Post by bcastray on Aug 6, 2008 21:24:59 GMT -5
www.miamiherald.com/611/story/631637.html
IN MY OPINION
Will the Dolphins' starting QB step up?
Posted on Wed, Aug. 06, 2008
BY GREG COTE
gcote@MiamiHerald.com
Ready or not -- and at the moment it's not -- the Dolphins will soon reveal a starting quarterback, whose identity presently is as hidden as the eyes behind the dark sunglasses forever attached to head coach Tony Sparano.
Nine years spent waiting for the Next Marino or even a vague facsimile have not revealed who will start for Miami in 2008.
The franchise nadir that was last season did not provide an answer.
Neither the recent draft nor free agency told us.
The couple of dozen offseason practices didn't, either.
Nor have two weeks of full training camp revealed much.
Nothing yet has solved the quarterback mystery.
''Eeny, meeny, miny, moe'' won't do it.
Maybe the advent of games finally will.
Beginning with Saturday's first of four exhibitions, we are looking, please, not for three quarterbacks to continue playing hot-potato with opportunity, but for one man to raise his hand and begin to win the job.
The QB battle entering this visit by Tampa Bay remains what might be characterized as a three-horse race separated by a nose, so close a photo finish is likely.
If only we had any faith these were three blueblood thoroughbreds. We wonder instead (to press the metaphor just a bit longer) if we are witness to a claiming race in which the winner will be not the one who turns it on impressively down the stretch, but rather the one who lags or stumbles least.
THREE FOR THE SHOW
John Beck, Chad Henne or Josh McCown will start the season -- that's alphabetical, by the way -- but the better question is whether any of them will be any good, either for the future or for now.
Please exclude tryout guy Quincy Carter, because Carter (to finally wrap up the equine metaphor) wears a straw hat and ambles toward the NFL glue factory.
The imperative to identify a quarterback who can be trusted is such that the ''preseason'' commencing in two days takes on unusual heft.
There isn't much less important than an exhibition opener -- but that's for most teams, most years.
The Dolphins, coming off a nightmarish season and still trying to fill in the blank on the most important position, are decidedly not that team.
That makes Saturday important. The game doesn't count. But it matters.
Winning in August might not be important. But it is here.
''We were 1-15. We're trying to change the culture,'' as Sparano put it this week.
Right or wrong, Miami winning Saturday would offer instant reinforcement of all of the changes, offer reassurance that the direction is good, and offer starving fans some hope that felt tangible for the first time.
The quarterback search is intertwined in every bit of that.
Sparano once said he hoped ideally to settle on a starting QB by the second exhibition, another indication that this first one, Saturday, looms as a vital barometer.
''There's no question. It can change your mind [about a player],'' the coach said of Saturday's faux opener. ``I'm really anxious to see what happens when the big light goes on. This is a big light that goes on this week. As much as we like to talk about creating these situations on the practice field, it's nothing like a game.''
Sparano couldn't or wouldn't say Wednesday what his QB rotation will be Saturday or even if all three guys will play. We surmise McCown will start, although his being No. 1 on the depth chart is a tenuous thing, initially a product simply of seniority.
MUCH SCRUTINY
For sure, any QB who plays will see his every muscle twitch scrutinized.
''I'm curious to see who does what in a game situation and who can do it fast, and who doesn't get rattled, and who's not watching the rush, and who maybe makes the extra play, the critical play,'' says Sparano of his QBs. ``It might be putting the ball down and running with it. It might be taking a timeout in a critical situation. Who's going to handle [the pressure] and who's not going to handle it as the clock is ticking down.''
Should the Dolphins have drafted Brady Quinn in 2007? Should the team have explored Brett Favre's availability in '08?
Those answers will be shaped by the production and the promise of Miami's quarterback play this season.
The jockeying as the games begin seems to find McCown (based on experience) and Henne (based on camp performance) as fragile front-runners, with Beck lagging.
By my view Henne can't lose here. A 23-year-old rookie wasn't expected to start, and a year of learning -- of literally and figuratively being unrushed -- can only help him.
McCown, 29, hasn't a lot to lose, either. He is a journeyman with 31 career starts in six seasons. He would be seen as a fill-in starter more than a long-term answer.
Beck is the guy whose career teeters. Turning 27 in two weeks, and with four starts last year, he can't play the green card. This job ought to be his to win.
Bottom line: If McCown emerges as the starter, it might simply indicate Henne wasn't ready, but it could only mean Beck wasn't good enough.
Neither media nor fans nor even coaches have seen enough yet to have any real grip on how this will play out, but we'll all begin to find out together Saturday night.
Months of meetings, conditioning, closed practices, controlled workouts, limited hitting and intrasquad scrimmaging have told us not nearly enough.
Two nights hence, as Sparano says, ``the big light goes on.''
