Rex Grossman's Three Game Audition

Yea ... I watched for about 1:30 till mcscabb threw that pick on the slant and killed out momentum for the rest of the game...... on the first drive

Hey guys. I'm new around here, but I was the one who originally cut the Indy game footage of McNabb that Dirtbag posted. I just got done cutting the Tampa Bay game.

YouTube - ‪Donovan McNabb vs. Tampa Bay Bucs 1st Half‬‏
YouTube - ‪Donovan McNabb vs. Tampa Bay Bucs 2nd Half‬‏

I think the two games are an interesting sample of Donovan's tenure; overall, he finished with good statistical games, but whenever he was called on to close out games, he couldn't get it done.

The Tampa Bay game is also interesting just because of how little McNabb actually threw the ball compared to other weeks. Kyle called A LOT of runs in the first half, but whenever Donovan had to convert a third down, he seemed to have trouble; at 1:11, the offensive line did a pretty good job picking up the blitz, but McNabb rushes a throw to a wide open Chris Cooley that would've been for a first down.

Then they run that stupid shovel pass that McNabb loved in Philly the next time they're in the red zone.

I cut out the part at the end of the second where there some bizarre clock management issues with McNabb that caused a delay of game penalty and made them burn all their timeouts after K-Wil set them up on the goal line again.

In the second half the defense wasn't playing as well and the Bucs had shut down the run, so Kyle was throwing it more to try and get some points on the board and get some seperation. There were three passes in the second half that would've been picked off had it not been for the crappy weather conditions, and a lot of balls that were thrown into the ground or thrown low that were hard to catch.

Everyone looked at the last drive of that game and said "cleary he has it, what are the Shanahan's doing", but even that drive was speedy. And this with McNabb having some fairly clean pockets most of the day. He was only sacked twice in that game.

good stuff welcome NLC!

Boy after watching some of those videos....our offense needs some help...our line sucks bad and Grossman is adequate at best....he fumbles and doesn't avoid enough sacks....sure he can throw screens and short passes, but we need someone that can threaten deep...and Beck sure can't do that from what I've heard. We are in trouble folks....unless we shore up our line big time and hope for TD drives consisting of 6/7 first downs each...man we need a line....we better get a new center and a couple serious guards and perhaps a Tackle in free agency....if it ever occurs....watching this crap just pisses me off all over again.

ya know...i hate to say it...but McNabb aint that bad....its just obvious he needs playmakers at the WR spot and a decent line...just like most average QBs....he obviously has a strong arm, good pocket awareness and abilty to extend a play....3 elements that beck and grossman lack....put him on a team with a couple playmaker WR and an average line and he'd do quite well....also keep in mind that everyone always says it takes a couple years to get a system down and a good half year to get in synch with your WR's....who were constantly changing....and you come to the conclusion that the year to determine whether the McNabb trade was a success....was year 2....too bad Shanny bailed early and pissed off McNabb....I still think it could have worked...especially now that we have a new talented rookie WR and hopefully a line that may get some help through FA...not to mention cohesiveness and everyone knowing who to block and where to go.

Going to Grossman or Beck at this point is pure desperation, or just plain stupid...we need serious talent upgrade along the line.

As much respect I lost for Shanny on how he dealt with Haynesworth and McNabb, etc....I would gain most of it back if he were to somehow humble himself to convince McNabb to give it one more year. The worst case scenario would be that he sucks and we get nothing for him...no loss.
It's not like we'd be hindering the progress of a young prospect, unless you seriously believe Beck is a future starter...which to me seems like no better than a 20% likelihood at this point...and any potential free agent is no better than McNabb or a potential head case.

This is a no brainer....get McNabb to stay one more year...bury the damn hatchet already....ditch the real loser....Haynesworth. Get McNabb some talent to protect him. Good job on the WRs and RBs!

Watching some of this stuff, I don't think it's fair to put all the problems on the offensive line. Was it great? Heelllll no. But there were times when it was decent.

Like the Tampa Bay game. Watching it, I saw a lot of clean pockets where McNabb had time to throw. Now maybe no one was open down the field or something, but it seems a few of the hits sack just came from McNabb not getting the ball out of his hands quickly. A lot of times I felt like some of the sacks and hits could be avoided by simply chucking the ball away and living to play another down.

Sometimes it's not so much the o-line being awful as much as it's 1.) coverage sacks (no one open down field, taking too long to come back to the check down) or 2.) McNabb forcing the issue and trying to make plays when he didn't have to.

For all Rex's...numerous, NUMEROUS flaws, he was getting the ball out quicker. In the Giants game, he fumbled a couple times when the pocket broke down, sure. But still seemed a little quicker to get the ball out than McNabb. He had a lot of passes batted down, but he was still quicker making decisions. When he didn't have what he wanted, he threw the ball away or out of bounds.

McNabb tried to do too much at times. Remember the Bears game, where he's about to get sacked, and instead of just taking it and living to see another down, he tried to throw a pass that ends up getting batted and picked off.

Maybe that's not the best example of the o-line doing well, but making quick decisions with the football can make an average offensive line seem better than it is. (See: Aaron Rodgers and the Packers).

As for John Beck, I think he has enough arm to throw it deep when he needs to. Matt Schaub doesn't have the world's biggest arm and he executes pretty much the same offense with a great deal of success. He threw some deep passes in preseason that looked impressive...more impressive if they were completed, but he was overthrowing the coverage with good velocity at time. (Can ya blame a guy for not completing a pass when Brandon Banks is being covered by Antonio Cromartie?)

McNabb isn't coming back. That ship has sailed.