Desperate for football talk, instead of Spygate, collective bargaining issues and insane first-round money? You've come to the right place. The majority of this holiday edition of MMQB will be real-football-centric, starting with the story of the player under as much pressure this season as any other player in the game, with the possible exception of Aaron Rodgers.
I bring you the offseason story of Tarvaris Jackson.
Eight hours after the New York Giants stunned the football world by upsetting New England in the Super Bowl in February, Jackson stepped on his treadmill in Montgomery, Ala., loosened up his legs a bit, then went into a serious sprint workout for 45 minutes. Then he hit the weights to do his offseason lifting regimen. Then he went outside and threw the ball to some friends, playing receiver for the routes he called.
"My season started that morning,"
Jackson, the 25-year-old, third-year quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, said from Minneapolis the other night. "I was so excited. After I watched that game, I couldn't wait to get going."
Jackson is one driven guy right now. When he watched the Super Bowl, this is what he thought, more or less:
Ten weeks ago we went into the Meadowlands as big underdogs against the Giants, I threw a 60-yard bomb on the second play of the game for a touchdown, our defense played great and we throttled the Giants, 41-17. And they won the Super Bowl. Why not us?
That's why he set his alarm for 6 the next morning and hit the offseason running. Literally.
The Vikes have a playoff-caliber team in place, particularly with the addition of 2007 NFL sack leader Jared Allen via a trade with Kansas City, and their biggest question mark by far is at quarterback. Jackson knows there's pressure. He feels it. He's honest about it.
"I know what people are saying,"
he told me. " 'The Vikings have a great defense, the best running back in the league, a great offensive line ... what about the quarterback?' The quarterback position -- every day of your life you're under the microscope anyway. I understand that. I'm very confident in my growth as a player in this system. But I know what's going on. People don't have any reason NOT to ask that question about me."
The Vikings strongly considered trading for Sage Rosenfels with Houston before the draft. They would have put the efficient Rosenfels in competition with Jackson, and Rosenfels likely would have won the job. Did they ever consider dealing for Donovan McNabb? They never made a phone call to the Eagles, but there's no question it was considered. So Jackson knows he's going to have to play well to keep the gig, and if he doesn't, the team will definitely look to replace him next year.
He's an interesting case. Before I spoke with Jackson, I looked at his bio and his game-by-game numbers from last year. This stunned me: In the final seven games last year, when Jackson and the Vikings went 5-2, he completed 65.2 percent of his passes. Look at these game by completion accuracy numbers, in percentages: 77, 83, 75, 64, 62, 61 and 52. The biggest thing he had to do after his career at Division I-AA Alabama State was work on accuracy (in his three seasons there, he completed 51, 52 and 61 percent of his throws, respectively) and knowledge of the pro game.
In the Minnesota offense, Jackson knows he has a security blanket in the league's best running game -- led by backs Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor, who combined for 2,185 rushing yards and a gaudy 5.5-yard average last year -- so he knows now not to force anything. He also knows not to shortchange himself. He's worked with former Viking and Raider MVP quarterback Rich Gannon at the Viking complex on several things, one of which is goal-setting. "He stressed accuracy, and he told me, 'Set your goals high. Set it [completion-percentage rate] for 70. So I did.'' Gannon helped Jackson with his dropback, telling him on timing throws he needs to get back from center faster, so he has more time to survey the field before he makes his decision where to go with the ball.
"When I looked at myself on film from last year,"
Jackson said, "the biggest thing was how much of a robot I was at times. Not saying I was scared to take chances, but a few times when the play was already going bad, I'd do something like forcing the ball to make it worse. Working with [quarterbacks coach] Kevin Rogers this offseason, I think I've just gotten more comfortable in the offense and the whole decision-making process."
In last week's organized team activities, Jackson's offensive teammates thought they saw a change for the better in Jackson. "Night and day in his knowledge of the offense and his comfort level,"
receiver Robert Ferguson said.
"He made a tremendous jump toward the end of the last year,"
guard Steve Hutchison told me, "and it's continued this spring. Quarterbacks need to get a swagger. Not be cocky, but just be confident that where they're going with the ball and how they're leading is right. Now, just the way he is around us and on the field, it's not like he's a rookie quarterback. He's more like one of the guys. He knows he doesn't have to put up Peyton Manning numbers. He's got a great arm, but he's also got a great support system on offense."
