4th Quarter Quack

Keep your eyes out for the new Madden 2006 commercial featuring Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. The ad shows McNabb taking on the Steelers in the snow in a game where ''a playoff berth is on the line'' in the closing minutes of the 4th quarter. The ad ends with McNabb asking the viewers if they can handle the pressure like he can (or apparently has)...What? Isn't this the guy whose big game performances standings read 1-3 in NFC title games and 0-1 in Super Bowls. In the Super Bowl with the Patriots leading 24-14 and 5:40 remaining in the game, the Eagles took possession and did negotiate a 79-yard touchdown drive but it consumed nearly four minutes, ending with Donovan McNabb's 30-yard pass to Greg Lewis. The McNabb led Eagles had to go back to the huddle after every play without running the 2-minute drill (at one point the center Hank Fraley ran up to the line and McNabb actually called him back to the huddle). Following the game teammatess said McNabb was sick in the huddle, dry heaving and panicked by the situation. Six months later he is selling a video game saying he is the master of big game pressure...please...


''He was definitely having some kind of complications,'' receiver Freddie Mitchell said. ''It was hard. He kind of tried to give the hand signals to the team. I knew he was thinking and I finished the play up.''

"He fought to the end," center Hank Fraley told Comcast SportsNet. "He didn't get a playcall in one time. He mumbled and Mitchell yelled out the play we were trying to bring in. He was puking at the same time trying to hold it in."

''Tick, tick, tick...''

McNabb's TD pass cut the deficit to 24-21 with 1:48 left, but he threw another interception in the final minute that sealed the loss.
''This game could have been a blowout,'' McNabb said. ''You take away those interceptions and we could have been up two touchdowns early.'' (Sure Donovan, sure...)