Being a Brett Favre fan, I found myself gravitating to the local Minneapolis newspaper websites the past two years to check to see how he was being treated by the locals. Some people there (as well as in the media) thought that Favre was an outsider trying to shoehorn his way onto a team that was Super Bowl “ready”—except that it was a quarterback short. Favre convinced the doubters in week three of the 2009 season, when he threw that game-winning touchdown pass to Greg Lewis in the waning seconds against San Francisco. Everyone forgot about that “other guy,” Tarvaris Jackson. Although Favre did throw that pick in the NFC championship game, people forget that New Orleans defenders passed through the Vikings offensive line like a sieve, hitting him 16 times, including that double-hit that injured an ankle that would require surgery--a play that was subsequently admitted by the league should have been a penalty and nullifying an interception. It was debatable if Favre should have returned for the 2010 season, but his teammates apparently preferred a busted-up Favre to the alternative—the guy some fans referred to as “T-Joke.” Favre’s problems during the season had other fans calling for T-Jack to get another chance, and he got his chance after Favre was knocked out early against Buffalo. The Vikings ran-up 35 points in the first half, and some people were lulled into thinking that this should have been the plan all along, despite the fact that the Bills actually took an early lead after a Jackson pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown; in the second half, it was same old T-Joke, completing three passes and had two intercepted. After more of the usual the next week against the Giants (a “home” game played in Detroit after the Metrodome roof collapsed), a Star-Tribune sports columnist—who been bellyaching about giving Jackson another chance—jokingly “confessed” that he hadn’t meant that he thought that Jackson should actually start the rest of the season. It was the rookie quarterback Joe Webb who would stun the Eagles in Philadelphia in week 16.
The knock against Jackson was that he was physically and mentally unprepared to play. This was a guy who transferred from an established SEC program (Arkansas) to teeny-tiny Alabama State; that is not to say a quarterback from a college outside the mainstream can't make it in the NFL (Steve McNair attended Alcorn State), but it does lead to questions. Last year in Minnesota, he reported to camp out-of-shape and barely completed conditioning drills. In 2009, Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams called-out Jackson publicly, claiming that he could be a good quarterback if only he put in the time and effort; “This ain’t college anymore. This is the NFL.” Now, somebody thinks that Tarvaris could use a fresh start, and that is Darrell Bevell, the Seattle Seahawks new offensive coordinator.
Frankly I really couldn’t care less about the Seahawks, being a long-time Packer fan. But being a Big Ten fan as well, I do fondly recall that Bevell quarterbacked the Wisconsin Badgers to their first Rose Bowl win, himself running for the deciding touchdown against UCLA. But while Favre took considerable blame for the Vikings breakdown last year, others have pointed out that the Vikings’ woes (besides the injury-depleted receiving corps) was primarily due to predictable play-calling that failed to utilize play action and vertical routes, which would have allowed Randy Moss (when he was there) opportunities to make big plays, and simultaneously open-up run lanes. Instead, Favre was often put in untenable situations, seemingly deliberately and leading to a strained relationship with coach Brad Childress—which made his 2009 performance even more remarkable.
Who was responsible for the play-calling? Childress—or Bevell? And someone expects something to change? Marshawn Lynch isn’t Adrian Peterson. Jackson isn’t Favre (and that is meant as a criticism). Shouldn’t Bevell know better? OK, so Jackson “knows” the system, and maybe somebody thought that since he did didn’t require a lot of remedial training, he could make-up for the flaws in the team, particularly on the offensive line. But in Minnesota, Jackson had the benefit of a not yet old offensive line and talented skill position players like Peterson, and yet I remember watching him in a late season game against the Packers in 2006, thinking that the Vikings’ coaches can’t really be serious about this. Favre played old, but I kept thinking “The Vikings are giving you this game. Take the damn thing.” And they finally did, winning on a late field goal 9-7. I knew the game was over then. And it seems for the moment that Seahawks’ season is prematurely over; the coaches and management must know that if T-Jack was not the answer on good team, he certainly isn’t the answer on a team “rebuilding.” Maybe he’s just the guinea pig, taking the shots for the present so that when the team actually finds their real quarterback, it will be ready to win. But I’m just guessing.
The critics of Jackson are in the main correct. But that’s just one story. Another is what is happening on the other side of the country. "He was a one-year wonder. Akili Smith was a one-year wonder” opined draft “expert” Mel Kiper after Cam Newton allegedly failed to “wow” scouts at the NFL combines. Deborah Horton of the Bleacher Report said “The more I see of Newton, the more he appears to be a clone of Vince Young. Very athletic. Extremely strong. Apparently not NFL smart and all about the hype…He hasn't a clue how an NFL offense works, and he wants to be on camera, to be a star, more than he wants to be a team player.” Jon Gruden tried to “expose” Newton’s alleged lack of NFL “smarts” by rattling off a “typical” play call: “Flip right, double-X, Jet, 36 counter, naked waggle, X-7, X-quarter” and then challenging Newton to “Call something at Auburn that’s a little verbal.” It was an unfair question because Gruden already knew that Auburn ran a no huddle offense, where players were supposed to know what play a number written on a board on the sidelines called for. It has been pointed out by others, such as former 49ers coach Bill Walsh, that the future of football is the no-huddle offense where plays are called by single numbers or words. Coaches who like complex “verbiage” like (former) coach Gruden probably think it denotes “intelligence” as much as it proves how “clever” they themselves are.
Although the Carolina Panthers are 0-2 to start the season, Newton has shocked the doubters, throwing for back-to-back 400 yard games, and both of those games were winnable primarily because of Newton’s apparent NFL “readiness.” The second game against the defending Super Bowl champions also happened to expose the Packer secondary again, which has given-up back-to-back 400+ yards passing, but that’s an issue for another time. Some people are still warning against "overhype" because Newton hasn't won a game yet (like Peyton Manning wasn't "overhyped" in his rookie year when the Colts went 3-13), yet the fact is that this year's Carolina team looks a hell of lot more competitive and exciting than last year's 2-14 team that was dead last in total offense. Although it remains to be seen how Newton advances from here, one thing proved was that in his initial impressive performances, he has out-smarted the so-called "smart" people.
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