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Carter in the Kitchen!
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Jets' Carter Back in the Kitchen, Heat and All
By RICHARD LEZIN JONES
Published: November 10, 2004
The pass was so true and traveled so quickly across the practice field at Southwest DeKalb High School that Coach Buck Godfrey was tempted to promote whoever had thrown it to the varsity right on the spot.
But Godfrey thought better of it and the quarterback - a lanky 14-year-old freshman named Quincy Carter - was sent to the junior varsity as planned and gained enough experience to lead his team to a Georgia state championship as a senior.
"You could tell right away this kid was the future," said Godfrey, who coached Carter at Southwest DeKalb in Decatur from 1992-95. "But I didn't want to throw him into the fire."
Godfrey paused as if he were considering the arc of Carter's career - a path that has taken him to the University of Georgia, where he started as a freshman; to the Dallas Cowboys, where he started as a rookie; and to the Jets, where he will start Sunday for the injured Chad Pennington. "Everywhere that Quincy's been, they've thrown him into the fire," Godfrey said.
Since leaving Southwest DeKalb, Carter has been pressed into service by his teams with mixed results. At Georgia, he thrived. Carter joined the Bulldogs after spending two years playing baseball in the Chicago Cubs' minor league system. He beat out three quarterbacks for the starting job and threw for more yards in his first two seasons in college than Peyton Manning, John Elway or Dan Marino.
In Dallas, Carter was unexpectedly promoted to the starting job during training camp as a rookie. He rode a roller coaster of sometimes brilliant, sometimes sloppy play - often in the course of a game - that seemed to mirror the tumult of playing under three offensive coordinators in three seasons. While preparing to build on a 2003 season that included a playoff berth and his most successful year as a pro, Carter was released during training camp this past summer amid reports that he had failed a drug test.
Now, because of Pennington's strained rotator cuff in his right shoulder, Carter, a four-year veteran, is being thrown into the fire again. He will face a ferocious Baltimore Ravens defense to begin what may be a month of starts.
Although practically everyone in the Jets' organization - from the coaching staff to Carter's teammates - expresses confidence in him, the question remains: Which Quincy Carter will take the field in his first start for the Jets, the star who often dazzled at Georgia or his shaky doppelgänger who threw seven more interceptions than touchdown passes with the Cowboys?
Whatever the answer, this much is clear: The fortunes of the Jets are squarely in Carter's hands.
The 6-foot-2, 213-pound Carter, known for his mobility and arm strength, said he did not intend for the Jets to miss a beat in Pennington's absence.
"It's important that this football team knows we are not trying to take any steps backward," Carter said. "I think they know that I've been working with our first-team defense and running our plays, so I have gotten that opportunity to show what I can do in this offense."
If Carter is able to have some success, then the Jets will have been rewarded for taking a risk in signing him. Carter is apparently one failed drug test away from a four-game suspension.
Since Carter's arrival here, players and coaches say he has been a good fit. "He understood his role, and he's been great in practice, been great around the players," Coach Herman Edwards said. "And, obviously, in the game he played O.K. for the little bit he's had to play, so we're fortunate to have him.''
Carter signed a one-year contract with the hope that a good performance this season would help him regain a starting job next year. He has been getting a crash course in the Jets' version of the West Coast offense, a system filled with tongue-twisting plays that is especially reliant on good decisions by the quarterback.
"When you're drafting, when you're trying out guys, you're always trying to say how will they take to that," the offensive coordinator Paul Hackett said earlier this season. "Will they thrive in it, will they be fascinated by it or will they always be saying, 'Can we make that a little quicker? Can we make that a little simpler?'
"That's where it's been fun with Quincy, just coming in at the last minute like he did, and he's just really taken to it."
LaTunaNostra
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Nors.Nors said:
In some ways the Jets of 04 are similar to the Boys of 03, and playing the easier part of the schedule first is one of them.
