By PHIL RICHARDS
The Indianapolis Star

On Philadelphia's fourth play from scrimmage against the New York Giants two weeks ago, Donovan McNabb dropped to pass. No receivers open? No problem. McNabb ran for 38 yards. Talk about giving a defense something to think about.

By game's end, McNabb had run eight times for 107 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown, and the Eagles had trampled the Giants' fifth-ranked defense for 295 rushing yards and a 17-3 victory.

Talk about giving the league something to think about.

This week, it's the Indianapolis Colts' turn, and Colts defensive end Chad Bratzke has been doing some thinking, about McNabb, about how you defend a player ABC television analyst John Madden calls the NFL's most dangerous.

"I certainly haven't seen any better," said Bratzke, who has been chasing quarterbacks around NFL stadiums for nine years. "Rush him too hard, he's by you. Play him too cautious, he pulls up and throws for the long one.

"He's super tough, and right now, I don't see anybody who could beat him out for the MVP."

Philadelphia has a 6-2 record and one of the league's top defenses, but Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress, a former Colts assistant coach, calls McNabb "the straw that stirs our drink."

No wonder. Midway through his fourth season, McNabb has passed for 1,753 yards and 12 touchdowns and run for 398 yards and six TDs. His strong right arm and cat-quick feet have accounted for 73 percent of his team's offense and 78 percent of its touchdowns.

"He's a playmaker. He runs their offense like a point guard," said Giants linebacker Michael Barrow.

Smart, skilled, personable

McNabb's singular skills are enough to set him apart, but he's also smart, and he has another, salient quality.

He's ebullient. He's relentless. He's indomitable. He plays with unreserved joy and passion. He plays like Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers.

"You see him on the highlight reels. He comes up to the line with a big smile on his face," said Colts linebacker Rob Morris.

"I try not to compare those two, but there are some things that are similar in their personality type," said Andy Reid, who served as Packers quarterback coach before the Eagles made him their head coach in 1999. "I think you're looking at two guys that can be the most serious guy on the football field but be the funniest guy on the team bus.

"They have great personalities. I think they both love to play the game."

McNabb's personal qualities and appeal have given him the opportunity to pitch more than footballs. He has endorsement contracts with Campbell's Soup, Sierra Mist soft drink, McDonald's and Brand Jordan sportswear. At 25, he was elected last week to Syracuse University's board of trustees.

McNabb has it all, and enjoys it.

"He's a happy man," said Marvin Harrison, the Colts' Pro Bowl receiver and McNabb's teammate for two years at Syracuse. "He's always happy, win, lose, whatever's going on."

McNabb's impersonations of Reid and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson are team favorites, and he is a come-early, stay-late guy. He studies film with tireless devotion. He spends half his off-season at makeplays.com, a Phoenix performance enhancement center where he does everything from bench presses to vision-improvement drills.

It does a lot for a football team when its most talented player also ranks with its hardest-working, best-liked and most-respected. It does a lot in the locker room, on the field, in the huddle.

Thriving in crunch time

"When Don gets in there in crunch time, he thrives," said Eagles wide receiver James Thrash. "He'll come in the huddle and calm everybody down. He'll crack a joke."

McNabb shrugs it all off. He says football is fun, whether it's sandlot or Sunday afternoon. He attributes his self-discipline, his sense of self and willingness to work to his Chicago-based parents, Wilma, a registered nurse, and Samuel, an electrical engineer.

"They continue to provide confidence," said Donovan, "as well as the wisdom to know that every time I step out on the field, there's someone that's better than me. In order for me to prove that I'm better than them, I have to outwork them."

McNabb isn't the first of his kind, but he might be the best of a group of quarterbacks that includes Atlanta's Michael Vick, Tennessee's Steve McNair, San Francisco's Jeff Garcia, Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper and New Orleans' Aaron Brooks. They are throwers. They are runners. They are, believes Colts coach Tony Dungy, the model for quarterbacks of the future.

"When Steve Young came into the league, it was almost like he had to sit down and they had to figure out how to use him," said Dungy. "Now, people know how to use these guys. When they get them, they're turning them loose on the league. It's a little different than it was 10 or 12 years ago.

"These guys are good throwers, they're smart guys, but their mobility and ability to make plays and make you defend a quarterback that can run puts another dimension in it."

The Eagles were 9-22-1 the two seasons before they made McNabb the second selection of the 1999 draft. They are 30-16 with him as their starting quarterback, 3-2 in the playoffs.

They rewarded him on Sept. 27 with the richest contract in league history, 12 years at $115 million. Two days later, McNabb hit nine different receivers for 259 yards in a victory over Houston.

Sharing the wealth, you might call it.

Not perfect

McNabb might be the prototypical quarterback, but he is not the perfect quarterback. He is a sometimes inaccurate passer. His passer rating is 81.3, No. 21 in the league. Against Tampa Bay, New York and Chicago the past three weeks, he completed only 44-of-88 passes for 473 yards. That's an average of 157.7 yards a game.

Of course the Eagles have that great defense, and they went 3-0, and despite his occasional lapses, McNabb is exceptional at protecting the football. He has thrown only five interceptions in 289 attempts.

McNabb is 6-3, 226 pounds. He has running back size and skills and his strength and elusiveness allow him to keep plays alive, sometimes too long. He has been sacked 25 times, including 11 in Philadelphia's two losses, at Tennessee and at Jacksonville.

The consensus on how to beat him is to contain him, make him a passer. McNabb's 7.1-yard rushing average is lethal, and the Colts' defensive line is crippled with injuries.

Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher had his team play a lot of zone coverages, so it could face McNabb. Most teams "spy" him with a safety or linebacker, a practice Fisher rejected because most safeties and linebackers can't tackle McNabb in open space.

Besides, "It takes a guy out of pass coverage," said McNabb. "I enjoy it."

Defending McNabb is like walking the cliff's edge. Tilt a little too far, and you fall over. Teams are reluctant to go after him, and even if they do, McNabb can buy time with those feet. Worse, when he starts to run, he doesn't tuck it, he keeps looking. He preserves his options all the way to the line of scrimmage.

It's a circumstance that Colts cornerback Walt Harris likens to street football, where no one rushes the passer and the receivers just run around until someone gets open.

"It's tough on the defense, but extra tough on us because we're used to covering for a few seconds but we've got to cover for a couple more," said Harris. "That takes its toll late in the game."

Rookie first-round draft choice Dwight Freeney will make his first start for the Colts this week, at right defensive end. He knows McNabb. They were teammates for a year at Syracuse. As a freshman scout-teamer, Freeney spent his practices chasing McNabb, the senior All-American.

Freeney was profoundly impressed by McNabb's playmaking, and his persona.

"When things got tough, he always said the same thing," recalled Freeney. "Everybody on my shoulders. This train's rolling. Everybody get on board."'

The battered 4-4 Colts are facing what might be their toughest assignment of the season. They have to tackle that train.

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