The FANalysts On Donovan McNabb’s Washington Redskins Era

By The FANalysts, Phife Dawg and The Gambler

Tokyo, Japan — Greetings, from the great country of Japan! Good food, good people and a great vibe. It’s been a while since I touched foreign soil, got wit the boys and did the damn thing.

In between shows and appearances with A Tribe Called Quest, I have gotten some time to get on my FANalysts movement and preview the most compelling story of the upcoming NFL season. Being a Philadelphia Eagles supporter for so many years, obviously life without Donovan McNabb is a topic that has Philly and D.C. buggin’. The FANalysts will get to that side of the ball in a minute.

As I channel surf from Sports Center to The NFL Network, I can’t help but bang my head trying to understand what Coach Shanahan is thinking, as far as the situation involving Albert Haynesworth. You have two stubborn people locking up. It dates back to the off-season, when Haynesworth publicly spoke out against the possibility of playing nose tackle in a 3-4 alignment, and chose not to join voluntary workouts with the rest of the team. Then failing the conditioning test after being awarded a $100 million contract a season ago, was just icing on the cake. It has to be frustrating. Shanahan is returning to coaching after just chilling and counting his paper for a hot minute. He is trying to get a struggling team back into contention, work in a new quarterback and a new offensive system. The Redskins’ strength is supposed to be defense. Shanahan had no choice but to assert his authority and hold Haynesworth accountable. Holding him out of practice is purely a move to let the players know who is running the joint. Any weak links or obvious gestures of favoritism destroy locker room chemistry. Haynesworth needs to man up.

Thankfully, Haynesworth isn’t the most important player on his team this season. After seasons of struggling through mediocre Quarterback play, there is a new sheriff in town. His name is All-Pro pigskin slinger Donovan McNabb.

The question that I’ve had since Easter Sunday 2010 is:

Will trading Donovan McNabb come back to haunt Coach Reid & the Eagles, or will the Eagles and new starter Kevin Kolb have the last laugh?

I (The Phifer) 1/2 of the FANalysts, feel like McNabb will make a killing being that in Philly Coach Reid wanted to throw the ball down the field 80% of the time, but only ran the rock down opponents throats 20% of the time, which always made # 5 [McNabb] look like the goat week after week, year after year.

He had to carry an Eagles team that paled in comparison to the balanced teams of past Super Bowl contenders. Bradshaw had Franco Harris, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. Montana had Wendell Tyler and Roger Craig and eventually Jerry Rice. Troy Aikman had Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin. Even Eli Manning had talented offensive players like Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico “oops” Burress. Trent Dilfer had Jamal Lewis. McNabb is kind of like The Great Dan Marino, who was killed in his only Super Bowl because he had zero ground game. The difference is Marino’s appreciated by Dolphins fans to this day.

Philly fans undervalued McNabb immediately. I will never forget the Eagle fans booing Donovan at the 99′ NFL Draft, because they swore Texas running back/Heisman darling Ricky Williams was the answer (puff, puff pass). We see how his career went up in smoke.

The Eagles best chance of winning it all came in the 2002-03 season, where they closed “THE VET” with a playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Philly possessed a three-headed monster at running back named Duce Staley, Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter. Each contributed a different dimension. In other words, McNabb didn’t have one back talented or durable enough to do it all. The receivers weren’t that ill either. Todd Pinkston, who weighed no more than a pebble and God knows whom else, couldn’t help in the way McNabb needed. We’re talking Rams, Bucs and Carolina Panthers, beating McNabb in NFC Championship Games.

It wasn’t until T.O. left Frisco, dissed the Ravens and came to “The City of BROTHERLY LOVE that Philly had the weapons to go to the Show. T.O’s presence [and double teams] gave Pinkston and the forgotten Freddie Mitchell, a swagger they’ve never known.

We all know that affair had zero to do with brotherly love. McNabb and T.O. were not feeling each other and the rocky road ended with a Super Bowl loss.

Let’s not forget the Arizona Cardinals grounding the “Green Birds” yet again in the NFC title game in the 2009-10 season.

Donovan will be better off with Washington. Shanahan kept a potent running attack in Denver, and he promotes offensive balance. Before Shanahan, John Elway didn’t win a Super Bowl. He was assaulted in his first three appearances. During the season, he put up great stats but he wasn’t considered all-time. With Terrell Davis in his backfield, Elway galloped all the way to two straight Super Bowl wins to top off a crazy career.

Then only then, did people start considering Elway among the greats. The RING is THE THING!

In thee immortal words of my 20-plus year partner in rhyme (Q-Tip): “Winners turn to losers, losers are forgotten.”

McNabb has a shot to be remembered in his just place among the greatest quarterbacks ever, if he and Shanahan can be on the same page and make this Redskin offense what it hasn’t been for a while – a force.

If Shanahan can get over his gripe with Haynesworth, or if Haynesworth can “MAN UP” and make a bigger commitment to his teammates, [Bigger than the $100 mill he didn’t hesitate to take when Snyder had Jim Zorn as head coach], then the Redskin team is looking up.

Donovan has experienced talent to get busy with. The running backs are all experienced former All-Pro’s. Clinton Portis (who knows Coach Mike’s system by playing for Coach in Denver), Larry Johnson (who was a beast in Kansas City, and  ex -Steeler Willie Parker (who has two rings to floss as a member of  the ’05-06 Champion Steelers and the ’08-09 championship Steelers) is a solid group. If I were GM, I’d break my neck to compliment Santana Moss with Charger standout receiver Vincent Jackson.

They are not far off. Tight End Cooley is everything a coach can ask for and with rookie Trent Williams, last year’s draft pick Orakpo, London Fletcher with his defensive leadership and vet D-back DeAngelo Hall, Washington should make a lot of noise in the NFC East. I say playoffs and further.

McNabb should be thankful. Eagles Coach Andy Reid should look himself in the mirror and kindly ask himself: “HOW DUMB COULD I BE, TRADING MY QB WITHIN THE DAMN DIVISION”? This is worse than Al Davis trading Marcus Allen to the hated Kansas City Chiefs! Allen still became a Hall of Famer, and The Raiders have not won a Super Bowl since being in L.A.!

Will McNabb win a ring? As a fan, I hope so. As an Analyst, I think so, especially if owner Dan Snyder stays out of the way. Don’t repeat what Jerry Jones did to Jimmy Johnson at the end of back-to-back Cowboy titles!

Winning titles in any team sport starts with fantastic evaluation by the organization and front office. No exceptions to the rules. God Bless, this is my story and I’m sticking to it! Catch y’all back in The States on The Rock the Bells Tour!