The key for Minnesota on offense, aside from Jackson, is whether free-agent wideout Bernard Berrian can be the deep threat Troy Williamson was drafted to be in 2005 but never became. (Williamson was dealt to Jacksonville in March for a sixth-round pick.) If Berrian can be the defense-stretcher consistently that he was occasionally in Chicago, and if Jackson can find him downfield twice a game, that 5.5-yard average rush for Peterson and Taylor could jump to 6.0. That's a big if, though.
Hutchinson's right -- Jackson has to be a nice complementary quarterback, minimizing his mistakes and completing 65 percent of his throws. But that's a lot to ask of a kid who three years ago was playing against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Tuskegee. It's also easy to lead the league in good news in May. How will Jackson react to walking into Lambeau Field on the first Monday night of the season, with a Packer crowd juiced for their archrivals and the juicing going up a notch with the retiring of Brett Favre's jersey?
"They're probably out there in the parking lot tailgating right now,"
Jackson said.
At least the kid knows what he's up against. Now he's got to go out and prove he's a real, live, winning NFL quarterback. It's too early to predict anything, but I like the moxie of a kid who walks into Giants Stadium and throws a bomb on the second play of the game for a touchdown. Can he make the decisions of a winning quarterback, and can he be the week-in, week-out player to run Brad Childress' offense? Minnesota's playoff hopes are riding on him. We'll see.
Quote of the Week I
"In my mind, I thought it was not only the right message for the franchise but the right thing to do so he doesn't at all fall behind where he has one of those rookie years where he never catches up."
--Atlanta president Rich McKay, on why the Falcons moved so quickly to get a deal done with first-round pick Matt Ryan.
I have some interesting notes on the six-year, $66-million deal (that has a chance to go to $72 million if Ryan plays well).
Quote of the Week II
"Don't worry. It'll get done."
--NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, to me, on his sense of the fate of the negotiations with ownership over a new collective bargaining agreement after owners opted out of the agreement Tuesday.
Quote of the Week III
"It's going to require a change, and maybe even a sea change, in how we run training camp."
--Indianapolis president Bill Polian, on Sirius NFL Radio's "Opening Drive'' show Wednesday, talking about the league's hard-and-fast stance on 80-man rosters for training camp.
Big, big story. Don Banks covered it well two weeks ago, and you'll hear coaches moan about it when camp begins. Because teams are not allowed roster exemptions for players who played in NFL Europa or various other restricted lists, you'll see every team, in all likelihood, go to camp with fewer than 80 able-bodied players. (Players on the Physically Unable to Perform List count against the 80-man limit.) So if you have five or six players unable to practice because they're returning from offseason surgery or from various rehab stints, you'll have a comparatively bare-bones team starting training camp.
Polian thinks few teams, if any, will have two-a-day practices this summer on consecutive days. Many teams have phased out back-to-back two-a-days, but a few teams still like to run them early in camp. My theory is that, on average, each team will have one fewer player at almost every position group practicing this summer -- and that eight- and 10-year veterans are going to be ticked off that they're having to run so many extra repetitions in camp, leading to an increased chance of injury. "We have the fifth preseason game this year, the Hall of Fame game,'' Polian said on Sirius. "Had we known we'd have had 80-man rosters, we never would have agreed to play that game.''
I've felt all along, and still do, that owners are going to use this as a bargaining chip in negotiations with players over the new CBA. But it's going to be kind of a hollow chip. Owners aren't going to increase regular-season rosters if they agreed to, say, an 85-man roster limit for training camp. Owners would simply be allowing more players to attend training camp. So while owners won't be able to say they're adding, say, 170 jobs to the NFL workforce, the NFLPA would be able to tells its rank-and-file that 170 more players would get to go to camp for a chance to win a job.
Quote of the Week IV
"I lost two of those championship games. If you're going to tell me that happened, there's no way I can look at it and feel like I didn't get cheated."
--Miami linebacker Joey Porter, a former Steeler, on ESPN's "NFL Live"
show on Friday, talking about how he feels the Patriots' three Super Bowls wins -- particularly the two after the Patriots beat Pittsburgh in the AFC title game -- are tainted.
