Donovan McNabb the Latest to Criticize Jay Cutler

If quarterback-turned-analyst Donovan McNabb wants to make it off the field, he’s got to stop taking the lazy path and do some homework before making a fool out of himself.  McNabb chatted up Jarrett, Harry and Spike on The Game just before the holiday weekend and didn’t hesitate to talk about Jay Cutler and his new contract:

"“I think Jay might be the luckiest dude in Chicago, to be honest with you, with the contract that he received for what we haven’t seen thus far,” McNabb said. “Don’t get me wrong, I think Jay’s got a strong arm, I think the sky’s the limit for him. But for what we’ve seen in Chicago, when you didn’t finish the NFC Championship — which it was due to injury. But even with that, you haven’t been able to get past that hump you needed. One game to get into the playoffs, you couldn’t get it done. Caleb Hanie comes in to play, Josh McCown comes in to play, and then contract comes up and you get paid like a top-three, top-four quarterback? I mean, are you serious? For what we’ve seen? If he doesn’t do it this year, it’s going to end up being a mistake.”"

McNabb sounds either bitter or out of town stupid when making those kinds of comments.  First, haven’t we all put the “didn’t finish the NFC Championship” behind us?  Even McNabb caught himself and said it was due to injury.  So if it was due to injury, why bring it up?

Next, he talks about Caleb Hanie coming in to play.  Play in the NFC Championship game, yes.  But did he win the game?  Um, no.  Then, the next season, when Cutler went out with injury and needed to win just ONE game in the easiest stretch of the season but went 0-4 and looked awful in the process.

Cutler’s average per year contract of $18 million has him ranked as the 7th ranked in pay, not top 3 or top 4 as McNabb stated.  How hard is it to look that up?  It took me about 5 seconds to find that nugget.

Now let’s consider McNabb the player.  Yes, he had a good measure of success in Andy Reid‘s quarterback friendly West Coast offense.  He was named to 6 Pro Bowls and went to one Super Bowl, which some, including former teammate Terrell Owens, said he choked away.  But McNabb’s 85.6 career passer rating looks awfully close to Cutler’s 84.6 passer rating.  Cutler’s 61% completion percentage actually comes in a tick higher than McNabb’s 59.4 completion percentage.  McNabb had a better TD to INT ratio, but that’s the product of better offensive talent around him in a better system.  In just one season under Marc Trestman, Cutler’s 2013 stats rank comparably with McNabb’s numbers.

For all the success that McNabb had, he never had the kind of payday that Cutler had.  But these are different times, this is the era of the quarterback and the contracts reflect that.  McNabb’s criticism smacks of sour grapes and bitterness.

Donovan, go eat a can of the lifetime supply of Chunky soup that you got, do your homework and get your facts straight before you go and unjustly criticize Cutler and take the easy narrative.