Despite critics, McNabb on top of his game

It's difficult for Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb to empathize with Jay Cutler's current situation as the NFL leader in interceptions.

Cutler has 17 picks this year. McNabb has the lowest career interception rate in NFL history. So, when he was asked if he'd ever experienced what Cutler is going through, he had to pause.

"Uhhh, no, not to the extent," the Chicago native and Mt. Carmel High School graduate said. "But, I mean I've had games where you just don't play as well as you expected to or prepared to. Every quarterback goes through it. The thing about it is that you just have to have confidence that you're going to pull yourself up, that things are going to turn for the better."

McNabb believes Cutler has that mindset and that the tough times won't last for long.

"Jay's an aggressive guy," said McNabb, who will turn 33 on Wednesday. "He always has the confidence that he can get the ball into tight situations and give guys opportunities to make plays. Sometimes that's costly for you; sometimes that's great for you. A lot of it could be decision making, some could be just poor judgment. But overall you want your quarterback to be aggressive and play aggressive, to have the confidence that they can make every throw."

McNabb has had plenty of ups and downs in an 11-year NFL career, but the ups have been much more prevalent. In NFL history only Tom Brady and Steve Young have better TD-interception ratios than McNabb, and he's having one of his best seasons with 12 TD passes, 4 picks and a 95.1 passer rating.

But he has played his whole career in Philadelphia, where fans and media can be extremely critical, even of a player with Hall of Fame credentials.

"I don't understand how people are up and down on him," Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. "In my view he's a top three quarterback in the league. He's a winner. He's a leader. He's the kind of guy that you wouldn't mind having on your team. It doesn't matter who he has playing with him, whatever receivers he has, every year he just goes out there and wins. When you look up in the playoffs, he's always in it. To me, he's one of the best in the league."

McNabb has guided the Eagles to five NFC championships and one Super Bowl in his career, yet he was benched briefly last season after a rocky first half against the Ravens.

"I think he's done a great job," Cutler said. "Donovan went through a lot of ups and down, and he's taken some unnecessary criticism out there, but each year he battles back and he's a constant. He's steady. He's fun to watch."

The benching was a novel experience for McNabb, and it's still a bit of a sore spot, but he can joke about it now, kind of.

"Nobody wants to be benched," he said during a conference call. "I'm sure you guys don't want to be pulled from writing your great articles, or be on suspension for a week or two. Then you'll probably be outside kicking old papers and sitting on the bench drinking coffee and feeling like nobody loves you."

Last June the Eagles made sure McNabb didn't feel that way when they restructured the last two years of his contract (2009 and '10), raising his combined compensation from $19.2 million to $24.5 million.