Five and a half years later, Terrell Owens is still using Super Bowl XXXIX as a cudgel to bash Donovan McNabb.
On Tuesday’s episode of The T.Ocho Show, Owens and teammate Chad Ochocinco discussed Redskins coach Mike Shanahan’s comment that he benched McNabb late in Sunday’s loss to the Lions in part because McNabb lacked the necessary “cardiovascular endurance” to get the job done.
Owens pounced on that.
“Well, I don’t really want to start anything, but I did play in the Super Bowl and there were rumors where he couldn’t get our two-minute offense going at the end of the game,” Owens said. “I’m just saying.”
For those who have forgotten, Owens played a brilliant game in Super Bowl XXXIX, catching nine passes for 122 yards in his return from an ankle injury that had caused him to miss the playoffs. McNabb, however, ran a painfully slow two-minute offense with the Eagles trailing in the fourth quarter, and Philadelphia came up short, losing 24-21. When Owens became unhappy with his contract the following offseason, he suggested that he should be paid more than McNabb because, “I’m not the one who got tired in the Super Bowl.”
Now Owens says it’s reasonable for Shanahan to distrust McNabb’s abilities in the two-minute offense.
“He’s the head coach, so it has to make sense,” Owens said. “Well, this is a situation where Mike Shanahan, he sees these two quarterbacks on an everyday basis. . . . So he’s had a chance to observe.”
Ochocinco, however, wasn’t buying it.
“If anyone else out there feels that Rex Grossman gives the Washington Redskins a better chance than Donovan McNabb to win a game with two minutes left on the clock,” Ochocinco said, “they need to slap they selves.”