Oct 9, 2006 (AP) In the frenzy over the guy with the initials, the other guy got lost. The other guy, of course, is Donovan McNabb. And on the day the nation was watching everything that happened to Terrell Owens in Philadelphia, all McNabb did was throw for 354 yards, including touchdown passes of 87 and 40 yards, leading the Eagles to a 38-24 win over T.
O. and Dallas. So please, give McNabb credit for being one of the NFL's best quarterbacks, and let T.
O. go his own me-first way. Let him go back to Drew Bledsoe, who threw three interceptions in Sunday's showcase.
One was an underthrown ball to Owens, who seemed to have beaten Lito Sheppard for a sure touchdown; another was returned 102 yards by Sheppard with 31 seconds left just as it appeared Dallas would tie the game. Yes, McNabb is doing just fine with Hank Baskett and Reggie Brown instead of T.O.
Owens isn't doing as well without McNabb. The immobile Bledsoe is very good when protected, but when he's not, he'll cost his team, one reason New England and Buffalo decided they'd be just as well off without him. "People think we have no receivers," McNabb said after Sunday's game.
"They just say that because they've never heard of them because they don't have a high profile." Until the very high-profile Owens started yapping at him last year, McNabb was a perennial MVP contender. And his subpar 2005 season was due largely to playing with a painful sports hernia for which he eventually underwent surgery.
In 2004, he had 31 touchdowns and just eight interceptions to lead Philadelphia to the Super Bowl. That was with T.O.
at least for part of the season until Owens got hurt. McNabb's performance this season is even better: 11 TDs to one interception. And that's with Brown, Baskett and Greg Lewis as his primary receivers; Donte' Stallworth, obtained from New Orleans to be the deep threat, has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury.
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