Encyclopedia
Donovan Jamal McNabb is an
American football quarterback for the
Philadelphia Eagles of the
NFL. He attended
Syracuse University.
Among the two dozen or so starting NFL quarterbacks, McNabb is perhaps best known for doing a sideline jitterbug-like dance, which he performs most games, regardless of whether the team is winning or losing.
Early life
Donovan grew up in Dolton, Illinois and was a standout
quarterback at Mount Carmel High School on Chicago's south side.He helped Mount Carmel to win the 1991 State Champianship as a sophomore. Mount Carmel has produced such athletes as current
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Simeon Rice,
Detroit Red Wings defenseman
Chris Chelios,
Chicago Bears tackle Steve Edwards,
Miami Heat forward
Antoine Walker, and former Cy Young Award-winning
Detroit Tigers pitcher
Denny McLain.
College years
McNabb at first was strongly considering going to the University of Nebraska.
He enjoyed the idea of being coached by the lengendary Tom Osborne. However, McNabb decided not to attend Nebraska mainly because he did not want to be labeled an "option quarterback" . He then decided to attend
Syracuse University.
One of the most decorated athletes in Syracuse University history, he was a four-year starter at
quarterback and a reserve on the school's nationally ranked
basketball team. On the gridiron he was named the
Big East Conference's offensive player of the decade and of the year an unprecedented three times from 1996-98, as well as the first-team all-conference vote earner in each of his four seasons. Later, he was named to the Syracuse All-Century Football team. He also played basketball there, playing as a key reserve in the Orangemen's Final Four team back in 1996, where they lost to the
Kentucky Wildcats in the championship game.
NFL career
1999
McNabb was drafted 2nd overall by the Eagles in 1999, a choice which was famously booed by
Philadelphia fans present at the draft. McNabb was chosen ahead of
University of Texas halfback
Ricky Williams; however, recent history has justified this choice. McNabb started six of the Eagles' final seven contests as he became the first
Philadelphia Eagles rookie to start in the quarterback position since Brad Goebel on October 13, 1991, and the first Eagles rookie draft pick to start since John Reaves in 1972. He saw his first NFL regular season action in the second half against the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 19-5 home loss on September 19. He made his first career start at home against Washington on November 14, completing eight of 21 passes for 60 yards in a 35-28 win. He also had nine carries for 49 rushing yards and led the team to a pair of successful two-point conversions . With the win, he became the first Eagles rookie QB to win his first NFL start since Mike Boryla and the first Eagle QB to win his first start since Ty Detmer . McNabb threw the first TD pass of his career vs. Indianapolis in a 44-17 home loss on November 21.
2000
In his first full season as a NFL starter in 2000, McNabb finished second in the Associated Press MVP voting to St. Louis RB Marshall Faulk, who set the NFL record for most TDs scored in a season. He was selected as a first alternate to the
NFC Pro Bowl squad in 2000 . When Warner was unable to participate due to injury, McNabb led the NFC on a touchdown scoring drive in his first series. Accounted for 74.6% of the team's total net yards in 2000. Only Carolina's Steve Beuerlein and San Francisco's Jeff Garcia had a higher percentage. His 629 rushing yards in 2000 were tops among NFL QBs and the fourth-highest total ever . His six rushing TDs in 2000 were the most by an Eagles QB since Randall Cunningham also had six in 1988. Broke the club's single season record for most attempts and completions in 2000, marks previously set by Cunningham in 1988. Named 2000 NFL Player of the Year by CBS Radio and the Terry Awards on Fox Sports and was named to the All-Madden team. Made his prime time debut vs. Atlanta at home
2001
Earned his second trip to the Pro Bowl following the 2001 season after combining for 3,715 yards of total offense and establishing career highs in TD passes and QB rating . Including playoffs, threw TD passes in 15 of 18 games and 2-or-more in 12 of those games. Named by his teammates as the club's offensive MVP in 2000 and 2001. Led the Eagles in fourth-quarter comebacks in two wins vs. the Giants in 2001. At the Meadowlands , his 18-yard pass to James Thrash with 1:52 remaining gave the Eagles a 10-9 victory. At Philadelphia , wiped out a 21-14 deficit, engineering two fourth-quarter scores as the Eagles clinched the NFC East title with a 24-21 over archrival New York Giants. Tied Ron Jaworski and Tommy Thompson for the most postseason wins in franchise history by a QB . His 8 career playoff TDs trails only Jaworski . Named NFL Offensive Player of the Week after the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Chicago . Completed 26 of 40 for 262 yards with 2 touchdowns passing and added 37 yards and a TD on the ground. That rushing TD was the final touchdown at the old
Soldier Field. Became only the fourth QB in Eagles history to pass for 3,000 yards in consecutive seasons - Sonny Jurgensen , Ron Jaworski , and Randall Cunningham were the others. McNabb's Eagles advanced to the NFC championship game for the first time since 1980, losing to the heavily favored
St. Louis Rams 29-24.
