Disrespecting Donovan

That's right. I'm doing me.

I will preface this post by saying I will support pretty much any black quarterback. We all love athletes who represent us, especially in places where we are underrepresented. Think about this, there has only been black QB to win the Super Bowl and his name was Doug Williams. And he was on another team the next year. Jeez, Doug Williams. I can't say things haven't changed since then. This has been the year of Cam Newton and Michael Vick, never mind their criminal backgrounds. Throw in a nice year for Josh Freeman, some face time for Jason Campbell and a C.J. Webb sighting and I can't really complain. But there is one QB who I've seen get disrespected, time and time again throughout his career, Donovan McNabb.

McNabb's NFL career began with him being booed viciously by Eagles' fans during the 2000 draft. Apparently, they wanted Ricky Williams, and while I would draft Ricky #1 for a smoke sesh, McNabb has undoubtedly had the better career. I'll list some of his accomplishments and compare them to other QB's of the era:

• 36,250 yards, 230 TDs and 115 INTs in 161 career games (Brees: 34,768, 233 TDs, 129 INTs in 136 games)
• .647 win pct in 142 starts in Philadelphia (P. Manning: .675 pct)
• Career 85.7 passer rating (Favre: 86.0)
• 9-7 playoff record (P. Manning: 9-9)
• 6-time Pro Bowler
• 4 Conference Championship appearance, one Super Bowl appearance

Whether McNabb is Hall of Fame worthy is a debate that I'm not going to have because its a very sticky discussion. The numbers don't lie though, if McNabb is not in the upper echelon of veteran QBs in the league, then he's not far off. The fact of the matter is homeboy deserves a lot more respect than he's received lately. I am certainly on the Vick train, but the fact that McNabb was run out of Philly for the likes Kevin Kolb (??) still makes my stomach curdle.

I thought Washington would be a decent place for him, but they clearly have more problems than the QB position. Bringing in Mike Shanahan masked the fact that the Redskins have been a poorly managed organization for a while, the Albert Haynesworth debacle is evidence of that. Still McNabb endured a rough season. No one can defend his mediocre play this year but you'd think that someone with Donovan's credentials would get the benefit of the doubt over someone like Rex Grossman. Is there really anything you're going to see from Rex Grossman that's going to make you want him on your team in the future? And why is Kyle Shanahan running his mouth to the media? DUDE, the only reason you have a job is your father, even Daniel Snyder knows that. Maybe the Redskins are throwing the season to get a better draft pick, but I don't think they are that smart.

At the end of the day, McNabb will get another chance next year. He could end up on a team that is a good quarterback away from seriously contending. Miami, Oakland, Minnesota and San Fran all make sense. No matter where he goes, McNabb can do only one thing to prove he has been downplayed his whole career: lead his team to a Super Bowl ring.