, one can see that while McNabb’s overall Passer Rating in 2008 was a pedestrian 86.4, his Passer Rating during the final two minutes of a half was a plain awful 65.7. When one compares this to McNabb’s fellow NFC East quarterbacks, one finds the following splits: Tony Romo 91.4 overall, 91.6 in final two minutes; Eli Manning 86.4 and 88.8; Jason Campbell 84.3 and 76.8.

Now, it is true that there are other quarterbacks in the NFL who have drastic and unfavorable splits in those two categories—Kurt Warner (96.9/60.1), Matt Ryan (87.7/60.2), Philip Rivers (105.5/70.0), Aaron Rodgers (93.8/69.4), to name but a few. Unfortunately for the Eagles, while most of the top tier quarterbacks in the NFL have a lower passer rating in one of these two situations, rarely does a QB have a passer rating lower than his season average IN BOTH.

The importance of being able to perform in the final two minutes of a half or a game is self-evident. The importance of being able to perform when the score is tied is probably less obvious, but no less important. That is because by definition, any action that a player takes to affect the score of a tied game has a much greater impact on whether his team wins or loses than, for example, what he does when his team is leading or trailing by 20 points. A quarterback who has an excellent passer rating when his team is trailing has the benefit of throwing against more prevent defenses, while the QB who excels when his team has the lead is more likely to be running up the score on a demoralized opponent.

Yet according to many reports, McNabb feels that he is owed a “financial apology” for his halftime benching in last season’s 36-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. While an extended and more lucrative contract may be something that interests the Eagles—they could seriously reduce McNabb’s $10 million-plus cap figure with a long-term extension—more dangerously, it is something that they can do if they so choose. Perennially among the lowest-spending teams in the league, the Eagles enter the 2009 season once again near the bottom of the league, with a projected $93 million payroll against a projected $124 million salary cap—and that is before the expected releases and departures of tackle John Runyan, tight end L.J. Smith, and others.

The pressing question facing the Eagles is not can they acquiesce to McNabb’s demands, but rather should they? While recent history is proof that teams can win Super Bowls with quarterbacks that are either mediocre (Trent Dilfer), journeymen (Brad Johnson), or are of average talent (Tom Brady), there remains quite a bit of value in being consistently average. Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger are not spectacular players—they are workmanlike, with occasional flashes of brilliance. It is in this category that McNabb belongs, and it is for lack of any credible alternatives that Eagles president Joe Banner should swallow his pride, open his checkbook, and keep McNabb around for just awhile longer.

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Jox Populi is a weekly sports column by Observer Staff Reporter Justin Jones. Justin can be reached at justin@BearGlasgowObserver.com