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Is the Grass Greener On The Other Side?
30th March, 2007 - 12:42 pm
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As the NFL draft draws near you will hear more and more talk about trades in the NFL. One of the biggest has Chiefs’ QB Trent Green heading down the Dolphins, and Daunte Culpepper heading out to the Raiders.
For all he has done for the Chiefs, Green is being shown no loyalty by the Chiefs organization, and for anyone familiar with how NFL football operates, this shouldn’t be a surprise at all. I felt Green has been one of the most underrated QB’s over the past five years, and had it not been for a serious knee injury suffered his first pre-season in St. Louis, he may have already earned a Super Bowl ring instead of the guy that took over for him Kurt Warner.
Even last year when he got the snot knocked out of him during the Chiefs game against the Bengals, Green has always conducted himself very well, and said the right things to the media. Chiefs’ head coach Herman Edwards allowed Green to take over for a very productive Damon Huard last season, despite the Chiefs playing well with Huard leading their offense. Green didn’t stink it up when he came back, but with the Chiefs being knocked out of the playoffs by eventual Super Bowl champs the Indianapolis Colts. It may be time for new blood in KC.
Green shouldn’t feel back for himself, just look at poor Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe has seen his job taken by younger quarterbacks at each of his three NFL stops during his career. First it was Tom Brady taking over for him in New England after he suffered a bruised spleen. Once Brady stepped under center as the Patriots’ starter that was it, he has not missed a start since.
When Bledsoe who came back healthy, he was shipped to Buffalo to revive the struggling Buffalo Bills franchise. With a fresh start Bledsoe felt secure in his position as the Bills starter for years to come, but with losing comes change, and two years into his tenure with the Bills, they drafted a young quarterback by the name of JP Losman. With Losman being selected in the first round Bledsoe knew that his stay in Buffalo was over. Unlike at the Patriots where an injury cost him his starting position, Bledsoe lost his slot with the Bills because he didn’t live up to the expectation that the organization had for him. As a result, he was given his release from Buffalo and decided to join his old New England Patriots coach in a rebuilding effort in Dallas.
Bill Parcells coached Bledsoe in New England and if anyone would be loyal to Bledsoe, it would have been Parcells. Parcells was an old school coach who believed that veterans who knew him and his system were more valuable to his teams, than snot nose rookies who may have had more talent. His coaching philosophy earned him two super rings, and was copied by one of the most successful NBA coaches of all time Phil Jackson.
On all nine of his NBA championship teams, Jackson had veteran players whose careers were thought to be over due to their advancing age and decreasing physical abilities. On the Bulls teams, Jackson had players like Bill Cartwright, Cliff Livingston, Craig Hodges, and Ron Harper who all contributed to those 6 Bull championships. When Jackson took over the Lakers, he quickly brought Veterans like Brian Shaw, Harper, Lindsey Hunter, and even John Salley who had sat out two year before the Lakers signed him to a one year contract which happen to earn Sally his third championship ring and first one as a member of a team other than the Detroit Pistons. Jackson proved that sometimes experience is better than talent, especially when you enter the postseason.
By bringing in Bledsoe, Parcells had a solid starting quarterback and Bledsoe had a team that believed in his ability. He was also given the starting position, and his backup wasn’t close to being NFL ready. Bledsoe started out well with the Cowboys, leading them to the verge of the playoffs. The only flaw for Bledsoe was his tendency to hold on to the ball too long.
Last season, that tendency and the team losing forced Parcells to bench Bledsoe in favor of another young quarterback by the name of Tony Romo. Romo stepped in and became an immediate star for the Cowboys. Meanwhile, Bledsoe was forced to slip on a headset game after game and listen to Coaches communicating to Romo, not him. Where does all this lead me, well kind of the same direction it lead Bledsoe this off-season, to the world of the unknown. I wonder if Bledsoe cheers for Brady, Losman and Romo, or does he wish they all would fail and prove that each organization made a huge mistake by letting him go.
Football is a little different because with no guarantee contracts; you can be on top of the world one season and on the waiver wire the next. Forget those S40 million contracts you hear about this off-season, no one ever sees the back end of their contract. Through all the transitions, Bledsoe has remained a true professional, it’s a shame no one acknowledges that fact. Where ever Bledsoe ends up, that organization, is getting more than just a veteran quarterback, they are getting a professional athletes that carries himself the way you are suppose to.
