When you’re a 28-year-old backup quarterback sitting behind a 32-year-old shaky at best starter with Crohn’s disease and a 12-20 record over the past two seasons, your goal in life is to unseat this schlub and become an object of adoration for thousands of fans by taking a mediocre team and turning them into champions, right? Now it you’re Jaguars second string quarterback Luke McCown, who’s content with holding for the kicker and modeling the latest team issued beanies on the sideline.
Even after his offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter inferred that “the starting spot was up for grabs” after McCown split reps with starter David Garrard in May minicamp, McCown still believes that Garrard’s a stone cold lock to be the team’s quarterback and anybody who thinks otherwise is an idiot.
Three years ago, Jacksonville stunned the NFL by releasing quarterback Byron Leftwich in the preseason and promoting David Garrard to the starting lineup.
If you believe Garrard’s current backup, there is no chance of a repeat scenario in 2010.
While Garrard is facing heavy scrutiny after two mediocre seasons, Luke McCown has made it clear there isn’t a Jaguars quarterback controversy.
“It’s David’s job,” McCown told me and co-host Gil Brandt this weekend on Sirius NFL Radio. “There’s been a lot more made about it being a competition than there really should be. If anybody even hints to me about the idea of it being an open competition, I’m all for it. But that’s not the case.”
Now there’s always the chance McCown is saying these things because if he does become a starting quarterback he’d have to give up the thing he loves most in life; raising morale by flapping his arms and slapping butts while resting safely on the sideline. If that’s the case he better stop excelling in minicamp.
“This is a time for Luke to show he can compete with Dave,” Koetter said during an interview with the team’s web site. “He’s athletic, he’s sharp. Can he push Dave when they’re hitting you for real? We like what we see out of Luke in the meeting room and what we saw of him in minicamp.” -FOX Sports, Second String Fullback
There’s always this explanation: What if there was a secret society of backup quarterbacks with really high tech clipboards where they can wirelessly face off in awesome games like Battleship, Scrabble and Hungry Hungry Hippos? Maybe that’s why Mark Brunell’s still trying to hold on.
