Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Grossman over McNabb? You must be joking

I've been critical of Donovan McNabb through his seven games with the Redskins, particularly the last few weeks. But never did the thought of benching him cross my mind. But according to Redskins Insider's Jason Reid, apparently some fans believe it's time to give Rex Grossman a shot:
In e-mail we've received recently, many Insider readers have suggested that the Washington Redskins should bench Donovan McNabb and start backup quarterback Rex Grossman.

The thinking, if I read it correctly, is that Grossman has a better grasp of Coach Mike Shanahan's offense because he worked under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan with the Houston Texans. Since he understands the offense better, readers have explained, he undoubtedly would be more productive than McNabb, who is struggling to learn the offense and is struggling on the field.
Seriously, that's it? Because he's more familiar with the offense, Grossman should start over McNabb? That seems rather simplistic, especially when looking at this:

McNabb (career): 86.0 QBRat, 58.9 Comp%, 222 TD, 107 INT
Grossman (career): 69.6 QBRat, 54.0 Comp%, 33 TD, 36 INT

Do fans really want to start someone who has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in his career just because he's more familiar with the team's offense? Now, I understand that there are some crazy fans with irrational ideas -- mainly the types of fans who routinely call into sports talk radio shows and ramble on and on about random things -- but that type of thinking is just ridiculous.

Also, for as below average as McNabb has been this season (76.0 QBRat, 57.5 Comp%, 6 TD, 7 INT), those numbers are still better than Grossman's best season (2006-2007: 73.9 QBRat, 54.6 Comp%, 23 TD, 20 INT). McNabb needs to start ramping up the touchdown production a little, but there's still time for that to happen. By the way, Grossman's experience in this offense in actual game situations is one game last season. In that game, when he replaced an injured Matt Schaub, Grossman threw nine passes, completing three of them, and also had an interception. He also fumbled once, but it was recovered.

If Grossman had spent several years learning this offense and was some kind of master of this scheme, then maybe, just maybe, it would be worth considering. But he's only been learning this offense since the Texans signed him in 2009, so it's not like he has some enormous advantage, or even one that comes close to the talent differential between him and McNabb.

Grossman seems like a decent backup. It should stay that way.

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