Donovan McNabb was apparently confused at the end of Philadelphia’s tie with Cincinnati on Sunday, uncertain that that game was actually over.
During the postgame press conference he created somewhat of a shockwave by admitting he was not aware that games could end in ties.
That, along with his three interceptions, earned McNabb a D- ranking, for what it’s worth, from Ross Tucker at CNNSI.com. Granted, the Eagles’ tie with Cincinnati was ugly – and McNabb’s performance was pretty bad as well. Despite commentators saying as time was running out that the tie wouldn’t hurt them because it was a non-conference game, it does, in fact, hurt the Eagles because they play in the NFC East, where their 5-4-1 record leaves them firmly entrenched in last place. If the Eagles miss the playoffs, at the end of the season they’ll look back at this game as one reason why.
But I think it’s a little disingenuous criticizing McNabb too harshly for not realizing a game could end in a tie. Eagles Coach Andy Reid took the blame Monday for that lack of knowledge should fall on him. Who cares? Previous to Sunday, the only tie that has occurred since McNabb has been in the NFL occurred in November 2002 when Pittsburgh and Atlanta deadlocked at 34.
Previous to that game, the last ties were in 1997 – the Eagles were involved in one of those, a 10-10 thriller with Baltimore during which Bobby Hoying was the Philadelphia quarterback and Ray Rhodes was the coach.
Sure, Reid could have mentioned the tie factor to McNabb – probably should have somewhere along the line. But they happen so infrequently that it’s easy to see why they hadn’t come up. Even overtime games aren’t that common and when they do happen, someone almost always wins.
So, if you want to be critical of McNabb for his poor game management Sunday, by all means, go right ahead. If you want to bludgeon the Eagles for not coming to play against a down-and-out Bengals team, rip away. But if the best you can do is rip on McNabb because he might have thought there would be another overtime you’re wasting your time. It was such a rare occurrence that it’s something he hadn’t seen before and probably won’t encounter again.
EDIT: Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com on his weekly KFAN-AM radio interview this morning said McNabb admitting to not knowing about ties will hurt his career long-term. “This will hurt his legacy more than anything he could have ever done,” Florio said.
Huh?!?!? Am I wrong on this? Someone tell me why anyone should care about this? It’s something that happens every half-dozen years in the NFL. It hurts nothing – if I am wrong, school me, please.
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McNabb is making $9,635,000 this year. This is his job, his career. I wouldn’t excuse him not know the drop kick. To not know the basic mechanics of overtime is asinine.
On the long, long, long…long list of things that many players of today’s era may not know about the game, this would rank low on the list in terms of importance to me.
The only thing that would be at issue in my opinion would be whether or not his effort level would have been different if he knew–which I’ve heard may have been the case.
But that’s the coach’s fault, if he didn’t tell McNabb to step up the tempo a bit in the last couple minutes.
What is higher on your list? That a two-point conversion is possible? Oh wait… that was a coach not a player.
The rules for determining when the game ends seems like pretty basic stuff to me. That the regular season has a single sudden-death overtime quarter hardly seems like arcane trivia for someone whose only job is to play football. The rule hasn’t changed in fifty years.
Well, see, you’re incorrect there–the rule has changed in less than fifty years. Prior to 1974, there was no overtime–games just ended in ties.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_year_did_overtime_begin_in_NFL_games
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2004-08-29-10-changes-nfl-ot_x.htm
Back to your original question, though–I would prefer they know things like “It’s not ok to hit the quarterback three steps after he threw the ball” or “It might not be a good idea to fly hookers up for a boat party” or things like that, rather than have them know about overtime rules. And things that could impact any play of a game, rather than one game every six years.
Now, would I prefer they know the tie information as well? Sure. But if there’s only so much they can remember, what with all the other important information they carry around in their heads (what route to run when they’re showing blitz, what zone to cover, which guy is the one that gives me the little pills that make the pain go away), overtime rules would be something that I’d be willing as a coach/agent/owner/fan to remind them of each time overtime got to the point where it was looking like a tie.
You seem to imply that the average NFL player isn’t smart enough to remember the rules of the game. How dare you!
And flying up hookers for a boat party wouldn’t impact the play of the game if the league wasn’t so prudish. When it’s only the team, strippers from Atlanta, and the entire staff of a family-owned business present I don’t see why a little sexual harassment isn’t permissible.
I stand corrected. So the overtime rule is a mere 34 years old. Still two years older than McNabb.
I don’t know lots of stuff that has been around for two years longer than me.
There’s a joke about your wife here, isn’t there?