I am always respectful of someone’s opinion, even when they are not pro-Miami; but I tend to only be so when their opinion is based on some factual basis. I think as it relates to Brees, he fails to recall that the Dolphin’s went in a different direction with Daunte based on the severity of Brees’ injury and his over-inflated demand for guaranteed money.
As it relates to him thinking Kitna and Ramsey will have greater success that Daunte…Are you kidding me? I don’t agree at all with his logic.
Every year gives us a new quarterback lineup in the NFL. The only constant at the game's most high-profile position seems to be change.
This year is no different. Drew Brees has taken his act to New Orleans. Daunte Culpepper has migrated to Miami. Patrick Ramsey got paroled from Washington, Jon Kitna is Motown's new man and Aaron Brooks has gone from Saint-hood to a man in black. And the carousel isn't even finished turning, with the fate of veterans such as Brett Favre and Steve McNair still unknown.
Which quarterbacks are the best bets to seize the day and prosper in their new place of employment? Here's our most likely to succeed list, rated from top to bottom:
1. Drew Brees, New Orleans -- You can feel that Brees passed up the better short-term situation in Miami for the bigger paycheck in New Orleans and still believe he'll have a successful first season as the Saints' new quarterback. How quickly Brees returns to his 2004-'05 form after rehabilitating from surgery on his throwing shoulder is the major storyline this season. But the sixth-year veteran is in the prime of his career and his style of smart and efficient play, with a minimum of mistakes (51 touchdowns to just 22 interceptions the past two years) is going to play like a breath of fresh air in New Orleans after the maddening Aaron Brooks era.
And here's the thing Brees has to look forward to the most in the Big Easy: Sean Payton. Wherever the Saints new head coach has worked in the NFL, he's gotten more out of the quarterback than anyone expected. He did wonders for Kerry Collins in New York, and coaxed production out of the likes of Quincy Carter, Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe the past three years in Dallas. In Brees, Payton finally has a well-polished and proven talent.
"With Drew, the selling points for us, getting him to consider us, was my involvement in the position in the past,'' Payton said. "Be it in New York or Dallas. We identified quarterback as certainly one of our needs, and now Drew Brees is available. So having nothing to do with where we're drafting this particular year, we decided to be aggressive about him because we think there's a fit here. We think he's a player who makes good decisions, and we were surprised he was available. I'm excited about getting him.''
2. Jon Kitna, Detroit -- We're giving the nod to the veteran Kitna earning the starting job out of training camp, but we wouldn't be shocked if the offense would up in the hands of Josh McCown at some point. The ex-Cardinals starter was perhaps the best quarterback value in free agency this year, and we're eager to see if new Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz decides to bestow upon him the same magic fairy dust he sprinkled on Kurt Warner, Marc Bulger and Trent Green during his St. Louis tenure.
Much like Brees in New Orleans, Kitna will provide the Lions with a much steadier hand than they were used to under the erratic Joey Harrington. Kitna isn't going to wow you at this point in his career, but he's not going to kill you either. The Lions will happily settle for that, because he's a quality team leader and a selfless player who should set a good example for professionalism on a club that was woefully lacking in that department during the Steve Mariucci era.
3. Patrick Ramsey, New York Jets -- What about Chad Pennington? What about him? After undergoing operations on his throwing shoulder in each of the last two seasons, the Jets can't count on Pennington returning to his 2002 form. Which is how Ramsey entered the picture in New York to begin with. The former Redskins first-round pick looks like the best bet to start for the Jets this season, and that probably stands even if New York selects a quarterback with one of the top picks in the draft later this month.
It's hard to know what remains of Ramsey's confidence or development as a passer after his tumultuous trip up and down the depth chart in Washington. But his tough, hang-in-there style of play seems to be a decent fit for what new Jets head coach Eric Mangini wants out of the position. After all, Mangini's blueprint for a quarterback is New England's Tom Brady, and toughness is one of Tom Terrific's most respected qualities. Ramsey probably won't be surrounded by the best team on the field many game days this season, but he had started showing a decent knack for dealing with adverse situations before having the rug pulled out from under him in Washington.
4. Daunte Culpepper, Miami -- Here's the flaw in the logic that says Culpepper will have a quick and painless transition in the Dolphins' offense, because Miami will run the same attack used in 2005 by former Dolphins offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who brought that system with him from Minnesota: How come that same offense, which was kept in place by Vikings offensive coordinator Steve Loney last season, didn't help Culpepper avoid the worst stretch of his seven-year career, when he threw 12 interceptions with just six touchdowns in his injury-shortened seven-game season?
Culpepper has a lot to prove in Miami, and it starts with whether or not he'll return as good as new from the surgery that rebuilt his right knee after he tore three different ligaments last October at Carolina. If that part of the equation comes off without a hitch, he still has to convince skeptics around the league that he can produce at 2004 levels without Linehan's direction and calming influence on his game. While we have a good deal of respect for new Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, and believe he'll eventually find ways to best use Culpepper's talents, the hunch here is that Culpepper will be guilty at times of trying to do too much in an effort to totally erase the stench of his abysmal 2005 season. When he presses, Culpepper's game unravels and things get ugly, kind of the way his tenure did in Minnesota.
5. Philip Rivers, San Diego -- Due to circumstances beyond his control, Rivers won't be opening his stint as the Chargers starting quarterback on a level playing field. Whether he or anyone else admits it or not, he'll be competing with Brees, his highly successful successor who led the Chargers to a 21-11 record and a division title over the past two seasons. While Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger have been front and center almost since the 2004 draft, Rivers has been the forgotten man. We know virtually nothing more about him now than we did then when he came out of North Carolina State with that slightly funky throwing motion, inspiring some to predict that in time he'd be the most accomplished of the three big QB prospects.
