The Great QB Controversy of 2016
So Geno is starting for the Jets. At the beginning of the season I felt Fitz was the superior QB. I actually still think that, but I agree with the Jets now that Geno should start. Fitzpatrick might be a better QB, but he’s not superior enough to justify everything else as I thought he would be, even as bad Fitz. There is a chance Geno actually is better, and at this point, you might as well see what he’s got.
But honestly what I think the most interesting thing about all this is just how badly the Jets have managed the QB situation overall for the better part of a full decade. Over multiple coaches. Multiple GMs. I don’t know if a team has managed the position as badly as the Jets. The Browns? Bad draft choices and support and some rotten luck. Bills? Bad choices in players, paying Fitz, but the Jets did that too. Lets look at this, starting with Rex Ryan.
Ryan started off with Mark Sanchez. Mark Sanchez worked out for a while. His flaws were easily masked by a stellar defense. Then things started to fall apart, and Tebow happened. The Jets bring in Tebow, seemingly against Rex’s wishes mostly to appease a headline desiring owner, and proceed to have one of the most laughable seasons around. Sanchez is terrible. Rex is at war with the ownership about Tebow. Sanchez runs into a butt and keeps starting. When Rex does play a different QB, he skips over Tebow entirely and plays Greg McElroy instead. Everything blows up. Rex somehow keeps his job. The Jets draft Geno Smith, widely considered the weakest top QB prospect in years. Hey, at least they picked him in the second instead of picking EJ Manuel! (Lol Bills). McElroy by the way doesn’t last.
Now things get real fun. Sanchez gets hurt. Geno is thrust into an impossible situation. Rex is a dead coach yelling. He has no weapons. No support. Geno, if he does have talent, never stands a chance. So the Jets jettison Sanchez and replace him with a broken old Michael Vick. Geno sucks, so they start Vick. Vick isn’t good. Geno seems pouty about it all but is back at starter at the end of the season and has a real good game against the Dolphins, seemingly lining him up as the de-facto future.
Now things get really fun. The Jets fire Rex and pick up Todd Bowles, who has no loyalty to Smith. Todd Bowles and the new GM then draft another QB, Bryce Petty. But it was round 4, so Petty isn’t immediately viewed as a threat to Geno. They have QB slots to fill. The Jets then go out and sign Fitzpatrick, another veteran, who also isn’t expected to be a threat to Geno. Then Geno gets punched in the face and everything goes to hell.
Fitz gets the job. He plays okay. Bowles clearly supports Fitz. Geno doesn’t see the field. Fitz almost leads the Jets to the playoffs and plays better than Geno ever has. Geno, stuck on the bench despite being healthy, is clearly unhappy, what should be his team is now no longer his. But Fitz is a one year rental. Maybe now he’ll get his chance. The Jets enter the 2016 offseason. They clearly want Fitz back but don’t know if they’ll get him, so they decide to draft another QB, (the 3rd in 4 years) Christian Hackenberg (lol) and they spend a second round pick on Hack, which is too high and difficult to ignore as anything but a threat to Geno. Then the Jets spend the entire offseason ignoring Geno and trying to get Fitzpatrick. They do. Fitz starts the season and surprise, he sucks. All part of the cycle baby.
Now the Jets have a costly 1 year rental who they can’t start because he’s a disaster. They have a disgruntled and mistreated young QB who is on the last season of his contract and likely wants to leave, even if he plays well. They have an injured second year draftee who hasn’t seen any action and wasn’t highly viewed to begin with, and they have a rookie who is named Christian Hackenberg and lol can you believe the Jets spent a 2nd round pick on Christian Hackenberg? At the end of this season, the Jets will likely be left with Hack and Petty. The Jets have so royally screwed themselves at QB, and the team is falling apart around the QB position anyway. Decker is on IR. The defense is terrible. Bowles looks lost. It’s astounding.
I’ve been mean to Geno a lot but a part of me is rooting for him to show the Jets what he was worth the whole time, because they’ve been about as mean to him as I have, only they are his employers and I’m just an asshole on the internet.
not even the size and magnificence of fitz’s beard could mask the bad decisions he makes
who is that sad woman in the middle and what crime could one possibly commit to deserve this fate
Poor Cowboys. “Oh no, we have so many good quarterbacks on this team, we don’t know which of them to use!” What a fiasco.
I look at it as a pessimist. It you switch to Romo, it would be hard to admit you made a mistake and switch back to Dak later in the season if Romo starts sucking. If you leave in Dak it would be much easier to switch to Romo later if you need to.
For the Jets, it would be much easier to burn down the office than to go into work tomorrow. I would go with that plan.
I think they should keep Dak in as long as things are going well. They can always change it up later if things go wrong. Romo could probably use the extra time to get good and healthy, too.