Stat of the Week
If you learn one contractual stat comparing the contracts of the top quarterbacks picked in 2008 versus 2007, remember this one: In real, likely-to-be-earned money, the third overall pick in 2008, Matt Ryan of Atlanta, is going to make more than the first overall pick in 2007, JaMarcus Russell of Oakland, in almost every way you compare the deals.
Assuming option clauses are exercised, which they will be, Ryan's real-money deal is $66 million over six years. Russell's is $61 million over six.
Over the first three years of the contracts, Ryan makes $34.75 million, Russell $34.5 million.
Over the first four years, Ryan makes $45 million, Russell $44.5 million.
Over the first five years, Ryan makes $56 million, Russell $54.5 million.
So much for teams trying to do something about the fiscal insanity of first-round contracts. Ryan was picked third in the draft, and his likely-to-be-earned proceeds over six years will be 8 percent higher than the first pick the previous year. That's some significant inflation.
Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week
The scene: Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport, Tuesday afternoon, stormy skies threatening outside, scores of flights delayed.
I stand in a re-booking line in Terminal A because I've missed my connection to Memphis. The line is not long, maybe eight or 10 people, as I get to the front of the line, show the Delta gatekeeping agent my ticket and she begins to print out a new itinerary for me. Suddenly, a frazzled, 40ish woman with a rolling suitcase comes from behind the line and passes the gatekeeping agent.
"Ma'am, where are you going?"
Gatekeeper says. "There is a line."
"I need to talk to an agent RIGHT NOW,"
the Frazzled Idiot says.
Gatekeeper: "You will have to wait in line. You may not even have to see an agent."
Frazzled Idiot: "Oh, I have to see an agent."
Gatekeeper: "You may have already been re-booked automatically."
Frazzled Idiot then walks past calm Gatekeeper, who, while saying, "Ma'am ... Ma'am,"
hands me my re-booked ticket. "Thanks,"
I say, and I walk away.
The last words I heard were from Frazzled Idiot, walking up to the counter with three agents. "Who here is going to help me?!''
You could not pay me enough to deal with the Frazzled Idiots who travel this country.
Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me
It should interest, or sicken, everyone wearing purple.
The Vikings' two most valuable chips entering the 2005 off-season were Randy Moss and their first-round draft choice, the 18th overall pick. Imagine if I told you three years ago that the Vikings would have turned Randy Moss and the 18th overall pick in the draft into absolutely, totally nothing.
That's what's happened -- unless you consider the 27th receiver in the 2008 draft a bonanza.
In the Moss trade, in came linebacker Napoleon Harris and first- and seventh-round picks. Harris lasted two mostly undistinguished years, compiling 84 tackles and 3.5 sacks before moving to Kansas City in 2007 as a free agent. The first-rounder, seventh overall, was wide receiver Troy Williamson, who had three touchdowns in three totally undistinguished years. He's one of the biggest busts in the top 10 in recent years. The seventh-rounder, cornerback Adrian Ward, never played a game for the Vikes. And last Friday, defensive end Erasmus James, the injury-plagued first-rounder from 2005, was waived. He gave the Vikes all of five sacks in three years.
This is what the Minnesota Vikings have left from Randy Moss and a first-round pick in 2005: Jaymar Johnson, a wide receiver from Jackson State. The Vikes dealt Williamson to Jacksonville for a sixth-round pick in March, and Johnson -- yes, 26 receivers went before him -- is the flag-bearer for one of the worst first rounds a team has had in recent history.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think as the days go by, I'm talking myself more and more into Jacksonville being a serious Super Bowl contender. Maybe the most serious Super Bowl contender in the AFC.
2. I think the Dolphins have dug themselves an unnecessary hole with Jason Taylor. In the first place, they should have traded him on draft day. He's not a fit with the team now because he's not going to sell his soul for anyone, nor is he at the point in his career where he's going to be a regular in the offseason program. That obviously does not fit with Bill Parcells and his disciples, GM Jeff Ireland and coach Tony Sparano.