Credit - Don Banks
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/don_banks/04/11/new.qbs/index.html
As it relates to him thinking Kitna and Ramsey will have greater success that Daunte…Are you kidding me? I don’t agree at all with his logic.
Every year gives us a new quarterback lineup in the NFL. The only constant at the game's most high-profile position seems to be change.
This year is no different. Drew Brees has taken his act to New Orleans. Daunte Culpepper has migrated to Miami. Patrick Ramsey got paroled from Washington, Jon Kitna is Motown's new man and Aaron Brooks has gone from Saint-hood to a man in black. And the carousel isn't even finished turning, with the fate of veterans such as Brett Favre and Steve McNair still unknown.
Which quarterbacks are the best bets to seize the day and prosper in their new place of employment? Here's our most likely to succeed list, rated from top to bottom:
1. Drew Brees, New Orleans -- You can feel that Brees passed up the better short-term situation in Miami for the bigger paycheck in New Orleans and still believe he'll have a successful first season as the Saints' new quarterback. How quickly Brees returns to his 2004-'05 form after rehabilitating from surgery on his throwing shoulder is the major storyline this season. But the sixth-year veteran is in the prime of his career and his style of smart and efficient play, with a minimum of mistakes (51 touchdowns to just 22 interceptions the past two years) is going to play like a breath of fresh air in New Orleans after the maddening Aaron Brooks era.
And here's the thing Brees has to look forward to the most in the Big Easy: Sean Payton. Wherever the Saints new head coach has worked in the NFL, he's gotten more out of the quarterback than anyone expected. He did wonders for Kerry Collins in New York, and coaxed production out of the likes of Quincy Carter, Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe the past three years in Dallas. In Brees, Payton finally has a well-polished and proven talent.
"With Drew, the selling points for us, getting him to consider us, was my involvement in the position in the past,'' Payton said. "Be it in New York or Dallas. We identified quarterback as certainly one of our needs, and now Drew Brees is available. So having nothing to do with where we're drafting this particular year, we decided to be aggressive about him because we think there's a fit here. We think he's a player who makes good decisions, and we were surprised he was available. I'm excited about getting him.''
2. Jon Kitna, Detroit -- We're giving the nod to the veteran Kitna earning the starting job out of training camp, but we wouldn't be shocked if the offense would up in the hands of Josh McCown at some point. The ex-Cardinals starter was perhaps the best quarterback value in free agency this year, and we're eager to see if new Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz decides to bestow upon him the same magic fairy dust he sprinkled on Kurt Warner, Marc Bulger and Trent Green during his St. Louis tenure.
Much like Brees in New Orleans, Kitna will provide the Lions with a much steadier hand than they were used to under the erratic Joey Harrington. Kitna isn't going to wow you at this point in his career, but he's not going to kill you either. The Lions will happily settle for that, because he's a quality team leader and a selfless player who should set a good example for professionalism on a club that was woefully lacking in that department during the Steve Mariucci era.
3. Patrick Ramsey, New York Jets -- What about Chad Pennington? What about him? After undergoing operations on his throwing shoulder in each of the last two seasons, the Jets can't count on Pennington returning to his 2002 form. Which is how Ramsey entered the picture in New York to begin with. The former Redskins first-round pick looks like the best bet to start for the Jets this season, and that probably stands even if New York selects a quarterback with one of the top picks in the draft later this month.
It's hard to know what remains of Ramsey's confidence or development as a passer after his tumultuous trip up and down the depth chart in Washington. But his tough, hang-in-there style of play seems to be a decent fit for what new Jets head coach Eric Mangini wants out of the position. After all, Mangini's blueprint for a quarterback is New England's Tom Brady, and toughness is one of Tom Terrific's most respected qualities. Ramsey probably won't be surrounded by the best team on the field many game days this season, but he had started showing a decent knack for dealing with adverse situations before having the rug pulled out from under him in Washington.
4. Daunte Culpepper, Miami -- Here's the flaw in the logic that says Culpepper will have a quick and painless transition in the Dolphins' offense, because Miami will run the same attack used in 2005 by former Dolphins offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who brought that system with him from Minnesota: How come that same offense, which was kept in place by Vikings offensive coordinator Steve Loney last season, didn't help Culpepper avoid the worst stretch of his seven-year career, when he threw 12 interceptions with just six touchdowns in his injury-shortened seven-game season?
Culpepper has a lot to prove in Miami, and it starts with whether or not he'll return as good as new from the surgery that rebuilt his right knee after he tore three different ligaments last October at Carolina. If that part of the equation comes off without a hitch, he still has to convince skeptics around the league that he can produce at 2004 levels without Linehan's direction and calming influence on his game. While we have a good deal of respect for new Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, and believe he'll eventually find ways to best use Culpepper's talents, the hunch here is that Culpepper will be guilty at times of trying to do too much in an effort to totally erase the stench of his abysmal 2005 season. When he presses, Culpepper's game unravels and things get ugly, kind of the way his tenure did in Minnesota.
5. Philip Rivers, San Diego -- Due to circumstances beyond his control, Rivers won't be opening his stint as the Chargers starting quarterback on a level playing field. Whether he or anyone else admits it or not, he'll be competing with Brees, his highly successful successor who led the Chargers to a 21-11 record and a division title over the past two seasons. While Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger have been front and center almost since the 2004 draft, Rivers has been the forgotten man. We know virtually nothing more about him now than we did then when he came out of North Carolina State with that slightly funky throwing motion, inspiring some to predict that in time he'd be the most accomplished of the three big QB prospects.
Credit - Don Banks
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/don_banks/04/11/new.qbs/index.html
