CanesSkins26 wrote:RayNAustin wrote:CanesSkins26 wrote:frankcal20 wrote:If course you can debate my points but just the compensation alone required to get him will keep us out of the running. As for PM changing his system, I don't see it happening.
Changing offenses is linked to learning a new language. I'm a fairly smart guy (well, one step above stupid) but you put me in Russia and I'm screwed. It's going to take me some time to figure things out. Even if I start learning the language now, I won't be able to hold my own for a while. That's the same for PM. He won't be ready to play in a new system until year 2 at best. I look at DMac as an example and he came to us healthy. Also, you can't say PM's skills have not diminished because we don't know. We also don't even know if he's physically able to play next year.
I'm not in favor of bringing in Manning (at all), but the system thing is overblown. McNabb failed because he didn't put in the time to learn the system, and that likely wouldn't be an issue with Manning. As an example, when Brees went from San Diego to New Orleans, in his first year with the Saints he had a qb rating of 92.6 and threw 26 tds and 11 ints.
I'd stay away from Manning because of his age and injury, not because of the money or the system issue.
McNabb failed here because he was expected to orchestrate a successful offense from day 1, with an offensive line that couldn't run or pass block, and a coach who's immaturity mixed with genetic arrogance caused him dismiss the need to develop a working relationship with his new QB, or even try to alter his approach to take advantage of McNabb's skill set, and football experience.
That's not to say McNabb is faultless, but there's more to the story than "McNabb was lazy".
And yes, even Manning would need time to digest a new offensive system even if he were inclined to such an effort. Going from having cart blanche in an offense he knows better than his coaches, to being instructed how to play Shanahan Football by Kyle would likely not be very appealing to Manning.
If McNabb had just failed in DC I would buy that, but he went to Minnesota and sucked just as bad as he did here. When Kyle Orton was put on waivers, three teams put in claims. Not a single NFL team put a waiver request in on McNabb when the Vikings released him.
This is like asking someone "why do you beat your wife" ... with the assumption that they actually do.
In case you didn't get my drift, I don't think McNabb's "failure" here was all on him, but could be attributed to a lot of things that aren't conducive to success. Ya know, stuff like a brand new coaching staff ... an entire offensive personnel group learning a new offense (not just the QB) ... an offensive line learning an entirely new blocking scheme that really struggled in both pass pro and run blocking, and what was apparently very early tension between McNabb and his coach who seemed more critical than he should have been, and more interested in establishing control rather than success. So overall, I think when you look back objectively, you really can't lay all of that in McNabb's lap.
As for the Vikings, he really didn't play that badly ... aside from the first game, after that, he made the most of what he had to work with. You probably aren't familiar with the details, but the Vikings had major half time leads in those first 3 games, 17-7, 17-0, 20-0, and the defense collapsed giving up 10 points, 14 points and 13 points in the 4th quarters to lose all of those games. McNabb doesn't play defense.
So, he went 1-5 (instead of 4-1) .... and was pulled in the 6th game when Chicago was blowing them out, replaced by Ponder. And Ponder played well and they still lost 8 of the final 10 games (1 win against the Redskins).
So the real question is why would you blame McNabb, when it was clear that the Vikings issues went far beyond blaming the QB? After all, the guy who replaced him didn't fair any better! And in hind sight, of the three Redskin QB's ... tell me which one had such better success? Last time I checked, the Redskins did worse this year than last year, with better talent on offense, and better defense.
The bottom line here is that although McNabb never was Tom Brady, he has been among the top tier QB's in the league for a dozen years .... 6 Pro Bowls, 5 NFC Championship appearances and 1 trip to the Super Bowl. And his last Pro Bowl was in 2009. So he didn't just forget how to play football in the off season and become a bum overnight. There is a lot more to that story.
I'd say McNabb was a victim of his own success in Philly ... first the Redskins expected him to single handedly carry the offense .... then the Vikings brought him in as a stop gap measure until Ponder was ready. After the 1-5 start, they decided to let their number 1 pick QB take over and gain some experience for the future, so I don't see his release in Minnesota as anything more than what it was ... a decision to play their first round draft pick to evaluate him and get him some stick time for next year.
It's very shallow surface analysis to simply say that McNabb failed in Washington and Minnesota as if there were no mitigating circimstances.