At a time when many Philadelphia fans are whining out our Quarterback situation, facing off against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday should be a big wake up call. This Dolphins organization is on their 3rd head coach (excluding John Bate's filling in to finish up the 2004 season after Dave Wannstedt was fired) and have had 11 starting Quarterbacks since the departure of Jimmy Johnson and Dan Marino in 1999.
This year the team traded with the Chiefs for Trent Green after he basically lost his job to Damon Huard in part to a concussion he suffered last season. The idea wasn't for Green to necessarily be the QB of the future but to hold the job down while they groomed future prospect, John Beck who they drafted in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft.
That idea only lasted so long as Green not only showed little to no success at the position, but ended up being placed on Injured Reserve after suffering a concussion against the Houston Texans in Week 5.
With Green no longer active, the door was opened once again for Cleo Lemon, a perennial back-up QB throughout the majority of his career. Lemon was initially signed as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Ravens, went to the Chargers in 2003, and then was eventually traded to the Dolphins in 2005 for A.J. Feeley.
It seems like right now Lemon is just kind of wasting time until the team feels comfortable enough to give Beck the start. Considering they really like the kid it's going to be a process of developing him well enough as opposed to just throwing him in the fire. Right now the season is lost so there's no reason to rush into things and jeopardize the confidence of the young Quarterback.
So while each game passes, the questions as to when John Beck gets his first start are going to persist. But if I were the Dolphins I would be very careful as to how I handle this situation, they have been through the new Quarterback scenario time and time again but it has yet to work out for them.
For now they should continue running their offense through Jesse Chatman, who really broke onto the scene last week with 27 carries for 124 yards, a career high of his past 5 years in the league.
Though neither have experienced much success within the past 5 years, both Jesse Chatman and Cleo Lemon were undrafted rookie free agents signed by the San Diego Chargers in 2002. Each have experienced their fair share of ups and downs but no matter what you want to say about either, they have hung around in a league that averages just a 3 and 1/2 season career for each player.
The combination of both underdogs are going to try and prove themselves worthy of sticking around once again and no one on the Eagles is going to underestimate their abilities.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
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1 comments:
first of all, good article/post. i agree ultimately with one of the best points that you make, in saying that the eagles wont overlook this game. learning from last year, they dont want to have to battle back to scrape into the playoffs, and they know the division is out of reach this year. its one game at a time, and you beat the teams youre supposed to beat.
however, i disagree on 2 fronts. first, i think if i were the eagles i wouldnt be so focused on cleo lemmon at all. if you look at what the dolphins have done, its easy to say "oh wow 0-9 theyre awful", and its real easy to blame it on their offense. but its their defense, the anchors like taylor who havent showed up. lots of yards, lots of big plays against them. let cleo lemmon pass all he wants, stuff the box with 8 guys on 1st and 2nd down every time, because the other guy you mentioned, chatman, can run that football well. stuff the run and lemmon is out of the equation, he wont mean anything.
second, if i were the dolphins front office, or coaches, id make the decision to put beck in ASAP, as in, this week. miami doesnt have a qb. the season is lost, and if you put beck in right now, hes gonna get 7 games under his belt. granted, his numbers will be awful, he has no offense around him, and is a rookie among grown men. but putting him into the fire right now , and gaining this priceless experience can only help him in the offseason - how to prepare, how to train, what to look for...and it will better prepare him for next year. next year cannot be as bad as this year for them, so i dont think you want him starting his first ever game next year week 1. you want to get off to a good start, and a more experience beck can do that.
great post!
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