Quote:
Originally Posted by Paintrain
I think McNabb is 100% right in what he says. Black QB have to be great, not good to keep a job in the NFL.. History in the past 10 years reinforces that. For example, how many black backups are out there? Proven losers or relative no names like Doug Johnson, Kerry Collins, Sage Rosenfels, Trent Edwards, etc. and washed up QB like Vinny Testaverde & Brad Johnson are collecting checks.. Doug Flutie got a 20 year career out of being a novelty act.
It took Byron Leftwich, a career 59% passer with a nearly 2-1 career TD/INT ratio nearly a month to get a contract after he was released. Aaron Brooks, nowhere near a great QB, really not even good but more accomplished than any of the aforementioned white QB (except Brad Johnson) is still out of the NFL. History is littered with good/decent black QB who never got another shot or didn't get the opportunity to hang on as a backup for 10+ years.. For every Anthony Wright, there are 3 Shaun Kings.
There are more black starting QB than there were years ago no doubt, but is Aaron Brooks any worse than 50% of the backups in the league today? That’s where McNabb’s point is being missed by the masses.. Black QB don’t get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to teams taking a chance on them, even as a backup… If Dennis Green took a chance on Randall Cunningham who was out of the league because nobody would bring him into even a training camp, he went on to win 15 games and be within a missed FG of going to the Super Bowl.. Those are the examples McNabb is talking about. JP Losman is in his 4th year of accomplishing nothing in Buffalo and yet there is minmal question or outcry for his job. Steve McNair was a MVP runner up, perennial pro bow QB, Super Bowl QB, had a bad year and fans & media were calling for Billy Volek..
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That's a point that Doug Williams brought up many years ago. About how the perception was that a Black QB had to be good enough to start, and if not he wasn't worth keeping around. Because you can't really teach athleticism, and that's really all the Black QB could offer. They didn't, the perception was, have the mental acuity to be a backup and learn how to be an NFL QB despite less than stellar athletic abilities. Which is, of course, ridiculous and the past two decades I think have shown that this "problem" is going away.
Yes McNabb is criticized (and praised). But any sensible criticism has nothing to do with his race. It's about his injury history, his diminishing skills (as a result of all these injuries), the team's inability to give him the best tools to succeed, and the fact that he's stuck playing amidst a cesspool of Eagles fans.
Now if Eagles fans are racist, that's a damn shame. But don't project that sentiment around the league.