Rush Was Right

[Red Regal T]

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."


"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?

[TRBON8R]

Rush should worry more about his impending investigation for dope than he should about Donovan McNabb.

[Red Regal T]

This is probably just another matter blown out of proportion by left wing liberals.

[TUFNUF 6]

WOW!! Is this TB.COM or the O'RIELLY FACTOR?!?!

[SuperSix]

I agreee with his sentiments about black QB's in general, but McNabb is a hell of a QB, black OR white..

[Red Regal T]

Originally posted by TUFNUF 6
WOW!! Is this TB.COM or the O'RIELLY FACTOR?!?!

OK.......WHAT KIND OF CAM DO YOU LIKE?

[Mr. Tee]

Originally posted by SuperSix
I agreee with his sentiments about black QB's in general, but McNabb is a hell of a QB, black OR white..

have you watched an eagles game lately, cant afford to go into a slump when your football player...imo hes been in a slump forever, defense did make the eagles, there isnt a 160 games to break out of a slump in football

[TUFNUF 6]

Originally posted by Red Regal T
OK.......WHAT KIND OF CAM DO YOU LIKE?

Well, so far I am relatively happy with my Erson 214 cam, I do enjoy the O'REILLY FACTOR, and I to am tired of people being fired...excuse me, "resigning", from their job because of voicing their opinion in this overly-p.c. world!!!

[slow87]

OK.......WHAT KIND OF CAM DO YOU LIKE?

A chunky one

[striker_29]

I have no problem with Rush saying Donavan is no great Qb, because HE"S NOT. The only part of that statement that I am unsure about is the media slant. I honestly haven't been paying enough attention to the media coverage of mediocre Mcnabb to know if they have been loving on him or not. It doesn't interest me enough to even really care. I do hate to see Rush leave Espn, as I rather enjoyed his contributions to the show.

[TT/A1233]

Whether you agree with Rush or not you can't deny the fact the 1st Amendment certainly doesn't apply to everyone equally.

Don't you dare say something politically incorrect or controversial....

[Pronto]

Rush=Oxi=jail Wonder what the homeboys will have to say to him about black qb's in the bighouse?

[TRBON8R]

Originally posted by Pronto
Rush=Oxi=jail Wonder what the homeboys will have to say to him about black qb's in the bighouse?

I'm not sure about qb's but in the slammer there might be some heated discussions about who's the best "tight end". You do know why they call it "the slammer" don't you??

[gwturbo]

He has too much money to go to the big house. Frankly it's the first time I have ever agreed to even a portion of what the obese, holier than thou, ego maniac, take things out of context, jerk has said

[TurboTer]

Gotta agree with ya. Although I'm not sure how overrated he is, Rush certainly didn't say anything racist.

[StagedGN]

good stuff John,Eagles suck...Go Giants!

[Red Regal T]

Can't say I agree with everything Rush has to say, but he sure has the domestic enemies of our country nailed down to a tee. If you don't know who they are, they're the 10 dwarfs running for the democratic presidential nomination.

And to the wishful thinkers..........you don't go to jail for getting hooked on prescription pain killers.

[Two Lane]

If that were so, then Elizabeth Taylor would be serving ONE MILLION years.

[S10xGN]

Originally posted by TT/A1233
Whether you agree with Rush or not you can't deny the fact the 1st Amendment certainly doesn't apply to everyone equally.

Don't you dare say something politically incorrect or controversial....

UNLESS, of course, you're Dusty Baker... then it's a-OK. Go figure!