McNabb's Statements

On Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback, Donovan McNabb, said the following, "There's not that many African-American quarterbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra. Because of the percentage of us playing this position, which people don't want us to play ... is low, so we do a little extra."

He also said, "I pass for 300 yards, our team wins by seven, [mimicking]'Ah, he could've made this throw, they would have scored if he did this'."

James Brown then asked McNabb, "Doesn't every quarterback go through that?"

McNabb responded, "Not everybody."

Brown then spoke about quarterbacks such as the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning and the Cincinnati Bengals' Carson Palmer.

McNabb then stated, "Let me start by saying I love those guys. But they don't get criticized as much as we do. They don't."

He later added, "Every year I'm part of some criticism. But every day that we go through life, you're faced with a lot of adversity. Now the answer is how do you handle the adversity. How do you respond? I try to handle myself with class. I try to handle myself with dignity. I think sometimes people look to players to act out, speak loudly, pretty much be an idiot. But that's not me."

I read a few comments following the article and about 2 in 3 spoke of how they were sick of the "race excuse" or that "everyone gets criticized equally" or that "it comes with the territory". Only about 1 in 3 sided with McNabb.

Donovan McNabb has been one of the best quarterbacks of the generation. When debating about top NFL quarterbacks, following Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb's name has to rank up there with the rest of them. He's taken his Eagles to the NFC Championship Game a number of times, to the Super Bowl one year, and has been a regular at the Pro Bowl when healthy. He's been a class player/person on and off the field. Yet, every year, he receives enormous criticism from the hometown fans and the media. Last year, following his season-ending injury and back-up Jeff Garcia's solid performance toward the tail-end of the season, which helped vault the Eagles to a playoff berth, some members of the media made claim that the Eagles should trade the 3o-year old McNabb and stick with the 38-year old Garcia as starting quarterback. If this happened to be Manning, Brady, or even Palmer starting in Philadelphia, the criticism would not be so constant and the outrageous commentary would not be even pondered, let alone stated.

I think a big issue many people have with the majority (not all) of African-American quarterbacks is the fact they're not "pocket passers". Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, Daunte Culpepper, Aaron Brooks, Vince Young, Randall Cunningham, Anthony Wright, Steve McNair, David Garrard, Kordell Stewart, D.J. Shockley, Tarvarus Jackson. What have they all had in common? They've all been known as more of dual-threat quarterbacks than pure pocket passers. There are exceptions to this as well as to the Anglo-American quarterbacks, who are more commonly referred to as "pure pocket passers". Byron Leftwich, Doug Williams, and most recently, JaMarcus Russell are anything but dual-threat quarterbacks. Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton, and John Elway are probably the three most well-known Anglo-dual-threat quarterbacks.

For whatever reason, it seems like many fans and members of the media get excited about these young athletic sensations (such as McNabb, Vick, and Young), but then grow tired of the speedy quarterback running the ball just as much as he throws it. They expect these young men/men to go against their instinct and to play a completely different version of the quarterback position than they had always done previously. It's not like in baseball, a minor league power-hitting sensation reaches the majors and fans/media are disappointed after a couple years of him doing this, wanting him to steal more bases. It's not like in basketball, where a shooting guard in college, who is known for his three-point precision, goes to the pros and disappoints members of the media and fans for not penetrating enough and dunking the ball ala Vince Carter. These are players who have always been successful via their athleticism. While they can typically throw the football very well, they're not pure pocket passers like the Peyton Manning's, Tom Brady's, and Kurt Warner's of the world. It's about time we learn to accept this as part of their game, as opposed to criticizing them for it. Just as I'm not going to criticize Peyton Manning for not being able to run the ball when there's a huge lane of open grass in front of him, I'm not going to criticize McNabb for doing so. If the quarterback is successful, wins football games, let him play the way he's playing. There are always improvements to be made, but that goes for every player in football or any sport. Just because a player doesn't play a position traditionally, doesn't make him an average to below average player because of it or mean that he should alter his style of play completely to fit the status quo. While I'm sure McNabb will receive some heat because of his commentary, I happen to agree with him. He's been a great quarterback for the past 10 years and deserves better than what he's received from the media and fans alike.