| Dwayne Smith. 28th September, 2005 - 11:22 am
 Imagine sitting on your couch and watching your favorite team after you’ve taken a break from playing your son in Madden Football ’06. Your team drops a tough one and in the process loses both their starting and backup quarterbacks. This past Sunday saw many fans of the New York Jets in that situation, but only one of them got on the phone and directly offered help to Head Coach Herman Edwards.
When Vinny Testaverde last played in Giants Stadium he watched as the New York Giants, led by Eli Manning, drove downfield and beat his Dallas Cowboys. Testaverde had a feeling this would be his last game as a pro. In fact he felt like the next time he’d face the Jets Media “would be (to sign) a one day contract and retire a New York Jet.” Instead, Testaverde was signed today to become the Jets second string quarterback behind Brooks Bollinger.
What began as a season where the New York Jets dared to entertain championship dreams has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. In what may be the single unluckiest day in a history of unfortunate events for this franchise since winning the 1969 Super Bowl, the Jets lost starting quarterback Chad Pennington and his backup Jay Fiedler for the season. The dual injuries dealt a tremendous blow to an already struggling offense that failed to get 100 yards passing against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Pennington himself was under fire as many observers wondered if he was recovered from his shoulder surgery in February.
In order to deal with that risk, the Jets went out and grabbed Fieldler in the off-season from Miami as insurance. Well that insurance policy lasted one drive, as Fiedler walked off the field after being taken to the turf on a failed third down conversion attempt. Edwards, now forced to turn to Brooks Bollinger to lead the offense against Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens, needed a veteran quarterback.
On Monday night Edwards got the call from Testaverde who told the coach, “Herm, I'm here for you if you need me, in whatever capacity; to come in and work with Brooks, get him ready as kind of a coaching mentor, to come in and play in whatever capacity that may be.” The lack of a firm answer from Edwards left Testaverde feeling like his services would not be needed.
Fortunately for Testaverde, he was called into the Jets offices Tuesday morning and given the playbook. By the end of the day he signed a contract and faced the New York media once again.
The last time Testaverde played for the Jets, he butted heads with former offensive coordinator Paul Hackett. The ultra conservative approach to game calling did not take advantage of Testaverde biggest asset, his arm. The one thing that may work to Testaverde’s advantage is the new offensive coordinator’s desire to vertically attack the defense. Mike Heimerdinger’s best laid plans were not effectively carried out by Pennington this season. Many of his deep passes hung in the air and made receivers wait for them to fall from the air.
Testaverde looks forward to this offense, but will need time to get it into his head. “Right now I'm going through the playbook with the quarterback coach, Jeremy Bates. We're skipping over a few things, so I don't imagine I'm going to get the entire playbook. Then again, you don't ever take a full playbook into a game plan on Sunday. You kind of shrink that down and do what you think is best for that opponent. So they will make up the game plan, hopefully I'll be able to learn it very quickly and be out there for practice tomorrow, make an impression on the guys and get their confidence level up and their hopes back up and go from there.”
While the signing of Testaverde will go a long way toward easing the local malaise of the Jets fan, it is not realistic to believe he will make an impact any time soon. It takes at least a mini-camp and preseason to start to understand a new offensive system. Even though Bollinger is the starter for Sunday, Testaverde will be asked to be ready for action by Sunday against one of the elite defenses in the NFL in Baltimore.
In the end, the names available to play NFL quarterback were not earth shattering and bringing back a familiar face that many veterans are used to seeing in Hofstra will go a long way toward settling a disconcerting offensive situation. It is unclear whether New York will settle for Testaverde to mentor Bollinger or if there is a short hook on the new starter. |