2002-2003
In week 11 of the 2002 season, McNabb was injured. On the third play of the game, he was sacked by the Cardinals' Adrian Wilson and LeVar Woods. He fumbled the ball, fell to the ground, and held his right leg. He went to the locker room to have his ankle taped, but returned for the Eagles' second drive. His injury was reported to be a sprained ankle, but X-rays after the game revealed that it was a broken ankle. During the game, however, McNabb made an impressive show of toughness. In one of the best passing games of his career, he was 20 of 25 passing, with 255 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also threw an interception. McNabb was out for the last six weeks of the regular season, and returned to face the
Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs, but he recovered slowly. The Eagles defeated the Falcons 20-6, but were beaten by the underdog
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-10 in the NFC championship game.
In late September of 2003, Donovan McNabb was the subject of very controversial comments made by
Rush Limbaugh, who worked as a commentator for ESPN at the time, stating that the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. The comments came after the Eagles began the season 0-2, losing to defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers and eventual champion
New England, both losses coming in their newly opened stadium,
Lincoln Financial Field. There has been much discussion about the merit of these comments, which resulted in Limbaugh's resignation from ESPN.
Despite the slow start in the 2003 season, McNabb again led his team to the NFC championship game - yet his detractors pointed out that in his five years in the NFL, McNabb had yet to complete 60 percent of his passes or average seven yards per attempt over the course of an entire season, two statistical thresholds widely accepted as benchmarks for what constitutes a successful season for a modern-day NFL quarterback. Although the slow start hindered his overall statistics for 2003, Mcnabb had the highest quarterback ratingin the NFL for the second half of the season and also completed over 62% of his passes for over eight yards per attempt. With Philadelphia's 14-3 loss to the
Carolina Panthers in the 2003 NFC championship game, McNabb became the first NFL quarterback since Danny White of the Dallas Cowboys to lead a team to three consecutive defeats in conference title games, prompting some observers to conclude that McNabb "chokes" in big games .
McNabb's defenders, however, point out that Philadelphia had the worst contingent of wide receivers in the NFL throughout McNabb's tenure with the team up to that point, and perhaps in modern professional football history. In 2003, for example, Philadelphia's wide receivers caught only five touchdown passes - tying the record for fewest in a season since the regular-season schedule was lengthened to its present 16 games in 1978 and that, by going the entire months of September and October without having a wide receiver catch a touchdown pass, the 2003 Eagles became the first NFL team since 1945 not to have gotten a touchdown pass from any of its wide receivers in the first two months of a season.
2004
McNabb finally amassed the kind of numbers that placed him firmly as one of the elite NFL quarterbacks statistically. He averaged 8.26 yards per attempt, completed 64.0 percent of his passes, threw 31 touchdown passes , and only eight interceptions. These numbers translated to a Passer Rating of 104.7. Furthermore, he became the first quarterback in league history to throw over 30 touchdowns and less than 10 interceptions in a single season. This dramatic improvement coincided with a massive upgrading of the Eagles' receiving corps, namely the arrival of
Terrell Owens, who caught 14 touchdowns. As a result, the Eagles won their first seven games of the season for the first time in franchise history, clinched first place in their division with five weeks still to play in the regular season and won the NFC's Eastern Division by a record-tying seven-game margin in posting a 13-3 record, the franchise's best 16-game season ever. In the playoffs, McNabb led the Eagles to their first
Super Bowl in almost a quarter century, with victories over the
Minnesota Vikings 27-14 in the divisional game and the
Atlanta Falcons 27-10 in the
NFC Championship Game. Owens was not in the lineup during the two playoff victories, and was recovering from a broken leg. McNabb became only the third
African-American quarterback to start in a
Super Bowl after Doug Williams in the 1987 season and Steve McNair in 1999.
