When I first heard of the absurd news that Redskins coach Mike Shanahan was benching Donovan McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman at quarterback, I wrote sarcastically on twitter that McNabb was the one who missed two field goals and dropped an extra point last weekend (check us out on twitter!). Even if the Redskins had beaten the Buccaneers last week, it really didn’t matter — Washington is out of the playoffs and their season is essentially over, so Shanahan wants to evaluate Grossman and backup John Beck. He knows McNabb isn’t his answer at quarterback so he’s moving on.
That’s fair, but the realization has to be made that McNabb still gives the team its best chance of winning by a large margin, and changing to a less mobile quarterback with Washington’s bad offensive line and lack of playmaking receivers is not a smart move. I know that, you know that, the Redskins players know that, and so do the Dallas guys! Check out what Dallas defensive end Jason Hatcher had to say about the news.
“Everybody started smiling. We were pretty happy about the news. We’ll take Rex over McNabb any day,” he said. “[McNabb’s] hard to contain. He’s hard to bring down and he can make plays with his legs and his arm. Not taking anything away from Rex Grossman, I think he’s a good quarterback also.”
With all the smiles in the locker room, it sure doesn’t sound like they think Rex Grossman’s a good quarterback also. Just like Lord Archer’s books aren’t bad either. We all know the Redskins are conceding the season with their change at quarterback and that’s fair, but realize you’re disappointing a lot of people in your own locker room with the move and that you won’t be as competitive. If you’re opponents are happy about your decisions, you know they’re not good ones.
