Good enough to throw for nearly 33,000 yards. Good enough to have the third best interception percentage in NFL history and the third best touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio, behind only Brady and Steve Young.
With McNabb at quarterback, the Eagles finished sixth or better in scoring three times in the last 4 years. They've finished in the top 10 in passing yards the last 7 years.
What they didn't do in McNabb's 11 seasons here, of course, is win a Super Bowl. And that's why he's in Washington now and Kolb is replacing him.
Based on two impressive starts last season when McNabb was out with a fractured rib, based on 3-plus years of watching him in practice and preseason games, the Eagles felt Kolb was ready to replace McNabb.
"I told him I want a high completion percentage, and I want him to stay away from interceptions," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said yesterday. "If he does that, everything else will take care of itself."
McNabb's knack for not throwing interceptions was one of the best things he brought to the table as a quarterback. Say what you will about those balls at receivers' feet, at least they didn't get picked off.
He's thrown just 100 interceptions in 4,746 career attempts. He's never thrown more than 13 interceptions in a season. He's thrown more than one interception in just 20 of 142 career starts. He's only thrown more than two in a game three times in his entire career.
Can Kolb match that? Probably not. He has seven interceptions in 130 career attempts, but four of those picks came in his first 34 passes, in '08. Last year, he had just three interceptions in 96 attempts.
