McNabb and this offense are no longer essentially average. In close games, they are well below.
(Oh, you've heard?)
They confound you because there are days when McNabb and the Eagles look so good. Those are the days when they have a big talent advantage, or the days when Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg win the schematic battle. This offense front-runs like Secretariat.
It is the rest of the time, though, that leaves you groping for an explanation beyond the idea that they simply can't handle the close moments.
"It's kind of unique," Mornhinweg said. "I believe last year we were one of the very best in 2-minute, before the half, [and] I think this year we're one or two in 2-minute, before the half. We need to be as good at the end of the game in those situations as we are at the end of the half.
"Championship teams score a lot of points at the end of the half, so that's a good thing there and we need to be as good at the end of games."
Mornhinweg is a technician, and a fine one. He and Reid draw up some great stuff. He looks at it like a technician, like somebody looking at a machine, that it functions well in the pressure at the end of the half so it should be able to function well in the pressure of being behind in the fourth quarter.
But it hasn't translated. The situations have not been equivalent. Still, Mornhinweg presses on.
"We just need to be a little bit better, a little bit sharper at the end of the game," he said. "I've looked at all that in the offseason and during this season. We just have to play a little bit better late in the game."
(Oh, you've noticed?)
