Wednesday, October 26, 2005

What's The Problem?

Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid keep denying that McNabb's injuries are affecting his passing accuracy and his ability to run.

McNabb today at the NovaCare Complex on if the sports hernia, etc. affect his accuracy: "At times you're not able to get up under some throws, so you've got to use your upper body a little bit. It works sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't. But it hasn't affected it as far as pulling me away from the majority of things that I do."

Reid had a similar response to a similar question: "I don't think it has. As a matter of fact, he feels better this week than he has in the past. I don't think that's a factor."

McNabb's completion percentage is 62.2 through six games, but his ability to hit receivers deep has become a glaring problem.

OK, but there's got to be a tangible reason why McNabb has ran for only eight yards this season. His rushing numbers have declined in each of the last three seasons (460, 355 and 220), but not as dramatically as this season.

McNabb's theory: "You're just not running as fast as you used to. And you try to make plays just like you normally do. They're having better pursuit I guess."

He continued: "Then you're not a running quarterback anymore I guess. I don't know. You're just trying to look downfield and focus on your receivers and being able to execute in that way. If nothing's there then you decide to run. There were a lot of times where I wasn't able to run. I tried to move and I'd get caught by a defensive tackle or defensive end."

Whatever the reason, McNabb just isn't the multiple threat this season as he used to be.