Super Bowl XXXIX
McNabb led his team against a newly-forming dynasty, the
New England Patriots, in
Super Bowl XXXIX. McNabb struggled at points, throwing three poor and crucial interceptions. Two of these were thrown in New England territory, and one of those two was a rare mistake for McNabb in the red zone. He was also sacked four times. Controversy surrounds the end of the game, as McNabb was reportedly unable to call a play in the huddle, leading to poor clock management by the
Philadelphia Eagles on their final drive. Some reports claim that McNabb had the wind knocked out of him by an earlier hit while others assert that he was unduly fatigued or even nauseous . Both Coach Andy Reid and McNabb have denied any physical problems which led to the puzzlingly slow pace of play. McNabb finished the game with 30 completions for 357 yards, the third highest total for both catagories in Super Bowl history, and 3 touchdowns. The Eagles lost 24-21.
2005
During the spring of 2005,
EA Sports announced Donovan McNabb would be the cover athlete for
Madden 2006. Fan reaction was mixed as most NFL players appearing on the Madden football series cover tend to suffer from the
Madden Curse the entire following season. The jinx continued, McNabb injured himself, and the Eagles were in last place in the NFC East and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2000. In a game against the Dallas Cowboys,
Drew Bledsoe led the Cowboys to 17 points in the first quarter, and McNabb never was able to get into a rhythm to comeback. Donovan's injury appeared to be finally getting the best of him as he struggled in a few games. Another problem was the lack of dedication to the running game, which led to most of the pressure to produce on offense placed on McNabb's shoulders.
November 21st McNabb decided to proceed with his surgery, thus ending his 2005 season. Mike McMahon replaced him as quarterback in his absence.
In December of 2005, Philadelphia
NAACP president and chief editor of the Philadelphia Sun Jerry Mondesire took a shot at Donovan McNabb, saying that he is a "mediocre" quarterback and weak leader who "played the race card" by consciously switching styles from a QB who frequently ran -- the stereotype of a "black quarterback" -- to a traditional pocket passer. McNabb was irate over the comments, saying that people may criticize his play, but if they bring up an issue about race, then there's going to be a problem. Several days later, the national head of NAACP apologized for Mondesire's comments, calling McNabb an excellent quarterback and role model.
In late 2005 and early 2006, McNabb and
Terrell Owens ramped up the war of words they'd been conducting for some time when an interviewer asked Owens if he agreed with ESPN analyst Michael Irvin's comment that the Eagles would be undefeated if Brett Favre were the starting quarterback. Owens replied: "That's a good assessment, I would agree with that, just with what [Favre] brings to the table... A number of commentators will say he's a warrior, he's played with injuries. I feel like him being knowledgeable about the quarterback position, I feel like we'd probably be in a better situation."
McNabb said that Owens created a huge rift with the comment. He added that Owens should have picked a black quarterback instead of Favre for the comparison, and that Owens' words were "a slap in [his] face". McNabb further said that what Owens had done to him was "black-on-black crime" .
Statistics and records
McNabb set the Syracuse and Big East career records for touchdown passes , touchdowns responsible for , passing yards , total offensive yards and total offensive plays . He set the school's all-time records for total yards per game , passing efficiency and yards per attempt . He finished his college career ranked second in the school's history with 8,389 yards passing, 548 completions, 938 attempts and a 58.4 completion percentage. Started every game during his career, compiling a 33-12 record. As a senior, led Syracuse to an Orange Bowl berth vs. Florida as he completed 157 of 251 passes for 2,134 yards. His 22 TD passes tied the school's single season record set by former Eagle Don McPherson . Also rushed 135 times for 438 yards and 8 touchdowns.. Ranked sixth in the nation with a 158.9 passing efficiency rating and 22nd in total offense . Tied a school record with 4 TD tosses vs. Cincinnati and accounted for 5 TDs vs. Miami . Amassed 2,892 yards in total offense in his junior season to set a school record. As a freshman, was the Big East rookie of the year and tossed a 96-yard TD pass vs. West Virginia, the longest in SU history. He redshirted in 1994.
