Revenge Of The Stiff
Darth Doofus is more like it...From the NY Post earlier this week....
I like Kerry Collins. Ever since his days at Penn State and his days with Panthers. When the Giants picked him up in 1999, I thought it was a shrewd move by Big Blue's brass to snag him. Danny Kannel and Dave Brown didn't have arms to make this team a playoff contender so picking up Collins despite the baggage was the way to go.
And he did a good job, he took us to playoffs twice and the Super Bowl once. Not bad for a former drunk.
But Ernie Acorsi and everyone who watched this team regularly knew that that was as far as Kerry was going to take them. He's fine as long his line holds up their protection. But his inability to improvise and check off his targets was what kept him from becoming one of the elite quarterbacks in the game. Guys like Kerry, Drew Bledsoe and Vinnie Testaverde are the sort of players who put up sick gaudy career numbers, but no rings to show for it. Some of it you can put on inferior teams. But most of it you have put on their inability to make plays with something other than their arms. Not to say that you have to be Vick or Elway or McNabb. You just have to buy yourself just enough time so that you or one of your teammates can make a play. Marino was great at that. So was Favre. Montana and Young were masters.
Acorsi saw in Eli Manning that ability. Yeah, he had the raw talent and the arm. But he also saw that something extra. He saw a QB who played in arguably the best conference in College Football with vastly inferior teams. Yet he found a way to keep them competitive. He even took them to a Bowl game his senior year. He was also working in Baltimore when the Colts traded away the rights to John Elway and he swore that if he ever had a chance at a franchise quarterback in thr draft....that he wouldn't pass it up. Even if it means you struggle for a year or two, his upside is worth the risk.
Buh-bye Kerry, Hello Eli.
It's paid off. Despite Eli's shaky second half, the Giants are on the verge of winning their first division title in five years. They are second in the NFC (fifth overall in the league) in scoring, something that they always struggled to do under Collins.
The Raiders? They're arguably the worst team in the league right now. It's not all on Kerry's shoulders. Norv Turner is a horrible head coach. Still a team with Randy Moss, Jerry Porter, Lamont Jordan and company should be better than 4-11.
If Kerry is actually able to wake his comatose team up and rally them to victory, it would rank as one of his greatest triumphs. It would also mean that this would be my last blog ever because I will drink myself to death in protest (Something that might happen anyway...not in protest at least).
So while Kerry might not have liked the move. He can't honestly say that it was the wrong one. Does anyone honestly think we would be in this position with Kerry Collins as our QB right now?
Didn't think so.
I like Kerry Collins. Ever since his days at Penn State and his days with Panthers. When the Giants picked him up in 1999, I thought it was a shrewd move by Big Blue's brass to snag him. Danny Kannel and Dave Brown didn't have arms to make this team a playoff contender so picking up Collins despite the baggage was the way to go.
And he did a good job, he took us to playoffs twice and the Super Bowl once. Not bad for a former drunk.
But Ernie Acorsi and everyone who watched this team regularly knew that that was as far as Kerry was going to take them. He's fine as long his line holds up their protection. But his inability to improvise and check off his targets was what kept him from becoming one of the elite quarterbacks in the game. Guys like Kerry, Drew Bledsoe and Vinnie Testaverde are the sort of players who put up sick gaudy career numbers, but no rings to show for it. Some of it you can put on inferior teams. But most of it you have put on their inability to make plays with something other than their arms. Not to say that you have to be Vick or Elway or McNabb. You just have to buy yourself just enough time so that you or one of your teammates can make a play. Marino was great at that. So was Favre. Montana and Young were masters.
Acorsi saw in Eli Manning that ability. Yeah, he had the raw talent and the arm. But he also saw that something extra. He saw a QB who played in arguably the best conference in College Football with vastly inferior teams. Yet he found a way to keep them competitive. He even took them to a Bowl game his senior year. He was also working in Baltimore when the Colts traded away the rights to John Elway and he swore that if he ever had a chance at a franchise quarterback in thr draft....that he wouldn't pass it up. Even if it means you struggle for a year or two, his upside is worth the risk.
Buh-bye Kerry, Hello Eli.
It's paid off. Despite Eli's shaky second half, the Giants are on the verge of winning their first division title in five years. They are second in the NFC (fifth overall in the league) in scoring, something that they always struggled to do under Collins.
The Raiders? They're arguably the worst team in the league right now. It's not all on Kerry's shoulders. Norv Turner is a horrible head coach. Still a team with Randy Moss, Jerry Porter, Lamont Jordan and company should be better than 4-11.
If Kerry is actually able to wake his comatose team up and rally them to victory, it would rank as one of his greatest triumphs. It would also mean that this would be my last blog ever because I will drink myself to death in protest (Something that might happen anyway...not in protest at least).
So while Kerry might not have liked the move. He can't honestly say that it was the wrong one. Does anyone honestly think we would be in this position with Kerry Collins as our QB right now?
Didn't think so.
posted by Darth Marc at 5:20 AM
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