How to use Donovan McNabb’s Hall of Fame claim against him
By Joel Deering
Donovan McNabb claimed he deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame because his stats are better than Troy Aikman’s. Here’s how to use that claim against him.
In response to a question about whether or not he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, Donovan McNabb responded, “Absolutely, I’m not hesitating on that. I am a Hall of Famer. My numbers speak for themselves.”
McNabb later tried to strengthen his case to be in the Hall of Fame by comparing himself to a former member of the Dallas Cowboys, quarterback Troy Aikman. “My numbers are better than Troy Aikman, but he has Super Bowl rings,” said McNabb.
In an attempt to strengthen his case for the Hall of Fame, McNabb may have hurt his chances instead. Below is a comparison of Donovan McNabb and Troy Aikman’s stats.
Donovan McNabb: 37,276 passing yards, 59% completions, 234 touchdowns, 117 interceptions and an 85.6 passer rating.
Troy Aikman: 32,942 passing yards, 61.5% completions, 165 touchdowns, 141 interceptions and an 81.6 passer rating.
If we look at their passing stats, McNabb was better than Aikman in passing yards, touchdown passes, interceptions and passer rating. Aikman was only better than McNabb in completion percentage. Overall, McNabb was the better quarterback based on the stats.
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However, the passing stats alone don’t exactly tell the whole story when comparing these two players. Donovan McNabb may have had better stats than Troy Aikman, but Aikman has McNabb beat in one of, if not the most important category.
“My numbers are better than Troy Aikman, but he has Super Bowl rings.”
Using McNabb’s own words against him, he doesn’t have Super Bowl rings. Not only does Troy Aikman have a Super Bowl ring, he has three Super Bowl rings.
When it comes down to it, Super Bowl wins are what matter most, and Super Bowl rings are what McNabb doesn’t have. Because of his lack of Super Bowl rings, Donovan McNabb saying his stats are better than Troy Aikman’s becomes irrelevant.
Instead of comparing the stats of Donovan McNabb to those of Troy Aikman, we should be comparing his stats to those of other Hall of Fame QBs who didn’t win a ring. Let’s take Dan Marino for example. Below is a comparison of Donovan McNabb and Dan Marino’s stats.
Donovan McNabb: 37,276 passing yards, 59% completions, 234 touchdowns, 117 interceptions and an 85.6 passer rating.
Dan Marino: 61,361 passing yards, 59.4% completions, 420 touchdowns, 252 interceptions and an 86.4 passer rating.
Dan Marino beats Donovan McNabb in passing yards, completion percentage, touchdowns and passer rating. The only thing Donovan McNabb beats Dan Marino in is interceptions, and that could be counted as somewhat irrelevant because Marino played 77 more games than McNabb.
When you stack up Dan Marino’s stats against McNabb’s, does he look Hall of Fame worthy? I’d argue no. Then there’s the fact that Dan Marino is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time. McNabb is not in that conversation.
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In conclusion, Donovan McNabb made an attempt to make himself look Hall of Fame worthy. Instead, he only made a case as to why he shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.