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McNabb sprains ankle against Dolphins
2007-11-18
Donovan McNabb was knocked out of Sunday's game in the second quarter against Miami with a sprained right ankle, nearly a full year after the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback ended his season with a torn knee ligament. McNabb, who once finished a game on a broken right ankle, threw the ball away before he was dragged down from behind by Dolphins cornerback Michael Lehan on a blitz. McNabb hobbled off the field and was taken to the locker room for X-rays, which were negative. The Eagles rallied behind backup quarterback A.J. Feeley to beat the Dolphins 17-7 Following the game, McNabb walked to the podium without a noticeable limp and said he had some soreness. McNabb also had a bandage on his throwing hand and said he jammed his thumb on a different play. "I'm going to make sure I'm right to get back out there and do the things I'm used to doing," he said. McNabb came out of the tunnel after halftime in full uniform and pads and did some light jogging down the sideline. Feeley, who took McNabb's place with the Eagles trailing 7-3, started the second half. No quarterback controversy, though. Eagles coach Andy Reid said a healthy McNabb would be the quarterback next week against New England. "If Donovan's healthy, he's the quarterback," Reid said. McNabb was lost for the rest of the season last Nov. 19 when he tore the ACL in his right knee against the Tennessee Titans. He broke his right ankle in a game in November 2002. "In that situation, I didn't know the ankle was broken until the end of the game," he said. McNabb was playing an awful game, completing only three of 11 passes for 34 yards with two interceptions. He showed a brief glimpse of his old scrambling style with a 26-yard run in the first quarter. Miami safety Jason Allen picked off two McNabb passes deep inside Dolphins territory. McNabb pointed right at Reggie Brown on a first-quarter drive and Allen stepped in front of the wide receiver to make the interception at the 5. Allen got McNabb again inside the red zone in the second quarter, intercepting a pass at the 2. Feeley's luck wasn't much better. He drove the Eagles to Miami's 25 on his first series before he had a pass intercepted by Andre Goodman. Reid said he never considered playing McNabb in the second half. "They came back and told me he couldn't go," Reid said. "We'll see how he does this week. He always wants to go back in, but the thing was sore and he couldn't run, so I wasn't putting him in." Without McNabb, the Eagles relied heavily on running back Brian Westbrook. Earning the tough carries like he did last season when Jeff Garcia took over for McNabb, Westbrook shook off a knee injury to rush for a career-high 148 yards on 32 carries. While a quarterback change would mean an increased workload for the 5-foot-8 running back, Westbrook said the Eagles are a better team with McNabb than without him. "When he's 100 percent healthy, he's Superman," he said.
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