November 11, 2009

The Worst Cataldi Argument Ever

The hopefully-soon-to-be-former radio guy in his Metro column:

The Eagles are a talented group compromised by the shortcomings of their quarterback and doomed by the stubbornness of their coach. They will never win a championship with Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb on board.

The story never changes, nor will it in the foreseeable future. Donovan McNabb cannot win a game with a late drive, either because of the inaccuracy of his throws or the ineptitude of his leadership. He has managed to rescue from defeat in the fourth quarter exactly one game in the last four seasons. That’s one in 64, or 1.7 percent.

We already know Cataldi doesn't understand football, but now we know he also doesn't understand math. The "1 in 64" argument supposes that McNabb, in every game of the last four years, had a chance for a fourth quarter comeback and failed.

The argument ignores 1) the 10 or 15 games in that period McNabb has missed due to injury; 2) all of the games the Eagles have won or lost in blowouts, 3) all of the games in which the game ended in some other fashion besides "Eagles coming from behind to win in the final minutes."

It's one thing to criticize McNabb for not coming through in clutch moments. But how can any rational person blame the quarterback for those situations not even happening in the first place?

By his logic, Cataldi is blaming Donovan McNabb for failing to rally the Eagles to a fourth quarter comeback in Week 3 this year, when Philly beat the Chiefs by 20 points with McNabb on the sidelines and Kevin Kolb playing quarterback. But I'm just making excuses and being an apologist- a true winning quarterback would have found a way to do it anyway.

This argument is akin to saying that Chase Utley went 2-for-34 in Game 1 of the World Series.

Posted by Stephen Silver at November 11, 2009 03:23 PM
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