Cincinnati W 31-24
9/19 @San Diego W 34-28
9/26 BYE
10/3 @Miami W 17-9
10/10 Buffalo W 16-14
10/17 San Francisco W 22-14
10/24 @New England L 7-13
11/1 Miami W 41-14
11/7 @Buffalo 1:00 PM L 22-17
11/14 Baltimore 1:00 PM
11/21 @Cleveland 1:00 PM
11/28 @Arizona 4:15 PM
12/5 Houston 1:00 PM
12/12 @Pittsburgh 4:05 PM
12/19 Seattle 1:00 PM
12/26 New England 4:05 PM
1/2 @St. Louis 1:00 PM
Quincy's got his work cut out for him.
What he has got in his favor is Hackett is finally easing off his obstinacy about tailoring his beloved sysetm to his QB..
Jets' Hackett to Run Offense Around Carter
By ANDREA ADELSON
AP Sports Writer
November 10, 2004, 6:36 PM EST
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Jets offensive coordinator Paul Hackett learned enough from what happened last year when Vinny Testaverde took over the offense.
After Chad Pennington broke his wrist in the preseason, Testaverde became the immediate starter. But instead of tailoring the offense around the strengths of the strong-armed Testaverde, the Jets tried to have him run the same version of the West Coast offense made for Pennington.
It was ugly. Testaverde could not play within the system and the running game failed, making it difficult to use the play-action passing Pennington does so well. The Jets hardly threw downfield, failing to take advantage of one of the areas where Testaverde could have made the offense better.
Now that Pennington is out with a strained right rotator cuff, Hackett vows not to make the same mistake with Quincy Carter, who starts Sunday against Baltimore.
"The important thing that we learned is having a guy come in thinking he can run the offense in its entirety is foolish," Hackett said Wednesday. "That doesn't happen, that didn't work. What we have done since the moment Quincy got here is we have tailored things that we have wanted him to do within the things that Chad does."
Hackett said that means more downfield passes and taking advantage of Carter's mobility.
"From the very beginning when Quincy arrived, we said to ourselves, 'We are not going to make the mistake we made before,'" Hackett said. "We are going to give him things that are going to feature his arm, because this guy has got a marvelous arm. His ability to run the team is going to be key."
Carter said practice went well Wednesday, though he stayed afterward with the receivers to work on timing and routes. The receivers also have some adjusting to do, because Carter throws the ball much harder than Pennington.
When asked whether he fits into the West Coast offense, which relies on touch passes and progression reads, Carter scoffed at the idea he would not be as comfortable running it because of his arm.
"That's a myth, because in the West Coast offense you have strong-armed guys like Steve Young and also Donovan McNabb -- I wouldn't say he throws touch passes. And Michael Vick definitely don't throw a lot of touch passes," Carter said. "What the West Coast offense is all about is more timing-based getting the ball out of your hand. It's not so much about how you place the ball, but it's your rhythm."
Carter has started 31 games in his career, but his numbers are not exactly stellar. He has 30 touchdowns to 36 interceptions, with a completion percentage of 56. Because Carter is mistake-prone, the Jets might try to be conservative and rely on Curtis Martin even more.
But coach Herman Edwards anticipates Carter will throw his share of passes.
"You don't want to put the harness on the guy, either, and all of a sudden he's thinking, 'I can't throw the ball, I'm nervous,'" Edwards said. "I don't want him to be so afraid: 'Now the coach won't let me make a play.'
"There's a fine line. I want him to play and enjoy his opportunity."
That might also mean doing things on the fly. Because Carter is more mobile than Pennington, he can improvise.
On his lone touchdown drive against Buffalo last week, Carter rolled out of the pocket because of a heavy pass rush and made a play happen. He found Santana Moss open for a 51-yard touchdown pass after cornerback Terrence McGee fell down.
"To think we are going to put him in and he is going to look like Chad Pennington, he is not going to look like Chad Pennington," Hackett said. "He is going to run the similar things that we do and feature the running game and Curtis Martin, but he is going to put his own flair into it."
(Newsday)
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No, all he needs to do is to play ball like he know he can and be relaxed, just play like he did his first 2yrs at Georgia, when he was getting all that hype.
He will not have someone with a tight rein on him, so he will not be uptight,like he was here.
He will great and he will get his chance to once again be a starting QB, except this time he will not have a lot of crap to deal with like he had to here.
He will not have someone with a tight rein on him, so he will not be uptight,like he was here.
He will great and he will get his chance to once again be a starting QB, except this time he will not have a lot of crap to deal with like he had to here.