Donovan Mcnabb

Reporting from Ashburn, Va. Donovan McNabb, in his 12th NFL season, has seen just about everything over the course of his career. Everything, that is, except the visitors' locker room in Philadelphia. "I'm sure it's probably small, congested, probably not clean," the Washington Redskins quarterback said Wednesday, smiling. "But that's what you do to opposing teams. " And now ? strange as it still seems ? McNabb is the opposition. Sunday is the day circled on a lot of calendars along I-95, which connects Washington and Philadelphia.

Former Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb says Robert Griffin III, expected to be chosen by the Redskins with the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft, won't be happy there. "I say that because a lot of times ego gets too involved when it comes to being in Washington," McNabb said Thursday on ESPN's "First Take. " "Is it the spread offense that you try to continue to have flourish that he's been successful in? Or are you just going to have him in a foxhole with a makeshift offensive line, and you keep bringing in receivers," McNabb said.

Former Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb says Robert Griffin III, expected to be chosen by the Redskins with the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft, won't be happy there. "I say that because a lot of times ego gets too involved when it comes to being in Washington," McNabb said Thursday on ESPN's "First Take. " "Is it the spread offense that you try to continue to have flourish that he's been successful in? Or are you just going to have him in a foxhole with a makeshift offensive line, and you keep bringing in receivers," McNabb said.

Minnesota's Donovan McNabb wasn't just a football star at Syracuse. He played basketball too. The Vikings have seen McNabb throw his share of bounce passes this season. Now, they want to see him rebound. Even though Minnesota won last Sunday for the first time this season, McNabb was booed by the home crowd for his lukewarm performance. He completed 10 of 21 passes against Arizona, and ricocheted more than one pass off the turf. He ranks 27th in the league in completion percentage (56.8)

Washington Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan has demoted Donovan McNabb and says Rex Grossman is his starting quarterback for the rest of the season, beginning with Sunday's game at Dallas. McNabb will be the No. 2 quarterback against the Cowboys, and then drop to No. 3 behind Grossman and John Beck for the final two games of the season. And after that? "I also told him," Shanahan said, "that I cannot guarantee him that he will be back next year. " That's how far the 34-year-old, six-time Pro Bowl quarterback has fallen.

Donovan McNabb has rebounded strong from a benching before. Now, the Washington Redskins quarterback will get a chance to prove he can do it again. McNabb will face his old team Monday night when the Redskins play host to the Philadelphia Eagles, and he has the added incentive of showing he deserves to be Washington's starting quarterback despite slogging through his worst season since he was a rookie. The Redskins had last weekend off, but people still are buzzing about Coach Mike Shanahan's decision to bench McNabb late in a 37-25 loss at the Detroit Lions on Oct. 31. Rex Grossman went in to run the two-minute offense, then was sacked and fumbled on his first play, with the Lions returning that turnover for a touchdown.

This doesn't compute. The Philadelphia Eagles might have been able to ship Donovan McNabb to Oakland or Buffalo, moving him out of the NFC and keeping the five-time Pro Bowl quarterback at a safe distance. Instead, the Eagles on Sunday traded McNabb within the division, sending him to the Washington Redskins for a second-round pick this year and a third- or fourth-round selection next year. In doing so, the Eagles handed over one of the best players in club history to a bitter rival, and to new Coach Mike Shanahan, who already has one of the league's up-and-coming defenses.

Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan took his turn at the microphone Friday, challenging comments made by quarterback Donovan McNabb's agent. Not that Shanahan provided clarity. If anything, the situation became more confusing. Shanahan said Fletcher Smith's comments were "disturbing," so he spoke "face-to-face, man-to-man" with McNabb on Thursday night at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. He said the 12-year veteran told him that the claims made by his agent were untrue.

In their most important game of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles lost by five. And by 5. That's the jersey number of Washington quarterback Donovan McNabb, who wore that same number for 11 years in Philadelphia before the Eagles traded him to the Redskins in April. "We had to come in here and help him get a victory against a team that basically said, 'You're not good enough. This is what we think of you: We'll trade you within the division,'" Redskins linebacker London Fletcher said after the 17-12 victory.

Times NFL writer Sam Farmer poses the big questions as each team readies for training camp: NFC EAST On Oct. 3, the Washington Redskins play at Philadelphia. It promises to be one of the most fascinating games of this NFL season. The mere sight of Donovan McNabb in a Redskins uniform is strange enough, but to see him walk onto the field as a visitor in Philadelphia? That will be bizarre. The Eagles can only hope they made the right move, trading McNabb to a division rival and entrusting the starting quarterback job to largely untested Kevin Kolb . A somewhat similar situation worked out for New England several years ago, when the Patriots sent Drew Bledsoe to Buffalo and kept Tom Brady (although Brady was coming off a Super Bowl victory.

