The Best of Times

I, like the rest of you I'm sure, am still basking in the glow of the magnificent win against the Cowboys. However, as I think back on Sunday's game, I can't help but realize that we are living an NFL dream. We have a stud quarterback in his absolute prime. How many times in a franchise's history can you say that? It's kind of like Haley's comet. Surely, moments like these don't come along very often. It seems like we are about to witness moments of glory on par with those seen by Denver fans with Elway, Miami fans with Marino, San Francisco fans with Young, and Green Bay fans with Favre.

Nonetheless, as I've said on this site previously, I still think we take McNabb for granted in this city. As phenomenal as he's playing, we always seem to want more. We want him to run more, throw with more touch, not take as many sacks, and dammit...stop throwing the ball into the ground 4 times a game.

I am guilty of some this as well, but we have to accept that we are being way too greedy. According to Jaws, McNabb has had the best first five games of a season that a quarterback has ever played. Check out these excerpts an article by everyone's favorite Philadelphia Mouthpiece, Dave Spadaro:

Donovan McNabb is scorching hot, so hot that, according to ESPN's Ron Jaworski, his five-game start to the season is the best in history.
In McNabb's history, right?

"No," says Jaworski, "the best ever. No quarterback has ever had 1,500 yards, 10-plus touchdowns and one interception or less in the first five games of a season."

We're seeing a quarterback in total command on the field. The game is slow for McNabb, who has passed for 1,602 yards and 11 touchdowns in five games. He has thrown just one interception and has, tossed only a single interception (against Houston in the first quarter) this year. McNabb has not, knock on wood, thrown an interception in a span of 171 attempts.

And he isn't throwing dink-and-dunk passes, either. McNabb averages an NFL-best 9.10 yards per pass attempt. That means he's hurrying the ball down the field for an offense that has been more explosive than any other in the NFL this season.

Says Jaworski: "He is doing everything right -- reading coverages, working the pocket, making the right decisions. It happens with the elite quarterbacks. He has always had the talent, but now he has the head and the experience to match that talent.

"Look, Donovan has been in the same scheme for eight years. He has had the same head coach for eight years. The talent around him has improved every year. He is in a really good situation and you see how he is responding."

I really hope we start appreciating this guy more. Lest we forget the past performances of the immortal former Eagles' QB's such as Bobby Hoying, Ty Detmer, Rodney Peete, Jeff Kemp, Brad Goebel and Pat Ryan. What McNabb did Sunday by vanquishing a hated foe in the Cowboys and his nemesis T.O. should be one of the defining moments of his career, right up there with 4th and 26 and leading the Birds to their first Superbowl in 24 years. For once, I'll agree with Spads...Let's enjoy this while it lasts. Clearly, D Mac is the best Eagles Quarterback of my lifetime and it's not even close.