Leftwich number one again Del Rio announces decision
By Vic Ketchman, jaguars.com senior editor 02/22/07
Byron Leftwich is still “The Man.”
Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio made that announcement on Thursday, speaking from Indianapolis, where Del Rio is attending the NFL scouting combine.
“Shack (personnel director James Harris) and his staff and me and my staff, including the new coaches, have completed our evaluation processes and, in our minds, there’s a confirmation and consensus that Byron Leftwich is our starting quarterback going forward,” Del Rio said.
Del Rio said he has communicated that decision to Leftwich.
“I have. We’ve spoken. I talked to him the week after the Super Bowl. We spent three hours talking,” Del Rio said. “When you lose your starting quarterback, it puts your head coach into an awkward situation. There were some awkward situations we potentially could’ve handled better. It’s unrealistic for anybody to lose their quarterback and not be confronted with those situations. We’ve resolved to go forward.”
Del Rio confirmed that Leftwich will be the team’s starting quarterback going into training camp and that David Garrard and Quinn Gray would be retained. He also said the team would not attempt to sign a quarterback in free agency.
“What I would offer is that there is always competition but we’re not creating an open competition,” Del Rio said.
On the subject of the upcoming free-agent signing period, Del Rio said the crop of available players is not attractive. “Teams are doing a much better job of re-signing their guys or ‘franchising’ their guys, so the market is not robust. Less and less front-line people are available,” he said.
“The last couple of years we have taken a shot at filling needs in free agency and were active early. In both cases we found great fits and those guys were exactly what we were looking for,” he added, referring to the additions of defensive end Reggie Hayward in 2005 and cornerback Brian Williams in ’06.
It’s not likely the Jaguars will be active in the expensive phase of free agency this year. The team is more likely to pursue affordable free agents who might step into specific roles.
“We feel like over the last four years we’ve improved the roster. We’ve drafted a lot of talent offensively that we feel confident will continue to develop. We feel we’ve assembled a strong football team that will compete with anybody. We’ve got a healthy cap and some guys returning from injury that make it like almost having a whole draft class coming back. When those guys come through the door, it’s going to be like having a free-agent class joining us,” Del Rio said, referring to the return of players such as Hayward, Mike Peterson, Greg Jones, Donovin Darius, Pat Thomas and Brent Hawkins. All of them were lost for the season due to injury.
“I’m excited about what we’ve built,” Del Rio said.
There are a lot of QBs that just are not very good - fortunately a lot of them play on teams that have a bunch of other players that make the team successful.
Brady, talentwise is very good but he is made look like a great QB by the amount of time he has to make his reads from his offensive line - sometime you should time the amount of time he is given to make a pass - the NE offensive line is very proud of the number of sacks allowed and their pass blocking - they seem to do an excellent job of bringing in those players that will excell at pass blocking and protecting their QB above all else.
Until recently, Snyder & Allen have made a lot of really bad decisions - nobody with any sense believes this franchise will get better under their guidance
Snyder's W/L record = 45% (80-96) - Snyder/Allen = 41% (59-84-1)
Cappster wrote:Leftwich is going to end up getting Del Rio fired. He just isn't that good of a quarterback.
This is -one- theory, of course.
The -other- might be that they -are- going for a QB in the draft and they want NOBODY to suspect that. Call me Machiavellian if you wish but keep this post in mind when the first round draft choice is made by Tennessee.
Daniel Snyder has defined incompetence, failure and greed to true Washington Redskins fans for over a decade and a half. Stay away from football operations !!!
Redskin in Canada wrote:Call me Machiavellian if you wish but keep this post in mind when the first round draft choice is made by Tennessee.
Too Machiavellian for me. I thought Leftwich plays for Jacksonville, and that the Titans just picked a young QB called "Vince" or sumthin' last year.
I don't think Leftwich sucks, but I'm tired of all the phony hype around him. It seems every pre-season some loser or other is talking about how he's about to have a "break-out year", or how he's one of the best young QBs around.
Leftwich has been through the Ashburn experiment... Last three years he's had a different OC each year, and another one this year. Everyone knocks Detriot but J-ville has went WR in the 1st round the last three years. Ask any Jag fan and they'll tell you they are just a good WR away from going all the way.
..__..
{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hold on....
Dishgeek wrote:Too Machiavellian for me. I thought Leftwich plays for Jacksonville, and that the Titans just picked a young QB called "Vince" or sumthin' last year.
It is a mistake. I meant Jacksonville of course.
Daniel Snyder has defined incompetence, failure and greed to true Washington Redskins fans for over a decade and a half. Stay away from football operations !!!