Stumbling starts have been a hallmark of the San Diego Chargers in recent years, with the franchise usually — but not always — clawing its way out of a deep hole to reach the postseason. With the first practice of training camp two days away, the Chargers again find themselves playing catch-up, thanks to a 4½-month lockout. Their only solace? So is every other NFL team. "I'm not going to compare our situation to any of the other 31 teams, I'm going to compare our situation to where we've been in the past, and we are way behind," Coach Norv Turner said Wednesday.

With the NFL's labor situation in limbo, the league heads into what promises to be a turbulent off-season filled with questions, uncertainties and speculation. Team owners are dug in, as are the players, and each side is waiting for the other to flinch ? with the real possibility that a lockout could compromise training camps and might even lead to games not being played. Still, the football world doesn't stop spinning. Teams are jockeying, planning, positioning themselves to be just where the Green Bay Packers are now: clearing room in the display case for the Lombardi Trophy.

Michael Vick's sensational comeback has been spiced by a Pro Bowl start. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, who sat out two seasons while serving a federal sentence for dogfighting, will start for the NFC in the Jan. 30 Pro Bowl in Honolulu. The honor is yet another major step in Vick's resurgence. Vick was selected to three Pro Bowl games with Atlanta before being suspended by the NFL and served prison time for running a dogfighting ring. This season, he has gone from a seldom-used backup to the NFC's leading passer, the catalyst for Philadelphia's dynamic offense.

Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan took his turn at the microphone Friday, challenging comments made by quarterback Donovan McNabb's agent. Not that Shanahan provided clarity. If anything, the situation became more confusing. Shanahan said Fletcher Smith's comments were "disturbing," so he spoke "face-to-face, man-to-man" with McNabb on Thursday night at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. He said the 12-year veteran told him that the claims made by his agent were untrue.

Washington Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan has demoted Donovan McNabb and says Rex Grossman is his starting quarterback for the rest of the season, beginning with Sunday's game at Dallas. McNabb will be the No. 2 quarterback against the Cowboys, and then drop to No. 3 behind Grossman and John Beck for the final two games of the season. And after that? "I also told him," Shanahan said, "that I cannot guarantee him that he will be back next year. " That's how far the 34-year-old, six-time Pro Bowl quarterback has fallen.

The NFL's household names can't quite take it to the house. The big-money players are putting up bargain-basement numbers. The VIPs are standing on the wrong side of the velvet ropes. All over the league, some of its highest-profile players are having disappointing seasons ? Brett Favre, Randy Moss, Donovan McNabb, Carson Palmer and Brandon Marshall among them. The news of the day Monday was partly a byproduct of that. Minnesota fired Coach Brad Childress and replaced him with defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, promoted to interim coach.

First it was announced that Washington gave quarterback Donovan McNabb a five-year, $78-million contract extension, the most given to a man who lacks cardiovascular endurance. Then it was revealed that if McNabb is released at the end of the season he actually will get only $3.75 million. At this rate, by Sunday, he will be paying Washington to play. His signing so inspired the Skinned that they went out and posted a 0-for-10 mark on third-down conversions en route to a 28-59 pasting by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Rush Limbaugh, embroiled in a growing controversy after making racially tinged remarks about Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Donovan McNabb on ESPN's "NFL Sunday Countdown," resigned from the network late Wednesday night. "My comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated," Limbaugh said in a statement released by ESPN. "I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew, which I regret.

First it was announced that Washington gave quarterback Donovan McNabb a five-year, $78-million contract extension, the most given to a man who lacks cardiovascular endurance. Then it was revealed that if McNabb is released at the end of the season he actually will get only $3.75 million. At this rate, by Sunday, he will be paying Washington to play. His signing so inspired the Skinned that they went out and posted a 0-for-10 mark on third-down conversions en route to a 28-59 pasting by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Lots of NFL teams are playing Monday-morning quarterback these days ? not second-guessing themselves, but trying to figure out who will be their quarterback come Monday morning. On a day marked by weirdness in Washington ? an out-of-the-blue (and into-the-green) contract extension for Donovan McNabb only two weeks after he was benched ? various injury problems left several other teams scrambling for answers. First, McNabb. At the end of a loss at Detroit on Halloween, the Redskins benched him in favor of Rex Grossman.