On the NFL: McNabb steps back, takes the long view.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: David Aldridge

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ Is it progress when people think a problem no longer exists?

Or complacency?

In these turgid waters one finds Donovan McNabb, freshly alit from Philadelphia, ready as one can be for a media onslaught that careens from one subject to another like a drunk at last call. He is a lot of things: the self-professed captain of the Eagles' ship; the son of Sam and Wilma; Raquel's husband; corporate pitchman; an African American man.

It is the last of these with which we are interested today, because he is interested in talking about it, and even more so here, because this is the week of a Roman Numeral Game, and McNabb knows how rare it's been that men of his color have been the starting quarterback in Roman Numeral Games. In the XXXIXth of these annual affairs, he is but the third, after Doug Williams and Steve McNair.

It means something to McNabb to be here, something other than being in the Big Game. You may just want him to shut up and talk about football. But he's got the floor now. That's one of the things that happens when you break through and get here. The stage is yours.

"This is history being made," he said Monday. "You go back to what Doug Williams was able to do, the struggles, obviously, being in Tampa, and then coming into Washington, and having to come into the Super Bowl game. That showed a lot about his character, showed a lot about his perseverance. It just showed a lot about his heart, about his desire for the game.