I am the second crazy guy of that debate (without the crazy, I hope).
Dak has been fantastic, and is clearly the future of the franchise. But he isn’t being challenged much. And will hardly be challenged as long as Zeke runs for 140 yards per game, and the defense allows 20 points or less.
And there will be a time in which Dak will need to play against a team that can play the run, and put some pressure on him, or who can score fast. I don’t know when that will happen, but it will happen, and I don’t want it to happen in the playoffs.
Romo has been a good player for a long time. I can’t be certain about his health, but I am quite certain that his A game, is better than Dak’s A game, if only because of experience, and because I have seen it happen.
I would personally prefer to start Romo no later than the Cleveland game, but we will see. It certainly is not an easy question.
Part of me wants to agree with you, that Dak is playing well but that he hasn’t really been asked to do a whole lot. And that eventually, they’ll find themselves in a spot where they have to throw the ball down the field to come back from a deficit, and then Dak will struggle.
But then I watched that offensive line and Zeke absolutely maul the Packers run defense, which had been giving up less than 2 yards per carry. The Packers run defense was supposed to BE the defense that really challenged what the Cowboys wanted to do, and they provided very little resistance.
Dallas has a lot of things going for them right now. Its not just the OL and Zeke who are playing great. Or guys like Lee and Byron Jones who are matching expectations. But guys like Clairborne, Beasley are killing it. And Butler and Williams have steped up in place of Bryant. And even a bunch off second tier guys (like Wilcox or Church) are making plays. I don’t know if that’s sustainable. But we will see.
Might as well start Hack, unless Geno has improved drastically. If he’s decent like Kessler great. If he’s bad they get one of the QB prospects this year.
May the cycle be unbroken
Hey, Dave, have you heard about the whole Lane Johnson issue? I know that you hate the Eagles, but did the NFLPA screw him or is that just me?
As an Eagles fan, no, he screwed himself. The idiot *KNEW* he was going to be tested for everything; he was warned that although the listed ingredients in something were approved, that didn’t mean that there weren’t unlisted ingredients (which has been a long-time issue with “supplements”); and then he didn’t take advantage of the *FREE* supplement testing service offered by the NFLPA. He’s a great player, but also a bone-head.
“The cycle repeated
As explosions broke in the sky
All that I needed
Was the one thing I couldn’t find”
Also start Romo, they can’t ride the “Dak and Dunk” offense for 16 games and then win in the playoffs. Someone like Belichick will figure it out
Also the INDIANS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!
Fitz is still the starter though, which I think is a good thing for Geno. The last thing he needs on a contract year is to be thrown to the wolves by a struggling team that has no idea how to develop a quarterback and potentially getting injured.
wow! nailed it!
Lol jets will get baker Mayfield/manzel/Tanny for 17
Sounds more like the Brown’s lineup for next year.
“Sanchez runs into a butt and keeps starting.”
I love this line. I’ve seriously been laughing about it for the past 5 minutes.
I still remember where I was when that happened… Truly an immortal play.
“This can’t be easy for Jason Garrett.” Nah, I’m sure he’s used to Jerry Jones making all the decisions for him by now. 😛
Meanwhile on First Take:
Molly: Cowboys Cowboys Odell Cowboys!!!! Cam Newton? Cowboys Brady Cowboys!!! How many nudes did I send to Stephen A. this morning? Hint hint, Dak Prescott wears this number
Smith: The answer is 4, Molly. No doubt about it. And those nudes were spectacular.
Max: I think the answer is IV. Molly sent you IV nudes. And they weren’t spectacular, they were glorious.
Smith: IV???? And WHY are we doing those kind of numerals???? And why were they GLORIOUS and not SPECTACULAR???
*constant bickering*
Molly: And they weren’t even my nudes…..coming up….COWBOYS BRADY COWBOYS ODELL!! CAM NEWTON COWBOYS COWBOY COWBOY
If this was youtube, I’d thumbs up your comment
You’ve earned a quality high five, my friend.
Imagine if Skip Bayless were still on First Take. It’d be nothing but Cowboys and Patriots all week long.
Hostess: Today on undisputed, we talk about who is the best team in the-
Skip: COWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYSCOWBOYS
Shannon: PATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATSPATS
*Commercial Break*
Hostess: And for our next-
Both:
COLIN KEAPERNICK
O
L
I
N
K
E
A
P
E
R
N
I
C
K
*commercial break*
Hostess: and in other NFL news-
Both: NFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEASTNFCEAST
Hostess: and over in the other confrenc-
Both: JETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETSJETS
Sounds like quality entertainment. Also, butt-fumble….lol
I see that Dave has accepted that Brady is the GOAT
Actually he is not
Hey Dave, speaking of young QBs seemingly outplaying their potential, what do you think of Kessler so far?