And now the Dolphins have basically painted themselves into a corner, out of principle, on Taylor by saying ... well, by Sparano saying in the most rambling quote of the offseason that Taylor's not going to be around -- nor, apparently, will he be welcome if he decides to come around -- for the entire offseason and into training camp. I love press conference transcripts. This is what Sparano said, word for word, on Taylor the other day, courtesy of Miami PR man Neal Gulkis:
"This is my reaction with the Jason Taylor situation. I'm going to answer this question one time. I'm not going to answer another question about the Jason Taylor situation after I answer this. Here is what I know. I'm glad we know this and we've gotten the information. That's important. I know that Jason is not going to be at any OTAs, I know that Jason is not going to be at any minicamps, and I know that, right now, Jason is not going to be at training camp. So, that's what we know. Jason is a player under contract with the Miami Dolphins. He knows that. Both parties are well aware of the information. That is all I am going to say about it. I am going to talk about our players now. I am not going to talk about another thing about Jason. I am not going to talk about another thing. What I just told you is what I know. It's what we know and that being said, we need to discuss the current players on our team right now that have been busting their butt for nine weeks here."
The Dolphins could see it going this way. Why wouldn't they have aggressively tried to peddle him to Jacksonville or San Diego on draft day?
3. I think there are a few clarifications for those of you keeping score at home about the rules of the uncapped year in 2010 if we ever get to that point. (I can see eyes glazing over now.) In a capped year -- 2008 or 2009, under the current rules -- a club can put a franchise tag or a transition tag on one player; only one of those tags can be used per year. If 2010 is an uncapped year, a team can use two tags -- either a franchise and a transition tag, or two transition tags. To clarify, the difference between the two is that a franchise tag means the team would pay a player the average of the top five players at his position, and tagging a player with the transition tag would mean paying the player the average of the top 10 players at his position.
4. I think you may have never heard of Daven Holly, but he's my choice for the most significant injury of this offseason so far. Holly would have been either the Browns' second corner or their nickel, and he crumpled to the turf Tuesday during Cleveland's organized team activities while covering Braylon Edwards. The result: a torn ACL.
The Browns already were paper-thin at corner after trading Leigh Bodden to Detroit and ignoring the position in free agency and the draft. Only Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright are sure to make the team, and neither are better than passable. But it's unlikely you'll see either Lito Sheppard traded to the Browns or Ty Law sign.
Sheppard wants a new contract and to be paid like a premier corner, though he's missed 14 games due to injury in the past three years; plus the Eagles are notorious for wanting too much in trades. That will never happen. Law probably is out because he wouldn't come cheap either. Look for the Browns to add a couple of corners -- they signed free-agent vet Terry Cousin over the weekend -- in the next week or so.
5. I think, by the way, that I saw a very frisky Shaun Rogers running around the practice field in shorts the other day in Berea, Ohio, and the honeymoon is on. The Browns love him. He loves the Browns. He's hustling. I caution you: Nothing ever, ever can be divined about a football team in May, when hitting is very light and pads are in the lockers. I'm just telling you what I saw. The guy's hustling.
6. I think the question of the week should be this: Why is everyone so bent out of shape that Indianapolis got a Super Bowl? Northern cities with domed stadiums that have lobbied hard for Super Bowls HAVE ALWAYS gotten Super Bowls. The Silverdome, the Metrodome, Ford Field and now Lucas Oil Stadium, or whatever it's called.
Owners award Super Bowl sites. Sportswriters don't. Party-planners don't. Travel agents don't. And owners are always going to give one Super Bowl to other owners who build new stadiums. One. That's it. So Indy won't get it again, barring a miracle, but the city deserves to get one, no matter what.
See, when teams build the kind of public-team partnerships that have to be built to get stadiums done, there are implicit vows that the owner will do everything he can to convince his fellow owners to give that city a Super Bowl. It will never change. Nor should it. We get so ticked off that once every 10 years we're in a city we don't want to be in for a week in February. Who cares?
7. I think if I'm the Titans, I'm not feeling very good about my quarterback right now. Did you see what Vince Young told Thomas George of NFL.com? He said he thought about retiring after his rookie year. "It was crazy being an NFL quarterback,'' he said. "It wasn't fun anymore. All the fun was out of it. All the excitement was gone."
He said praying "really hard"
helped him realize football was God's calling for him.
