Donovan McNabb doesn’t like to be compared to Brett Favre. Not by people he loves, not by people he loathes. Not by Andy Reid, not by Terrell Owens. Not even by Mama McNabb.
But he’s going to have to deal with it one more time, because his offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinweg, mentioned McNabb and Favre in the same breath recently, after another brilliant performance by his quarterback.
Mornhinweg was an assistant in Green Bay in the mid-1990s, along with Reid, when the Canton-bound Favre was doing some of his best work for the Packers. He watched him throw for 8,312 yards, 77 touchdowns and just 26 interceptions in 1995 and 1996. He watched him lead a Packers team that didn’t have a receiver with more than 56 catches to a 14-point Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots.
And you know what? Mornhinweg believes McNabb is playing every bit as well this season as Favre was back then.
“I think Donovan definitely is playing at that [same] level right now,” Mornhinweg said. “He’s having an outstanding year.”
McNabb is off to one of the best five-game starts of any quarterback in NFL history. He’s first in the league in passing yards (1,602), touchdown passes (11) and yards per attempt (9.10), and has thrown only one interception.
He’s thrown two or more touchdown passes in all five games and hasn’t been intercepted in 171 attempts. He already has three 300-yard games and missed making it a perfect five by a hair (296 vs. San Francisco, 288 vs. Green Bay).
His career 2.16 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio is the second best in league history (to Steve Young’s 2.17). So is his 2.14 career interception percentage (Neil O’Donnell is first at 2.11).
Five games in, he’s on pace to break Dan Marino’s record for passing yards in a season (5,084) and challenge Rich Gannon’s season mark for 300-yard passing games (10). Two years after becoming the first player in history to throw more than 30 touchdown passes and fewer than 10 interceptions in the same season, he’s on track to do it again.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence and really throwing the ball well right now,” said an AFC scout who watched McNabb’s impressive 354-yard, two-touchdown, zero-interception performance last Sunday against Dallas. “Watching him and the way he came out (of the tunnel before the game), you knew that game was important to him. His teammates knew it too. And he wasn’t afraid to do it. I mean, he had a lot more to lose in that game than (Cowboys wide receiver Terrell) Owens did. But he was fearless.”
Of the five quarterbacks who were taken among the first 12 picks in the 1999 draft, only two–McNabb and Daunte Culpepper–still are in the league. And Culpepper, like the Falcons’ Michael Vick, is finding out the hard way that it’s tough to get by as an NFL quarterback with just your legs and good looks.
McNabb entered the NFL determined to make a name for himself as a passer. If he also ran for a few first downs and touchdowns along the way, that’d be nice too. But it wouldn’t be who he was. Or is.
“Donovan has put the hard work in,” Mornhinweg said. “And it takes hard, hard work to play quarterback at the level he’s playing.
“He was a great player since he stepped on the field as a rookie. However, he’s learned how to play the quarterback position so well. You combine that with all of the great physical attributes he has, and you get what we have here.”
His ability to put up big yardage and touchdown numbers and still avoid interceptions distinguishes him from most of his peers. In his last 38 regular-season starts and 1,267 attempts, he’s thrown 22 interceptions. That’s one every 57.6 passes.
“Some things you can’t explain,” Mornhinweg said. “He’s just got that as part of his game. Steve Young had it. It’s a (special) ability to be able to throw the football down the field, be aggressive, be dynamic, and still keep the mistakes to a minimum.”
In his eighth season, McNabb is building a case for himself not only as a possible MVP, but also as the best quarterback in the game.
“He’s as good as any quarterback in this league right now,” the AFC scout said. “And that includes Peyton [Manning].”
