Derek Carr And Deion Sanders Today

After writing yesterday about the Raiders’ dealings with Darek Carr, I read a report in the NY Post that said the Jets and Carr met over the weekend and that the meeting was “positive”.  As I noted yesterday, because the Raiders released him, Carr is currently a free agent and can sign with any team that makes him an offer as opposed to other QBs whose contracts are expiring.  Carr would be a definite upgrade at QB for a team that:

• Has not been in the playoffs since 2010.
• Has a good defense
• Seriously needs an upgrade at QB.

I have said before that the last top-shelf QB the Jets had was Joe Namath; Carr is not a mortal lock to make the Hall of Fame as was Namath, but if I were a Jets’ fan, here is how I might look at the situation as of this morning:

• In 2010, the Jets made the playoffs, won 2 games and lost in the AFC Championship Game to the Steelers.  Mark Sanchez was the QB in 2010.
• Sanchez was still the Jets’ starting QB for all of 2011 but the Jets missed the playoffs.
• In 2012, there was the infamous “Butt-Fumble Incident”, and Sanchez was pretty much run out of town.  He started 15 games; Greg McElroy started the other one that year.

So, as the 2013 season began, the Jets were two seasons removed from an appearance in the AFC Championship Game but they were in search of a new starting QB to lead the offense.  That search continues until this day; the starting QB position for the Jets since the start of 2013 has looked like the clown car in the circus.  In alphabetical order, here are the eleven Jets’ starting QBs over the last 10 seasons:

1. Sam Darnold  (38 games)
2. Luke Falk  (2 games)
3. Ryan Fitzpatrick  (27 games)
4. Joe Flacco  (9 games)
5. Josh McCown  (16 games)
6. Bruce Petty  (7 games)
7. Trevor Siemian  (1 game)
8. Geno Smith  (30 games)
9. Michael Vick  (3 games)
10. Mike White  (7 games)
11. Zack Wilson  (22 games)

I assert that a Jets’ fan should look at that list and recognize that Derek Carr is an upgrade over the mélange of starting QBs the Jets have trotted out for the last decade…

Enough about Derek Carr already …  Deion Sanders – – Coach Prime if you will – – remains in the news.  Last week, he appeared on The Rich Eisen Show and obviously spoke about the Colorado football program that he just took over in language that is not common among football coaches.  What does he look for in players for the O-Line and at QB?

“Smart, tough, fast, disciplined with character. We want mother, father. Dual parent. We want that kid to be 3.5 [GPA] and up. Because he has to be smart. Not bad decisions off the field, at all. Because he has to be a leader of men.”

Now, how about recruits for the D-Line:

“Defensive lineman is totally opposite. Single mama, trying to get it, he’s on free lunch; I’m talking about just trying to make it. He’s trying to rescue mama. Like mama barely made the flight. And I want him to just go get it.”

A few commentors on reports about these statements have suggested that Sanders’ remarks were prejudicial similar to ones made by Al Campanis and/or Jimmy the Greek and that those folks lost their jobs and their credibility based on their remarks.  I do not see it that way although I will admit that the metaphor Sanders chose to use could be a sensitive one for some in the African-American community.

Deion Sanders has always said things in ways that most other folks do not going back to his days as a player.  I do not think he is a bigot and I do not think he meant some backhanded slap at the family situations for some of his recruits at Colorado.  To demonstrate what I mean by Sanders’ proclivity to say things “differently”, compare his statements about what the Colorado team will be like next year as compared to what someone like Nick Saban might say about next year’s Alabama squad:

“It’s a whole different attribute that you look for in different positions. And we have that stuff just chronicled. We know what we want, and we go get it … We’re not recruiting just no ordinary Tom, Dick and Harry.  We recruited some guys that can light up the scoreboard and prevent touchdowns from occurring. We’re coming. We’re serious about that.  Hope is in the house. Hope is in the air. Hope is in the city. Hope is in the community.”

Beat reporters for Colorado football in Denver and in Boulder will not lack for raw material over the next few years no matter the team’s record.

Finally, let me close today with an entry from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth:  Nineteenth-century American poet most famous for Paul Revere’s Ride, which set its author the challenge of how to make glaring historical inaccuracies rhyme.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………