It pained me to write that heading (partly because it is awful). Seriously. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Chad. The guy plays his heart out every week. He took them to within Doug Brien's faulty leg of the AFC Championship Game with a shoulder that made Pedro Martinez's look healthy. He came back from 2 shoulder surgeries to lead them to the playoffs last year despite a running game that misfired more then the Mets offense the last week of the season. However, with each passing week is is becoming clearer that Chad just is not going to be able to succeed in this offense.
It has taken me a while to see this. Like all the players I have looked up to in all of the sports I follow, there comes a time when you realize that your favorite player is no longer getting it done and the time has come to move on. With the Mets, it was Mike Piazza. With the Islanders, Alexei Yashin. With the Jets, it was Marvin Jones and Mo Lewis. Now, I am seeing it with Chad. The guy just can't throw a ball more than 10 yards to scare a defense. Even with a strong running game, they are going to collpase on the wide-outs. They will let them go long, stacking the box, since they know Chad ain't throwing it deep.
I tried to rationalize this with the usual excuses. Paul Hackett has taken over Brian Schottenheimer's mind. Herm Edwards is haunting them. Bill Belicheck sent tapes to all the other teams. Sadly, none of those are the reasons. Quite simply, Chad is not a starter. Sure, he is a leader, and guys will run through walls for him, as will he. Sure he can hit the quick slant. But the guy throws as hard as Tom Glavine, and we all know what happened to Tom in the last game of the season. The same is happening to Chad.
There is just one problem. His replacement, Kellen Clemens. How the hell am I, as a Mets fan, supposed to root for a guy with the last name Clemens? Not only that, his first name starts with a "K", just like Roider does with his kids.
Seriously now, the concern with Kellen is that he has little experience. I know he looked good inthe 4th quarter a few weeks ago, but he also looked like crap the first 3 quarters. Teams are going to blitz like crazy to get in his head. They are going to dare him to beat them more than once until he makes them honest. Can he do it? I know he has a strong arm, but so did Browning Nagle, and we all remember how that turned out (shudder). Where is his head? It is funny, because in training camp, the media kept talking about how poorly he was doing, until he did well in a couple of pre-season games against the scrubs. This is the same media that chastised Mangini last pre-season for making Chad wait out a "competition" before he was named starter.
The calls for Chad's head began a few weeks ago, and figure to grow louder after yesterday. Will Mangini make the move? Hard to tell. However, it is time to do so.
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3 comments:
I agree with you Ed. I think if Chad does poorly in the first half (assuming TJ and L Washington don't bail him out by getting the running game going to avoid throwing the ball too often) there could be a new QB starting the second half.
I think that in order for Clemens (ughh) to get his head straight he NEEDS Chad counseling him for at least the rest of this year. I think Chad is such a gamer and loves this team enough that he would suck it up and do it for the good of the team. But maybe I'm wrong, I don't know much. Maybe Chad will just be pissed and leave Clemens to his own devices. I doubt it though. Either way, this is a must-win for the Jetropolitans.
fake - Chad is to much of a Pro to blow Clemens off. He will do exactly what Vinny did with him, teach and support.
If Kellen comes in and does well, I see Chad being traded in the offseason. The return won't be much alas.
I agree on both points Ed. Chad's starting career is likely over once Clemens takes over, and he will be a good 2nd string QB on a team next year.
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