Expect McNabb to have bounce-back season with Vikings

Quote :: MANKATO, Minn. -- Donovan McNabb
insists he has nothing to prove this season, but I don't believe
him. Neither does his head coach. I mean, after what he just went
through why wouldn't he have something to demonstrate?
He does. And he will. Of both, I am certain.
First of all, he's a better quarterback -- a much better
quarterback -- than he showed in 2010. Let's face it, McNabb and
the Washington Redskins
weren't a good fit, with McNabb finishing the season on the bench
after throwing more interceptions than touchdowns for the first
time in his career.
Critics contend that was the
beginning of the end for McNabb, but don't listen to them. McNabb
will resurrect himself in Minnesota for all the right reasons, and here's why: Because now, more than ever, he has something to prove.
He also has more here than he did in Washington. The running game
is better. The offensive line is solid. The defense is better. And
the head coach and offensive coordinator understand and
appreciate him. More than that, they believe in the guy, firm in their convictions that they can and will win with him.
"I promise you," head coach Leslie Frazier said, "that every
defensive coordinator in our division is saying, 'Dang, we've got
to defend the Vikings' passing game, too. It's not just Adrian
Peterson.'
"[Having McNabb] changes the landscape
for the Minnesota Vikings and the rest of our division. There's a
certain amount of respect that we might not have gotten if Donovan
were not our starting quarterback."
Only one
problem: The Vikings just spent their first draft pick on another
quarterback, Christian Ponder, and they didn't make him the 12th
overall choice to have him sit forever. At some point, he's the team's
starter. The only question is: when?
But that's
where McNabb comes in. His situation today is not all that
dissimilar from what he experienced in 2007 when Philadelphia exercised
its first draft choice -- a second-rounder -- on quarterback Kevin
Kolb. The idea then was that sooner or later Kolb would push
McNabb out of a job, and it turned out to be later -- with Kolb
taking over the Eagles in 2010 after McNabb was dealt to
Washington.
Only it's hard to imagine Minnesota
waiting long on a top-15 draft pick. Besides, McNabb isn't the
incumbent. The Vikings acquired him last week. Plus, the Vikings
aren't a winning team. Their 6-10 record last season had them tied
for last in the NFC North.
Ponder is the future,
and McNabb is ... well, we'll see. We know what he was, and we
know what he can be. We just don't know what he will be.
Only I think we do. The quarterback who responded to the challenge
of Kolb in 2007 will be the quarterback you see this autumn.
Donovan McNabb is coming off a humiliating season, and, while
he'll tell you he's here to assist Ponder with the nuances of the
pro game he's also here to demonstrate what he can do in the right
environment.
"I don't look at myself as a security
blanket," he said. "I look at myself as a guy they want to help
win this thing in the next three or four years."

He's talking, of course, about a Super Bowl, but the Vikings' concern
isn't a Super Bowl; it's climbing back to the playoffs. That can
be difficult when you live in the same division as the Packers and
the same conference as Philadelphia, Atlanta and New Orleans.
That's why McNabb's addition is so intriguing. Do the Vikings use
him as, say, the Giants did Kurt Warner when he was with New York
in 2004 -- starting nine games until he was pulled in favor of
then-rookie Eli Manning? Remember, the Giants were 5-4 when Warner
sat down. Or do they use him as Philadelphia did after Kolb
arrived, with McNabb holding the spot for years?

My guess is that it's somewhere in between, with McNabb -- not Ponder
-- the determining factor. The better he plays, the longer he
stays.
"The only thing I try to do with Donovan is
just be honest," Frazier said. "I tell him that we need him for
this time, and it's up to him to see how long it goes.
"We want to see him have success. It's not a thing where we're
hoping that after this season or some point in this season he
fails, and now we're ready to go with Christian. We want to see
him be successful this entire season because that means our team
is successful.
"Christian's time will come. We're
not going into this saying, 'OK, Christian's going to be ready
Week 6 or Week 8.' We're expecting success from Donovan."
So am I, which takes me back to our original premise. I believe
McNabb succeeds because I believe Donovan McNabb is driven to
prove he is not the quarterback who fizzled last season. I
believed that in 2008, too, after he was benched in the second
half of a game with Baltimore, and McNabb not only responded; he
took the Eagles to their fifth conference championship game in
eight years.
I know, McNabb is not young. He turns
35 in November. He's coming off his worst year as a starter, too.
And he not only joins a bottom feeder desperate for help, he signs
up after Washington surrendered him for next to nothing. So
expectations are low, which, frankly, is just how you'd want it if
you were in his position.
"It's no different than
Kurt Warner's situation [in Arizona]," McNabb said. "When he went
to New York, they had a young guy [Manning]. Washington didn't
really have a young guy, but the whole thing about it is it just
didn't work out. So you move on, build your niche again, get
comfortable and good things happen."
When McNabb
tells you that "I love playing this game, and I love playing this
game when I can be myself," he's also telling you that he can be --
no, should be -- the quarterback he could not be in Washington because
Frazier knows how to handle him.
Not only was
he on Philadelphia's staff when McNabb starred with the Eagles,
he quizzed Eagles' coach Andy Reid before signing off on the trade
with Washington. It was Reid who drafted McNabb and stood by him
when both were media targets, and it was Reid who reluctantly traded
away McNabb when he knew his run in Philadelphia was over.
Reid and McNabb remain friends, and Reid still believes his former
quarterback can help someone. Minnesota just became that someone.

"I talked to Andy in depth about Donovan and his
experiences with him," Frazier said. "I wanted to know his
opinion, even though I had some ideas from my time with him, and
Andy gave him a strong endorsement.
"He was very
positive about Donovan. He still feels Donovan can play, and that
had a lot to do with some of my thoughts. It really encouraged me
to hear some of the things he had to say about Donovan." It should,
which is one reason I believe he succeeds in Minnesota. But there's
another, and I'll hammer it one more time. Donovan McNabb is on a
mission ... even if he tells you he's not ... and that mission is to
restore his reputation as one of the game's most stable and
successful quarterbacks.
"When you get in my
situation," said McNabb, "where I've been to NFC Championship
Games, Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl and where I've passed for almost
4,000 yards ... when you've had a resume like that and people know
your background the thing you're shooting for and play hard to give
your all for is that Super Bowl. You want to win that Super Bowl.
"Not to say if you don't win it it's not been a great career. But I
want to win the Super Bowl, and I want to win it now. For me to
say I have something to prove ... I don't see it."
I do. Which is why McNabb's addition just added victories to Minnesota.
The Vikings' quarterbacks stunk last season, throwing nearly twice
as many interceptions (26) as touchdown passes (14), yet
Minnesota still won six games. So what happens if McNabb looks
more like the Donovan McNabb of 2009 than the Donovan McNabb of
2010? Pay attention. Donovan McNabb has something to prove, and
he's about to do it.

CBS Sports

WAR VIKES!!! War!

good luck you will need it with mcnabb and this is coming from a skins fan!!!!

2 words. Tom. Brady.

1 word: Webb

Spud Webb?

Vikes lol. The place where old QB's go to die.

Next stop- Seattle

Webb is our 3rd stringer and he fuckin kills it IMO
Ponder is awesome too, but he's a rook... either way we need to think about McNabb not being the #1 guy... because he sure as shit didn't perform like one against SD

well i cant say to much when we have grossmen for our QB. why oh why did we ever get rid of cambell is beyond me.

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