He's not a statue. He still has the ability to buy time with his legs so he can create something with his arm.
Every now and then he's even able to turn up field and run for some positive yards, but most of his movements these days are side-to-side.
The seasons of McNabb rushing for 400 or 500 yards with four or five touchdowns are in the rearview mirror.
Even if he still isn't fully recovered from his ACL injury, those 30 and 40 yards he used to make are pretty much things of the past, too.
And the sooner everyone in the Eagles' organization accepts that, the sooner this team will be able to make the adjustments that will help this struggling offense.
"When you get older, you don't get faster," McNabb said yesterday after the Eagles beat the New York Jets, 16-9, at Giants Stadium. "I'm able to get out of different situations; some I'm not.
"At the quarterback position, you really shouldn't have to, but when it calls for it I do."
McNabb, however, no longer runs away from the defenders he used to leave in his dust. These days, it's not uncommon to see him chased down by a defensive lineman.
When was the last time you saw him juke his way past a hard-charging linebacker or sprint by a defensive back?
"I was able to pick up a first down on one [scramble]," said McNabb, who was sacked three times and ran twice for 3 yards. "On another, I got caught from behind, and on others I threw it out of bounds.
"It's not really about quickness and speed, it's just about trying to buy time if the time is there."
Time never used to be an issue. McNabb simply bought as much as he needed.
That's no longer the case, and it's been most evident in the Eagles' seasonlong struggle to score touchdowns when they get into the red zone.
Against the Jets, the Birds had first-and-10 inside the New York 20-yard line four times. They settled for four field-goal attempts by David Akers.
