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Why say it? Why? Is it really necessary at this point? Just move on. Take the high road. Why go there?
Maybe I’m old-fashioned. Perhaps my sensibilities are in the past.
I just don’t understand why Darrelle Revis would say to Sports Illustrated, about the 2009 and 2010 Jets’ seasons, “We didn’t have a quarterback.”
That is so hurtful.
Imagine being in the shoes of Mark Sanchez and reading that?
Sanchez did the best he could.
And those seasons, the Jets were somewhat successful – two AFC Championship Game appearances.
Now it wasn’t necessarily QB-driven. They were a team led by a very good defense, running game and a low-risk passing attack.
Sanchez gave it his best shot. He was another young QB thrust into action before he was ready.
Remember, this was a prospect who came out after his junior year of college after serving as a one-year starter at USC.
He shouldn’t have started in the NFL for a while.
But this is how a lot of teams function these days – draft a QB in the first round and just throw him out there, whether he’s ready or not.
I wouldn’t do it that way, but I don’t run a team.
Sanchez worked very hard. He gave it all he had. He showed a lot of toughness.
To say about a former teammate, “We didn’t have a quarterback,” is just uncalled for in my world.
Revis probably realized it was a harsh things to say because he followed it up with, “Mark [Sanchez] was solid. He wasn’t elite.”
But it was too late. The cat was out of the bag. You said the Jets “didn’t have a quarterback.” Major slap I the face.
And honestly, most teams in the league don’t have an elite quarterback. There are probably only about six or seven of them in the league, and there are obviously 32 teams.
And Revis had the pleasure last year of playing with one of the select few elite quarterbacks in the league – Tom Brady.
I’ve said this on my show on SiriusXM NFL Radio. I think the NFL has a crisis. To me, not as much is made of this as there should be. This is a huge problem for the top league in sports. The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, and there is a dearth of elite quarterbacks. Wouldn’t you say that constitutes a problem?
But even if you are on a team that doesn’t have an elite quarterback, you should never say, about a teammate “we didn’t have a quarterback.”
This isn’t a Madden video game you are talking about. We are talking about human beings.
And in my universe, when a teammate is working hard to handle a job, and perhaps isn’t great, don’t say you didn’t have somebody at the position.
Treat the man with more dignity and respect that that.
And it was clear from the article, Revis might feel the same way about the 2015 Jets. But that’s another story.
July 22, 2015
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