Donovan McNabb, a retired six-time Pro Bowl quarterback, certainly knows a thing or two about the position. He's probably forgotten more about football in the past 24 hours than most of us will ever know.
However, McNabb's take on New York Giants signal-caller J.J. McCarthy during a recent appearance on Up & Adams was off the mark. The Philadelphia Eagles legend was skeptical of the latter's hot start in East Rutherford, which is fine. Frankly, it's the reasons for the pessimism that are questionable.
McNabb discussed how McCarthy won't be as effective when you "stop the run and start blitzing him." There's only one problem, though: both roadblocks have been cleared, albeit in an incredibly small sample size with the Giants.
Taking a closer look at Donovan McNabb's J.J. McCarthy skepticism
Has McNabb been watching the same games that everyone else is? Where is he getting these ideas from? McCarthy has already overcome an average-to-poor Giants ground attack and delivered in a collapsing pocket.
No New York running back reached 20 rushing yards in McCarthy's impressive relief performance versus the New Orleans Saints. He and wide receiver Darnell Mooney did so on a scramble and an end-around, respectively. Granted, the big box-score numbers came in clean-up garbage time, but the Michigan product gave the G-Men a chance to force overtime in the final seconds.
How about McCarthy's first start with Big Blue against a vaunted Houston Texans pass rush? He faced a 35.5 percent blitz rate — the season-long average is 31.7 percent, for context. The result was arguably his best game as a pro to date and a signature road upset win.
Through Week 8 of 2026, excluding the Chicago Bears-Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Football showdown, McCarthy has been quite efficient under duress, to say the least. Among 37 QBs with at least 20 pressured dropbacks so far this campaign, he ranks at or near the top in the following key categories:
- First in completion percentage (66.7)
- Tied for second in catchable throw rate (80 percent)
- Second in accurate throw rate (60 percent)
- Second in hero throw rate (13.3 percent)
- 13th in yards per attempt (6.67)
If anything about McNabb's assessment is valid, it's that McCarthy can improve at mitigating negative plays when hounded by freakishly athletic defenders. That's easier said than done, of course. Yet, the 23-year-old's 20 percent pressure-to-sack rate is good for 25th using the same statistical filter.
Note: Advanced metrics courtesy of Fantasy Points' data suite 2.0 ($).
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