Donovan McNabb: 'Nobody has been criticized as much as I have'

Donovan McNabb, who's been awfully chatty the past two days, claims he's the most unfairly criticized quarterback in history. We're not sure he's the most unfairly criticized of the past decade.

Is McNabb really the most unfairly criticized quarterback in history? (US Presswire)

For a free agent quarterback who doesn't have a job for next season -- and whose career is in serious jeopardy of being over --Donovan McNabb sure has been chatty lately.

On Thursday, he claimed that the Redskins and coach Mike Shanahan had misused him in 2010 and that Robert Griffin III was a bad fit for Shanahan's offense.

OK, that's fair enough, I guess.

But on Friday, McNabb went into overkill, claiming on ESPN's First Take (via PFT) that he's the most-criticized quarterback in NFL history.

It went down like this: After McNabb criticized Tim Tebow, Skip Bayless stepped in and said, "Tim Tebow is the most unfairly, over-criticized quarterback in the history of this league."

Said McNabb: "Negative -- I am. Nobody has been criticized as much as I have."

NFL News, Notes

• Peters ruptures Achilles; will have surgery Tuesday
• Cincy cheerleader indicted on sexual abuse charges
• Katzowitz: Reebok forced to stop selling Tebow jersey
• McNabb says he was misused in WAS
• Brinson: Houston tries to sell suite to Winston
• Judge: Philly has to protect Vick
• Freeman: Green Bay keeps FA spending to a minimum

OK, so both might be wrong.

Tebow won a ton of supporters for the way he helped lead the Broncos to the AFC title last year (and are there that many people out there who believe the criticism of Tebow's mechanics was unfair?). Though McNabb has caught the brunt of unfair abuse -- Eagles fans booing him at the NFL draft, the flak he continues to catch for forgetting that teams can tie in the regular season, the vomit controversy of Super Bowl XXXIX -- I have a hard time believing McNabb is the one who's taken the most hits in history.

I'm not sure I even buy the argument that McNabb is the most criticized quarterback of the past decade. Of course this is something we can't quantify, because how do we define the word "unfairly?"

But considering Mark Sanchez led the Jets to the AFC title two years in a row, the amount of abuse he takes on a daily basis from his fans (and from his own anonymous teammates) is immense. What about Tony Romo? Eli Manning before his Super Bowl wins? What about Cam Newton before his rookie season?

You could make the argument that McNabb has been more unfairly criticized than any of them -- and hell, maybe there is some kind of formula to determine the answer and maybe I should be the one to discover -- but you could make the case that he wasn't.

The point is that McNabb doesn't do himself any favors when he speaks like this. For one, he's probably wrong (though after having a conversation with CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman, maybe McNabb isn't as wrong as I thought). For two, there's no way he can prove it. For three, he comes  off as a whiner when he acts like such a martyr.

Did he take a lot of crap? Yes. Should he get over it? Yes. But is that easy for me to write? Absolutely.

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