Quick question for everyone (brought up earlier in a FanPost by jesseb). After Donovan McNabb was benched for Rex Grossman at the end of the Redskins/Lions game for what was apparently a hamstring injury that kept him out of practice last week and they didn't know if he could run the two minute drill because of it, there is some talk about Donovan McNabb either being released during the season, especially if Sexy Rexy unleashes some dragons and plays well if McNabb really is benched during another game, and I think it is very likely that McNabb won't resign with Washington and he will be a Free Agent at the end of the year.
Now, most of you probably know that I was against bringing in McNabb, or Bulger, or any of these other guys during the offseason because I thought that Matt Leinart would get at least until the bye week to see if he could be the guy following the retirement of Kurt Warner. But I was wrong, and after an ugly spat with the coach Leinart was released, and Coach Whiz decided to go with Derek Anderson (inconsistent at best), Max Hall (A rookie who is struggling, but has some potential), and John Skelton (Ton of potential, but too raw to even think about letting him get extended playing time this year. His struggles in the final two preseason games against 4th stringers are examples of this) and the Cardinals offense has basically fallen off a cliff. And right now, I'm at the point where I think McNabb, Bulger, Vick, Orton (there was talk about him being traded during the offseason I think), any of these guys who were being discussed as possible people who could go to another team via Trades of Free Agency before the year began would be an improvement right now. I flip flopped, and I don't care, we are all frustrated right now and we want to see SOMETHING that can improve the offense.
Now, last week we saw that Derek Anderson can provide some spark for this offense when he was connecting on some deep throws, but the guy still has his issues where he can miss wide open receivers on short routes, rifle passes that need touch on them, or he can throw back breaking Interceptions. But unless Anderson can improve throughout the year, someone else will have to come in after the year is over.
Lets take a look at some stats for McNabb, and both of the Cardinals Quarterbacks throughout this season so far. The extra numbers in some of the stats for the Cardinals are their ranking in the NFL for that stat.
| Name | Attempts | Completions | Completion % | Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Yards Per Attempt | QB Rating | Longest Pass |
| Max Hall/Derek Anderson | 230 | 121 | 52.6 (31st) | 1,173 (30th) | 5 (32nd) | 12 (2nd) | 5.8 (30th) | 55.7 (31st) | 37 (31st) |
| Donovan McNabb | 277 | 159 | 57.4 | 1,971 | 7 | 8 | 7.1 | 76.0 | 62 |
Looking at McNabb, he isn't having a great year in Washington (with offensive weapons that I don't think are as good as the ones he had with the Eagles, or what he would have here), but he would be a vast improvement over what we have right now. And if Whisenhunt wants to throw the ball downfield, McNabb can still do that, he has at least 5 passes that have gone for more than 50 yards (looking at the ESPN page I got these numbers from), and he is 6th in the NFL in passing yards. He may be in the latter stages of his career, but he is still a good Quarterback and if you have some good weapons for him to throw too he can be very productive. And we have heard that McNabb is interesting in playing with the Cardinals before he retires, mainly because he lives here I would assume, and I have also heard that he gets along with Larry Fitzgerald pretty well.
So, what does the rest of RotB think? If McNabb is released by the Redskins either during the season, or after it ends, would you be in favor of picking up McNabb? Right now, I'm all for it even though I wasn't during the offseason.