RELUCTANT RUNNER

PHILADELPHIA —  You have to admit, it looked like fun.

Hurdling blockers, juking Mark Carrier, racing by Bruce Smith, dragging a safety into the end zone.

Donovan McNabb’s 125-yard rushing performance last week against the Washington Redskins was the best by an NFL quarterback since Bobby Douglass ran for 127 yards in 1972--and if McNabb hadn’t taken a knee on the final three plays, he’d have finished with 128.

But when someone asked McNabb this week if he liked to run, he was quick to answer.

“No,” he said flatly.

McNabb is all but pleading not to be called a running quarterback, although it’s going to be a losing battle, what with 9-4 Philadelphia leading the NFC East largely because McNabb has found a way to keep the Eagles aloft since running back Duce Staley injured his foot five weeks into the season.

McNabb is the Eagles’ leading rusher and outgained all but three NFL running backs last Sunday, but please . . .

“It takes me back to college, where guys were labeled as athletic quarterbacks or running quarterbacks,” said McNabb, more a passer than a runner at Syracuse before he was drafted second overall in 1999 to a chorus of boos from Philly fans who wanted Ricky Williams.

They got a pretty good runner anyway, though McNabb doesn’t want to hear it.

“The way I look at it, when I hear ‘running quarterback,’ it sort of upsets me because it takes away from my drop-back ability, play-action, getting the ball downfield,” he said. “Any time you talk about how athletic a quarterback is and continue to talk about his running ability, you sort of forget about his passing.”

McNabb has passed for as many as 311 yards in a game this season and has thrown no more than one interception in 10 of 13, but it’s those razzle-dazzle runs that are memorable.

He’ll have a kindred spirit on the field at Veterans Stadium today when the Eagles play Tennessee. Titan quarterback Steve McNair was known for his running ability when he came to the NFL from Alcorn State.

The two talk, and McNair tells McNabb, “Just accept it, and play your game.”

There is clearly a racial subtext, although McNabb deftly leaves it implicit.

It’s always McNair or Randall Cunningham people talk about. Cunningham rushed for 942 yards for the Eagles in 1990, second in NFL history only to Douglass’ 968 for Chicago in 1972. Titan Coach Jeff Fisher, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator at the time, remembers the early Cunningham years.

“I think he’s probably a little ahead of where Randall was at this point in his career, because of the plays he’s making, the variety of plays he’s making,” Fisher said. “He’s probably a little more accurate and productive as a passer, maybe, than Randall was very early.”

Rarely is someone like Steve Young mentioned, but after all, Young played in the same West Coast offense as McNabb and was first known for his scrambling.

In 1992, Young’s rushing numbers were strikingly similar to McNabb’s now, although McNabb has three games remaining.

Young rushed for 537 yards in 76 attempts for a 7.1 average with four touchdowns.

McNabb has rushed for 558 yards in 72 attempts for a 7.8 average and five touchdowns.

“I guess you can get stereotyped,” Eagle Coach Andy Reid said. “Honestly, I’ve never looked at the color of a quarterback.

“I really don’t care if you’re black, white, green, yellow, just so you can play and you’re intelligent. This guy is very intelligent.

“We drafted him to be a quarterback. . . . You tend to take away from his cerebral abilities when you say he’s going to run the football. He’s a very smart individual who grasps this offense as well as any quarterback I’ve been around.”

That, by the way, includes Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers, for whom Reid was the quarterback coach before joining the Eagles.

“Donovan’s a quarterback who can do a lot of things, one of which happens to be pulling it down and running with it if needed,” Reid said.

McNabb’s passing statistics have a long way to go to approach Young’s, and he ranks only 22nd in the NFL’s passer ratings at 73.7, far below 1999 draft classmate Daunte Culpepper of the Minnesota Vikings at 95.2.

Culpepper also has had to dodge the perception that he was mostly a runner, but with the help of Randy Moss and Cris Carter, his passing skills are more than getting their due.

McNabb has no such assistance.

The Eagles’ leading receiver is tight end Chad Lewis, with 51 catches. Ten of the Eagles’ 16 touchdown passes have been caught by tight ends or running backs.

Charles Johnson, the team’s No. 1 wide receiver, has caught only 11 passes in the last five games.

Scrutinize the stats all you like, the one McNabb will live on is 9-4.

“I think he came in the league with that whole perception that he wanted to prove that he could be a quarterback and stand back there,” center Bubba Miller said. “But the longer he’s played this game, he’s figured out the object of this game is to win. If he gets to go out there and throw for 300 yards and lose, then he’s not going to feel good about that. The kid just wants to win, just like all of us.”

The prospects of that didn’t look good after Staley’s injury.

“That’s kind of when Donovan went to the next level, when Duce went down,” Miller said. “He became our focal point of this offense.”

That focal point has accounted for an astounding 77% of his team’s net yardage.

The defense, No. 1 in the NFC and fifth in the NFL in points allowed at a mere 15.3 a game, does the rest.

“The thing with Donovan, he’s making really good decisions,” Miller said. “When he decides to run, he runs. There’s no indecision. When he needs to throw it away, he throws it away. If he has to take a sack, he takes a sack.”

McNabb says he doesn’t like to run, doesn’t plan to run, that he ran enough for the whole season in that one game against Washington last week.

“I think the year of the quarterback sitting in the pocket is over,” McNabb said. “Guys are tired of getting concussions or becoming hitting dummies for defensive ends.”

That’s one reason to run. Here’s one reason not to.

“Quarterbacks don’t like to keep putting themselves in position to run downfield and get hit all the time,” McNabb said.

Still, if the Titans are foolish enough to leave a lane open . . .

“There are going to be times when I have to run,” he said. “I’m not going to throw the ball out of bounds if I have an opportunity to run. I’m going to do what’s best for the team.

“If I can pick up seven yards and make it second and three, third and three, whatever it may be, I’ll do it.”

Even if he doesn’t, the threat of his running has an effect.

“Now defensive ends and linebackers, instead of rushing upfield and possibly blitzing, now they’re sitting back, thinking, ‘Is he going to run or is he going to pass?’ ” McNabb said. “That gives us time to look downfield for receivers.”

No matter how many passes he completes, McNabb doesn’t expect it to make much difference.

“They’re going to continue to talk about running quarterbacks. Anything I say or do probably will not deter people.

“I’m just going to say my piece.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

One-Man Show

With a rag-tag offense filled with castoffs from other teams, Donovan McNabb has guided the Eagles to an NFC East-leading 9-4 record and a possible playoff berth. McNabb has rushed for 558 yards and is the only quarterback in the league to lead his team in that category. Below is a statistical comparison showing McNabb’s maturation as an NFL quarterback.

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Year Starts W/L Comp Att Yds Comp% TD Int Car Yds Avg 2000 13 9-4 20.5 35.5 195.2 57.6 1.2 0.9 5.5 42.9 7.8 1999 6 2-4 14.9 27.5 130.3 50.9 1.3 1.0 6.2 38.5 6.2

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McNabb leads the NFL in average yards per carry by almost two yards:

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Player Team Yds per carry Yards Rushing Donovan McNabb Philadelphia 7.8 558 Rich Gannon Oakland 5.9 404 Robert Smith Minnesota 5.5 1,391 Napoleon Kaufman Oakland 5.4 455 Marshall Faulk St. Louis 5.2 831

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