Donovan McNabb was not successful playing for Mike Shanahan in Washington, and he said last week that he doesn’t think Robert Griffin III, the quarterback the Redskins will likely choose second overall in the NFL draft, will succeed in that offense either. Shanahan doesn’t want to get into a war of words with McNabb, but suffice to say he disagrees.
Asked by Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post what he thinks about McNabb’s statement, Shanahan said he doesn’t need to defend his record.
“I’d like to let the statistics speak for themselves. I think I can take the high road,” Shanahan said.
McNabb did come armed with statistics, however, when he appeared on ESPN First Take and questioned the offense run by Shanahan and his son, Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. McNabb had ESPN’s graphics department put up a chart showing how quarterbacks have fared in Shanahan’s offense, and McNabb seems to think that any quarterback playing for Shanahan in Washington is going to have the lowly stats that Rex Grossman, John Beck and McNabb himself have had (although McNabb didn’t include his own stats in his argument).
The reality, however, is that Griffin is a far more talented quarterback than Grossman and Beck. And Griffin has far more upside than the 33-year-old McNabb that Andy Reid suckered Shanahan into trading for.
Shanahan doesn’t have to say anything to respond to McNabb because Shanahan knows he’s ultimately going to be judged not by how McNabb played for the Redskins but by how Griffin plays for the Redskins. If Griffin becomes the franchise savior the Redskins have clamored for, McNabb’s season in Washington will be nothing but a blip on Shanahan’s record.