Yahoo: Ugly Win Provides McNabb Some Satisfaction

The ball sailed off Kevin Kolb’s right hand and made a perfect arc toward the back of the end zone, a hellish ending to an otherwise triumphant return looming in the crisp Philly darkness.

Please, no! Donovan McNabb thought to himself on the Washington Redskins’ sidelines as Philadelphia Eagles wideout Jason Avant reached up for the football while falling backward. He’s got his hands on it …

A last-second Hail Mary, game-winning touchdown thrown by Kolb, his on-again, off-again successor, would have been too cruel a homecoming punishment for McNabb to bear. In a game that meant more to him – and to his head coach, Mike Shanahan – than either man would let on to the outside world, McNabb needed to see that ball hit the Lincoln Financial Field turf.

What he saw next was even sweeter: 'Skins cornerback DeAngelo Hall(notes) popped up with the football in hand, having ended the Eagles’ last hope with an interception to secure a 17-12 victory. On an emotional day in the City of Brotherly Love – for the quarterback who guided Philly to five NFC championship game appearances and for the classy fans who gave him a standing ovation during pregame introductions – McNabb’s teammates seized the moment and ensured he’d go home a winner.

Make no mistake: This was more than a rivalry game, more than a chance for the 'Skins (2-2) to break a two-game losing streak and move into a tie with the Eagles and New York Giants for first place in the NFC East. It was a day to rally around Washington’s new leader as he returned to the city where he ran the show for 11 years – and faced the former head coach, Andy Reid, who deemed him expendable.

The stakes had been laid out by Shanahan last Monday in a brief but powerful team meeting. Shanahan, back in football after sitting out the 2009 season, kicked things off by asking his players, “How many of you have ever been fired?”

A slew of hands went up, including Shanahan’s – he’d been dismissed by Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen in December 2008 after a 14-season run that included a pair of Super Bowl triumphs.

“How many of you have never been fired?” Shanahan asked.

This time, only a few hands were raised.

“Well,” Shanahan said, “that means most of you can understand how big a game this is for Donovan. The emotions you felt when you were fired, he’s going to be experiencing those this week, and he needs all of us to back him up.”

And that, sports fans, is how McNabb was able to submit a statistically benign effort (8 of 19 completions, 125 yards, one touchdown, one interception) that featured only three significant plays and still walk off a smiling, fully supported victor.

It was clear from the start that the 'Skins weren’t messing around. The first sign came on the game’s opening drive when defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth(notes), the incredible shrinking $100-million man, blew up the Philly line and forced quarterback Michael Vick(notes) into a third-and-3 scramble and throwaway. Three plays after a 53-yard punt return by Redskins rookie Brandon Banks(notes), halfback Ryan Torain(notes) literally ran over Eagles safety Quintin Mikell(notes) on a 12-yard touchdown run, giving McNabb a 7-0 lead before he’d thrown a pass.

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Lanky Livingston said:

The stakes had been laid out by Shanahan last Monday in a brief but powerful team meeting. Shanahan, back in football after sitting out the 2009 season, kicked things off by asking his players, “How many of you have ever been fired?”

A slew of hands went up, including Shanahan’s – he’d been dismissed by Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen in December 2008 after a 14-season run that included a pair of Super Bowl triumphs.

“How many of you have never been fired?” Shanahan asked.

This time, only a few hands were raised.

“Well,” Shanahan said, “that means most of you can understand how big a game this is for Donovan. The emotions you felt when you were fired, he’s going to be experiencing those this week, and he needs all of us to back him up.”

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Goosebumps.

Thanks for posting Lanky.


Oh, and this is priceless:

Lanky Livingston said:

Oh, and all you Eagles fans who thought McNabb was the reason for the team’s penchant for clock mismanagement over the past decade? That was No. 5 on the opposite sideline late in the first half smiling broadly as Philly – following a long replay review and a Philly timeout – somehow managed to incur a delay of game penalty on fourth-and-goal from the Washington 1. That meant Reid had to settle for Akers’ 23-yard field goal, and he and his team left the field to boos at intermission.

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I kinda liked this:

As a long-suffering Cal fan who, before Jeff Tedford arrived in 2002, was accustomed to blown timeouts and other clock-management atrocities on a regular basis, I’m a bit hypersensitive to such fiascos. Call it post-traumatic stress syndrome, or simply 4:19 a.m. logic (that’s literally what time it is as I write this), but Andy Reid, WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON AT THE END OF THE FIRST HALF???? Did this really happen: Trailing 17-3 and facing a third-and-goal from the 2, McCoy took an inside handoff and powered toward the goal line before seemingly being stopped inches short. The upstairs official called for a replay review, which lasted an inordinately long time – certainly more than five minutes. During that delay, according to one Eagles player, Reid decided that Kolb would run a quarterback sneak on fourth down (barring a ruling that McCoy had scored). After the referee announced that the ruling on the field would stand, Reid called timeout with 23 seconds remaining, only to learn that the ball had been moved back to the 1-yard line based on the replay review. He proceeded to argue the ball’s placement, or at least seek an explanation for it, as the play clock began to tick down. By the time he gave Kolb a new play (reasoning that it was too far for a sneak), less than 15 seconds remained on the play-clock, and the Eagles didn’t get it off in time. So, to review: Protracted replay timeout, Philly timeout, delay of game penalty. Fabulous sequence, Eagles, who ended up settling for Akers’ field goal instead of a potential TD. They didn’t miss those four points much, did they? Oh, wait, you mean Philly (theoretically) could have tied the game with an extra point following Kolb’s TD pass to Celek with 4:10 remaining? Terrible, awful, horrible, abominable.

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It makes me smile.