Image and reputation
During his lengthy tenure as the Eagles' quarterback, he has failed to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory. However, he is one of only two quarterbacks in the history of the NFL to lead his team to 4 straight Conference Championship Games. Additionally, his game demeanor troubles many fans. The undisputed leader of the Eagles is off to a phenomenal start in 2006. 2006 is an important year in his career, as it is his chance to move beyond the Terrel Owens saga and take the Eagles back to the top of the NFC pack. An outstanding 2006 season by McNabb will only further cement his status as an elite NFL Quarterback, and further silence his critics.
McNabb has been widely praised for his ability to stay cool under pressure. It is often said, by fans, teammates, and football pundits, that when McNabb plays with a smile on his face, he is at his best.
While large and strong for a quarterback, McNabb has had his share of injuries. Notably, he threw for 255 yards and 4 touchdowns after breaking his ankle against the Arizona Cardinals. Additionally, McNabb played 10 games in 2005 with a sports hernia. McNabb has adapted to the physical punishment of a scrambling quarterback by refining his pocket passing skills, and learning how to avoid big hits.
McNabb is one of the most popular athletes in the history of Syracuse University. This is due to his outstanding ability, demeanor, and class which he continues to exhibit. His popularity continues in the NFL and in Philadelphia. McNabb is very involved with charities , and also sits on the Board of Trustees at SU.
NFL year by year statistics
| Year | Games | Games Started | Attempts | Completions | Completion % | Yards | Yards/Attempt | Touchdowns | Interceptions |
|---|
| 1999 | 12 | 6 | 216 | 106 | 49.1 | 948 | 4.39 | 8 | 7 |
| 2000 | 16 | 16 | 569 | 330 | 58.0 | 3365 | 5.91 | 21 | 13 |
| 2001 | 16 | 16 | 493 | 285 | 57.8 | 3233 | 6.56 | 25 | 12 |
| 2002 | 10 | 10 | 361 | 211 | 58.4 | 2289 | 6.34 | 17 | 6 |
| 2003 | 16 | 16 | 478 | 275 | 57.5 | 3216 | 6.73 | 16 | 11 |
| 2004 | 15 | 15 | 469 | 300 | 64.0 | 3875 | 8.26 | 31 | 8 |
| 2005 | 9 | 9 | 357 | 211 | 59.1 | 2507 | 7.00 | 16 | 9 |
| 2006 | 3 | 3 | 113 | 69 | 61.1 | 960 | 8.50 | 7 | 1 |
| Totals | 97 | 91 | 3056 | 1787 | 58.5 | 20393 | 6.7 | 141 | 67 |
Rushing Totals
- 415 attempts 2,518 yards 6.08 average 20 TDS
Pro Bowl selections:
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- Total selections
NFC Offensive Player Of The Year
McNabb holds the record for most consecutive pass attempts completed — 24 — against the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers in 2004 over two games. Joe Montana holds the second spot with 22.
McNabb is the second least intercepted quarterback per pass attempt in NFL history, behind only Neil O'Donnell, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is the only NFL Quarterback in history to throw for more than 30 touchdowns and less than 10 Interceptions in a season .
Personal life
McNabb and his college sweetheart, Raquel "Roxy" Nurse, were married in June 2003. His daughter Alexis was born in September 23, 2004. His other loves include his two dogs, Sinbad and Diego and his parakeet named Tudy. They reside in
Arizona.
McNabb's parents, Sam and Wilma McNabb, have gained fame appearing as themselves in the
Campbell's Chunky Soup commercial series. Wilma is also a vice president of the NFL Mother's Association, the executive director of the Donovan McNabb Foundation, and runs McNabb Unlimited, which oversees Donovan's endorsements.
In 2002, he was named to the
Syracuse University Board of Trustees; the youngest to do so.
He has a degree in speech communications.
He is ambidextrous; he throws the football with his right hand but he writes with his left hand.
See also
External links
