Donovan McNabb will face good friend Peyton Manning when the Colts come to town on Sunday, but the Redskins' quarterback isn't looking to engage in a shoot-out. (Photo: Jay Westcott)

So far this season, Donovan McNabb has faced Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys in prime time, returned to Philadelphia to face his former team and his replacement Michael Vick, and the next week had a date with another heralded quarterback in the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.

Every time, McNabb has downplayed the magnitude of of the matchups both from an individual and team concepts.

This week is no different. The Redskins have a Sunday Night Football date with Peyton Manning, whose friendship with McNabb dates back to 1994 when they were both Parade All-Americans. The two have remained close over the years, and Manning is considered by many to be the best signal-caller in the game. But staying true to form, McEasy insists this is just another game, not a showdown of elite quarterbacks.

Instead, McNabb -- a grizzled 12th-year veteran -- insists that he doesn’t get caught up in matchups with his counterparts. His only concern is doing what he needs to do to best the opposing defense, in this case, a Colts’ unit that ranks 25th overall, 15th against the pass and 30th against the run. 

McNabb admits that there was a time that he looked forward to quarterback matchups, but those days are long gone.

“Early on when you come into the NFL, you compete against guys like Brett Favre, Dan Marino and Steve Young and those guys,” McNabb said. “Those were the competitions you looked forward to, because I remember watching those guys in grammar school and high school -- not to date them. But, those were the matchups I was looking for. But as you get older, you play a couple years in this league and you look past that. In this situation, I just look forward to competing against the Indianapolis defense and doing what we have to do to win the game.”

McNabb and the Redskins are off to a 3-2 start, and Washington’s offense ranks 12th overall in the NFL, seventh in passing and 22nd in rushing. McNabb in his first season in Kyle Shanahan’s offense has passed for 1,315 yards and four touchdowns and three interceptions and has a completion percentage clip of .564.

The Colts also are 3-2 but rank third in the NFL in both total offense and passing. Manning has passed for 1,609 yards 11 touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 67.8 percent of his passes while basically serving as quarterback and offensive coordinator of the Colts’ system he has run his entire career.

But McNabb said he doesn’t use stats to compare himself with other quarterbacks, because in his eyes, stats are overrated.

“In this game, it’s not about stats,” he says. “It’s about wins and losses and there are a lot of teams that are 3-2. A lot of teams that weren’t projected to be 3-2 and were projected to be 5-0 or 4-1 or whatever. At this point in the season, it’s important that teams try to buckle down try to separate themselves in their division and as well as in the leagues of the NFC or AFC.”

And while Manning has accomplished more than McNabb has in his career, McNabb -- who has said when it comes to the top quarterbacks over the last decade, he deserves to have his name right up there with Manning and Tom Brady -- said that he respects his Colts counterpart, but isn’t chasing him.

“Not at all. I don’t look up to anybody that’s my age,” he said. “It’s one thing to look at the success that he’s had. A lot of us have experienced a lot of success. I mean, he’s won one Super Bowl, Brady’s won three. Brett [Favre]’s in the 500 touchdown club, nobody else is in that list. Brett has every record known to man in the NFL, pretty much. And I would say Brett is the measuring stick, pretty much, and all of us are trying to get to that point.”

When he spoke with the D.C. media during a teleconference this morning, Manning also downplayed Sunday's faceoff with McNabb. He had no problem, however, expressing mutual respect and proclaiming himself a McNabb fan.

"Donovan and I are good friends. We’ve been in the league, I’m one year further along than him, but I pull for him all the time, and everything he’s been able to accomplish in his career," Manning said. "I congratulated him when he signed with the Redskins and was happy for him and know he's excited for the opportunity, and like I said, I'm always pulling for him."