That's when everything is out in the open for all to see.
IN MY OPINION
Will the Dolphins' starting QB step up?
Posted on Wed, Aug. 06, 2008
BY GREG COTE
gcote@MiamiHerald.com
Ready or not -- and at the moment it's not -- the Dolphins will soon reveal a starting quarterback, whose identity presently is as hidden as the eyes behind the dark sunglasses forever attached to head coach Tony Sparano.
Nine years spent waiting for the Next Marino or even a vague facsimile have not revealed who will start for Miami in 2008.
The franchise nadir that was last season did not provide an answer.
Neither the recent draft nor free agency told us.
The couple of dozen offseason practices didn't, either.
Nor have two weeks of full training camp revealed much.
Nothing yet has solved the quarterback mystery.
''Eeny, meeny, miny, moe'' won't do it.
Maybe the advent of games finally will.
Beginning with Saturday's first of four exhibitions, we are looking, please, not for three quarterbacks to continue playing hot-potato with opportunity, but for one man to raise his hand and begin to win the job.
The QB battle entering this visit by Tampa Bay remains what might be characterized as a three-horse race separated by a nose, so close a photo finish is likely.
If only we had any faith these were three blueblood thoroughbreds. We wonder instead (to press the metaphor just a bit longer) if we are witness to a claiming race in which the winner will be not the one who turns it on impressively down the stretch, but rather the one who lags or stumbles least.
THREE FOR THE SHOW
John Beck, Chad Henne or Josh McCown will start the season -- that's alphabetical, by the way -- but the better question is whether any of them will be any good, either for the future or for now.
Please exclude tryout guy Quincy Carter, because Carter (to finally wrap up the equine metaphor) wears a straw hat and ambles toward the NFL glue factory.
The imperative to identify a quarterback who can be trusted is such that the ''preseason'' commencing in two days takes on unusual heft.
There isn't much less important than an exhibition opener -- but that's for most teams, most years.
The Dolphins, coming off a nightmarish season and still trying to fill in the blank on the most important position, are decidedly not that team.
That makes Saturday important. The game doesn't count. But it matters.
Winning in August might not be important. But it is here.
''We were 1-15. We're trying to change the culture,'' as Sparano put it this week.
Right or wrong, Miami winning Saturday would offer instant reinforcement of all of the changes, offer reassurance that the direction is good, and offer starving fans some hope that felt tangible for the first time.
The quarterback search is intertwined in every bit of that.
Sparano once said he hoped ideally to settle on a starting QB by the second exhibition, another indication that this first one, Saturday, looms as a vital barometer.
''There's no question. It can change your mind [about a player],'' the coach said of Saturday's faux opener. ``I'm really anxious to see what happens when the big light goes on. This is a big light that goes on this week. As much as we like to talk about creating these situations on the practice field, it's nothing like a game.''
Sparano couldn't or wouldn't say Wednesday what his QB rotation will be Saturday or even if all three guys will play. We surmise McCown will start, although his being No. 1 on the depth chart is a tenuous thing, initially a product simply of seniority.
MUCH SCRUTINY
For sure, any QB who plays will see his every muscle twitch scrutinized.
''I'm curious to see who does what in a game situation and who can do it fast, and who doesn't get rattled, and who's not watching the rush, and who maybe makes the extra play, the critical play,'' says Sparano of his QBs. ``It might be putting the ball down and running with it. It might be taking a timeout in a critical situation. Who's going to handle [the pressure] and who's not going to handle it as the clock is ticking down.''
Should the Dolphins have drafted Brady Quinn in 2007? Should the team have explored Brett Favre's availability in '08?
Those answers will be shaped by the production and the promise of Miami's quarterback play this season.
The jockeying as the games begin seems to find McCown (based on experience) and Henne (based on camp performance) as fragile front-runners, with Beck lagging.
By my view Henne can't lose here. A 23-year-old rookie wasn't expected to start, and a year of learning -- of literally and figuratively being unrushed -- can only help him.
McCown, 29, hasn't a lot to lose, either. He is a journeyman with 31 career starts in six seasons. He would be seen as a fill-in starter more than a long-term answer.
Beck is the guy whose career teeters. Turning 27 in two weeks, and with four starts last year, he can't play the green card. This job ought to be his to win.
Bottom line: If McCown emerges as the starter, it might simply indicate Henne wasn't ready, but it could only mean Beck wasn't good enough.
Neither media nor fans nor even coaches have seen enough yet to have any real grip on how this will play out, but we'll all begin to find out together Saturday night.
Months of meetings, conditioning, closed practices, controlled workouts, limited hitting and intrasquad scrimmaging have told us not nearly enough.
Two nights hence, as Sparano says, ``the big light goes on.''
That's when everything is out in the open for all to see.