| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
CLEVELAND -- When he was living under teammate Charles Johnson?s roof during the summer, Donovan McNabb knew who was the boss. Johnsons? wife, Tanisha, gave him plenty of chores -- laundry, cleaning and baby-sitting.
That was the easy part of his day. The rest of the time he
and Johnson worked on every aspect of every pass route in the Eagles' playbook. They ran out-patterns, hooks, slants and the like in the Arizona
sun against Cardinals cornerbacks Corey Chavous, Aeneas Williams and others.
|  | | Donovan McNabb has taken over as the leader of the Eagles offense. |
When that period ended, McNabb and Johnson returned to Philadelphia and
worked intense drills with the rest of the Eagles receivers.
"Donovan would take one route a day, took it all the way
and dissected it for every position," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "They
would run it against man, two-deep zone, three-deep zone. He wanted to get a
feel for the receivers. It gave receivers a chance to know what he was
thinking."
If the process sounds similar to the Peyton Manning story of
last year, it should. Manning did the same process with Marvin Harrison and
his receivers. He picked up the thought from Brett Favre, whom he had been
calling since Manning's senior year at Tennessee. Favre did that through his
MVP years, and he'd sit in Reid's office in Green Bay and tell him the
benefits.
The results were evident in McNabb's 2000 debut in an exhibition
game against the Cleveland Browns. McNabb retreated quickly in three-step
drops, spotted his primary target and zipped a pass with authority. Once, he
had to scramble. From his work with Johnson, he knew where his receiver would be and hit him with a pass.
During the next huddle, McNabb started laughing. "CJ stole one of
your balls," McNabb said to Torrance Small, the primary target. His teammates cracked up.
"As a veteran, you want to see a guy in control who can laugh like
that," Johnson said. "I don't think he knows what good that does in the
huddle when he's like that."
Of the five quarterbacks taken in the first round a year ago, McNabb
is showing the first signs of making the big jump. Sure, the rookie in him
from a year ago will still come out. He got greedy in the second quarter of
Sunday's exhibition game against Cleveland and was intercepted trying to
rifle a long turn-in to rookie receiver Todd Pinkston.
But his patience, maturity and command of the offense was evident.
"Everything that pertains to receivers are running routes," McNabb
said. "I've got to get a feel for where receivers are coming out of breaks
so that I know where to put the ball and keep it away from a defensive
back."
Receivers are also finding a kinder, gentler pass coming to their
throbbing hands. Listening to receivers complain about his laser-like throws
of a year ago, McNabb worked on putting a little touch in his tosses.
"Last year, he was throwing the ball hard every, single time,"
Johnson said. "We had problems catching them in practice."
McNabb was throwing high heat during the warmups of the game against
the Browns. Johnson came over to him and told him to cool down. McNabb
wanted to out-perform Tim Couch, who was drafted ahead of him last year as the No. 1 overall pick.
Couch struggled with three-play-and-out series. McNabb completed pass after
pass from a three-step drop.
"I don't think anyone tells Brett Favre or Dan Marino that they
throw too hard," McNabb said. "But you have to develop a touch. If I've
got to get the ball in there, I've got to throw hard."
Throwing hard is one thing but McNabb has a hard job. Being the
quarterback in Philadelphia is one of the most scrutinized jobs in sports.
Standards are high. Mistakes aren't tolerated. McNabb experienced that
before he was ever an Eagle.
|
“ |
There is no
question (McNabb) is the leader in this offense. He takes control in the huddle. He's
very cool in how he handles things. ” |
|
|
— Bubba Miller, Eagles center |
Fans wanted halfback Ricky Williams on draft day. One Philadelphia radio station
organized a protest march around Veteran Stadiums to push for the selection
of Williams, not McNabb. Even the mayor of Philadelphia joined in and
blasted the organization for thinking about taking McNabb over Williams.
"Our biggest thing was trying to get him to work 50-50 with the
first unit last year," Reid said of McNabb. "That may have cheated Doug Pederson out
of reps but it also allowed time for McNabb to grow. At first, teams blitzed
him and it was disastrous. As the season went on, he got better and better
and better with that. Things settled down to a point where he finished the
year fairly strongly."
McNabb didn't look like a second-year quarterback Sunday against the
Browns. True, he was facing an expansion team. The Browns challenged him
with an aggressive defensive line. What impressed observers was how he
scrambled, spotted a receiver and made a play.
"There is no question he is the leader in this offense," center Bubba Miller said. "He takes control in the huddle. He's very cool in how he handles things."
Reid, however, knows not everything will be smooth with Year Two.
"Realistically, there are going to be peaks and valleys," Reid
said. "This West Coast offense takes a little bit longer to learn. It
wasn't until midway through the fourth year in Green Bay with Brett Favre that we weren't still questioning whether to sit him or not. He won the MVP
that year."
At least, McNabb is off to a running start.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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