Brian Baldinger hates Donovan McNabb

Broadcaster Brian Baldinger has a message for Donovan McNabb…

Via Big Stein, we learn that Brian Baldinger, one of those lesser NFL game analysts who has been doing a lot of Redskins games lately because the team has been so rotten, has some pretty uncomplimentary things to say about new Redskins QB Donovan McNabb. He doesn’t think he’s much of a passer and can’t read defenses. He spoke to 610 WIP sports radio.

“Look, I think these flaws that he has are never gonna go away,” Baldinger said. “They’re two-fold. One, I don’t believe he reads coverage well. And to read coverage well, that is to know where to go with the ball based on what the defense does, based on what play-call is.

“And then secondly, he’s not a consistently accurate thrower. And I just think that in this league, against good -to-great defenses – and there’s not that many of them — but when you play Baltimore or you play Dallas or you play Pittsburgh, you better be sharp with the football. Now he does a good job of taking care of it, but sometimes I think it’s because he doesn’t really trust what he sees, and so he won’t make the throw.

Baldinger does not think McNabb makes the Redskins a playoff team because he correctly calls the offensive line “awful” and has well-founded doubts about the production the Redskins will get from their three geriatric running backs.

“He’s going to be handing off to…I’ve never seen three old running backs on a team before in this league. I mean, they’re gonna hand it off to Clinton Portis, who hasn’t had a good year in two years, Larry Johnson, who hasn’t had a good year in two years on three different teams, or to Willie Parker, who hasn’t played well since he got hurt against the Eagles two years ago. I mean, that’s the backfield.

“Now, the offensive line was old to begin with, and then they lost Randy Thomas and they lost Samuels, and so they were broken there. The safeties are the worst tackling safeties in the league. I mean, there’s a lot of things they have to fix there in Washington. The receivers that he’s going to be throwing to are very young and very immature, and you can just ask Jason Campbell about that. So I think Mike Shanahan and Donovan have an awful lot to do, and I think just adding Donovan to the mix doesn’t make that team that much better than what they were this year.”

McNabb has been known to take comments like these and use them well for motivation. Let’s hope he does again.

I think it is true that McNabb is not the most accurate passer, but he’s had tremendous success in Philadelphia and only recently had decent wideouts to throw to. He’s been amazingly effective at avoiding big mistakes — he has the lowest interception ratio of any passer in NFL history. I don’t know that McNabb makes the Redskins a playoff team — I share Baldinger’s doubts about Washington’s offensive line and running backs — but I have a higher opinion of McNabb than he does. Donovan McNabb is one of the winningest quarterbacks in the NFL over the last decade. I don’t see how that can be a coincidence.

Let me put it this way: I’m glad the Redskins won’t have to see him on the other sideline again.

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