Wow. The Titans hand Young the keys to their franchise, he misses a plane to one of his rookie-year games (Philadelphia), and now he admits he thought of quitting at the end of the year? Now there's a solid guy.
8. I think it's nice to write a column with only 71 words on Spygate (Joey Porter's quote and subsequent explanation).
9. I think I appreciate everything Joe Paterno has done for football, and he has certainly been a generous ambassador for Penn State. But can't one of his friends tell him he's being selfish in not stepping aside to allow a younger man to coach the team? At the very least, Paterno should announce that this will be his last year -- or confide this to the university president. Every coach should always do what's in the best interests of his team.
It's not in the best interests of his team for an 81-year-old man showing increasing signs of frailty to be running a world-class college football team. Penn State's not the Vatican, and Paterno's not the pope. He shouldn't be keeping this job just because HE wants to.
I'm prompted by Paterno's words in Pittsburgh the other night at a dinner honoring him. "I've got a good football team, and I'm anxious to see what we can do with it,"
he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I'd hate to walk away from it right now because I think they can be pretty darn good and I want to be a part of it."
That's just it. I want to be a part of it. Of course he does. But what he should be thinking is: The team would be better off without me, and with a younger, more energetic person who can recruit, coach and lead the way I used to. There's no shame in admitting that at 81 you're not as good as you were at 51. The shame is not being able to walk away, and making it about you.
Now, all those who are outraged by criticism of Paterno should ask yourselves these questions: Is it about Paterno wanting to coach, even if it might not be best for the team, or is it about the team? And would Penn State be a better football program right now with Paterno as coach or, say, Greg Schiano?
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. I don't care what sort of logic there is in baseball for batting the pitcher eighth and a regular hitter ninth. It's not a good idea. Now it's not just Tony LaRussa doing it. The Brewers are copying it. If over the course of the baseball season, the eighth spot in the order comes up more often than the ninth spot -- even with double-switches having pitchers bat in other spots in the order -- I defy you to explain to me why you'd want a lesser hitter have the chance to come up more often than a better hitter.
b. Watching Doug Mientkiewicz play third base -- he is platooning there with the Pirates -- is not just a sad commentary on a player who's through. It's a sad commentary on the state of the Pirates' farm system for recycling a guy who hasn't had a good offensive season in five years.
c. The Mets are frauds. They're 77-80 since last June 1. In sports, you are what your record says you are, not what anyone says you should be on paper. And 77-80 is Marlins territory. Actually, the Marlins are 72-82 since last June 1 ... just 3.5 games worse than the almighty Mets.
d. Found myself thinking the other day about the aborted Johan Santana trade to the Red Sox, which the Sox didn't do because it was too rich for their blood. Minnesota wanted, if you believe the reports, either Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury, along with minor-leaguers Justin Masterson, a pitcher, and Jed Lowrie, an infielder.
Lester threw a no-hitter last week. Over his past five starts, he's thrown 34.1 innings and allowed 18 hits and six earned runs. Over his past five starts, Santana has pitched 32.1 innings and allowed 37 hits and 13 earned runs. I haven't even mentioned Masterson -- who, in two emergency-duty starts after being called up from Double-A, is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA -- or Lowrie, who beat Minnesota with a homer May 10 before being sent back to the minors.
If your system is good, and you can shield yourself from the outside noise, you're going to make smart deals. And the deals you don't make are going to be smart too.
e. We went to Yankee Stadium, the old one, for probably the last time Friday with our good friends the Normans, thanks to the generosity of SI's athletic events guru, Christine Rosa, who got us nice seats a few rows behind the Mariners dugout. (Good thing they were free, and thanks to my beloved SI. I'm not shelling out my own $250 a seat to watch the Pinstripes.) Beautiful night, and nice to be in the old ballyard one more time. I'm not the type to get sentimental over stadiums, particularly one with memories of Aaron Boone in it, and so I won't miss it. Plus, the park rising next door looks gorgeous. Progress, most often, is good.
f. By the way, Mike Norman, a Vietnam vet, has one heck of a Memorial Day story on the back page of the New York Times Sunday magazine about his chance encounter with a a very-soon-to-be-dead soldier and the impact it had on his life. You've got to read it