Also the friggin Indians could be our second championship team in five months I don’t even know how to feel
Kessler is playing better than a 3rd string rookie has any right to, but it’s not like he’s blowing anyone’s mind out there. Kessler at least seems like he’s worth something in the future.
The Cowboys for the first time actually have the luxury of being able to wait until Romo is fully healthy instead of rushing him back the first second he gets out of the wheelchair only to get broken again.
Just saying, the Bills are 4-0 since firing Greg Roman after a game they scored 31 points in. The NFL is weird.
What are the Jets even
Fitzpatrick shoulda kept the big hair/headbeard. Given us something to talk about besides his failure cycle.
I know this is off topic and not revelant, but in the last week the Arena Football League has lost 5 of the 9 teams in the league.
The teams gone are: Portland Steel (folding after 3 years, 3 playoff appearances), Los Angeles KISS (folding after 3 years, 1 playoff appearance), Jacksonville Sharks (moving to unamed rival league after 7 years, 1 title, and 6 playoff appearances), Arizona Rattlers (moving to IFL after 23 years, 19 playoff appearances, and 5 titles in the Arena League, where Spokane and Iowa went in the last 2 years respectively) and, most depressing of all the Orlando Predators (folding, sadly after 25 years of the War-on-I-4, 2 titles, and 23 playoff appearances).
RIP arena league (only 4 teams remain (Tampa, Philly, Cleveland, and expansion Washington DC; league will host second dispersal draft in 2 weeks)
This year, the Arena League started an NFL – Europe style China league that already has more teams than the ‘main’ American League (6 china; 4 American)
damn. do you think the league will keep going for long?
Maybe 1 or 2 more seasons, at most
the main reason so many teams are leaving a that 2nd year commissoner Scott Butera wants every single team to be owned by an NBA/NHL owner to keep the cost of using the arena low and for free advertising. All of the teams (except for Philly, which is owned by Ron Jaworski) that weren’t owned by a NHL/NBA owner left.
As you can see, Butera, a former vegas hotel CEO, has so far failed as a commissioner.
Arena basically died once, I doubt it’ll survive this death
Any way we can get “Two Guys Yelling” as just a logo? I love it.
I honestly love how a team comes back from down 14 with less than 3 minutes to go (something only Tim Tebow has done in the last 10 years) ON SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL and the game gets no media attention, and most still think the team up 14 with 3 minutes to go won the game.
Its all COWBOYSNEWYORKPATSKEAPERNICKNEWTON, all day, every day.
Just put in Hackenberg or Petty already, Geno’s already had his chance (he blew it) and at this point anything is better than Fitz.
In other news, maybe the sports gods don’t hate Cleveland as much as we think, because they now have the chance to bring home two world titles in a single year because of the Indians winning the pennant.
It is my current belief that the Indians will win games 1-3, and then lose the last 4 of the World Series, with game 7 being an extra-innings game in which the Indians lose on an extraordinarily bad unforced error.
The Cavs winning wasn’t actually God showing love to Cleveland. It was instilling in them a false hope that maybe things would turn around, and it was further propped up by the Indians seeming to shine a light of greatness on the city. Then, with cruel and unrepentant mercilessness, sorrow and remorse will descend as impenetrable fog upon the city. The air will be thick with weeping, and the streets will run as rivers of bitter, salty tears, saturated by the battered and torn souls of those who dared look from the soot-grimed streets of the city toward a light of optimism whose unfamiliar and distant rays bore no semblance to anything with which they were familiar.
And then, as in the last days as locusts blot the sun and rivers run red with blood, that light will extinguish, and the city will find itself plunged once more in its familiar and aching darkness. The wind will whisper in quiet howls as the echoed weeping of a thousand children crying softly. Dreams once more walk the streets as living nightmares called from the depths of inhuman sorrow, and joy will exist only as an unfamiliar memory, untrusted and soon, unwelcome.
This is the cruelty of Cleveland– to forget, only long enough, the reality of their special Hell, as they grew accustomed to its flames, only to again be overwhelmed with the starkness of their grim truth. Cleveland is not where happiness goes to die; Cleveland is where happiness never was.
That was tragic. Like a Shakespearean elegy, NFL style. Instead of holding a skull as you deliver the monologue, maybe you could hold a tiny, palm-sized Browns helmet.
I would rather have a choice between an young above average QB and a glass cannon risk taking superior QB than a choice between a QB that has never got a fair chance because of questionable talent and Jekyll and Hyde QB.
Though to be fair, I would choose Dak because he has momentum and he has nothing to do but grow. Romo is on the down slope and is egregiously overpaid (you know, since he just sits all the time).