Donovan McNabb

After quarterback Donovan McNabb missed a string of practices with his sore ankle, Mike Shanahan had said his status was "day-to-day," and that "I really don't know for sure" if McNabb would be ready for the Cowboys game.

To the people around Shanahan, McNabb and the team on a daily basis, this seemed sort of a rhetorical flourish, if that, but it became a national story, with headlines like "Donovan McNabb's Status Unknown" and "Shanahan: McNabb may not play in Week 1" and "Shanahan unsure on McNabb for Redskins opener". Players, meantime, insisted they had no doubt McNabb would be on the field.

Well, Shanahan's now gotten with the program. When he was asked on his weekly coach's show if he was confident McNabb would start against the Cowboys, he said "Yes. Yes."

"Yeah, I feel very good about him being ready to go," Shanahan said. "In fact, I think he'll be able to practice in the next couple of days. And I feel very good about the direction he's headed."

If you drafted McNabb or were planning on drafting him, this is good news.