It’s never a good situation when there are two mediocre players vying for the starting quarterback position of any professional football team.
So you can only imagine how I reacted to this morning’s news that J.T. O’Sullivan is very much in the hunt to start on opening day behind center.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, O’Sullivan appeared to be a step ahead of co-incumbents Alex Smith and Shaun Hill at mini-camp, mainly because he has played under Mike Martz in the past.
Martz told the Bay Area paper, “Sullivan has an excellent arm….He’s very accurate, very quick with the ball. He just needs to play. He needs to develop.”
Personally, this news only reinforces how skeptical I am about this team’s offense because the fact that they have three quarterbacks in the mix means that they have no idea how their offense is going to shape up on opening day. Towards the end of last season, it looked like Hill had unseated Smith as the starting quarterback with his solid performances against Cincinnati and Tampa Bay. Several months later, Smith appeared to be the guy when Nolan gave him his vote of confidence and the team picked up his option through 2009. Now, all of a sudden, O’Sullivan is viewed by the local media and to some degree, the coaches, as being a step ahead of the competition.
The problem this poses is that the player who ultimately wins the starting job doesn’t get nearly enough reps with the first-team offense by the time opening day rolls around. The offense doesn’t have nearly enough time to gel and will likely get steamrolled by opposing defences.
That’s a sobering thought, considering the first half of their schedule includes two games against Seattle and matchups with the Saints, the Patriots, the Eagles and those guys from New York who won the Super Bowl last year.
All I have to say to that is YIKES!
DC
E-mail: ninersbuzz@yahoo.com
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6 Responses to “Just Make A Freaking Decision”
Posted: 05/05/08 at 7:52 am
I am quite surprised by this too! Will Alex Smith be the next David Carr?
Posted: 05/05/08 at 8:13 am
He could be worse than Carr because Carr always got the vote of confidence in camp. If Smith starts this year, he’ll have won a battle that will likely last through the preseason. I can’t see this staff naming their guy until every one of them plays at least 2 preseason quarters.
Posted: 05/05/08 at 8:54 am
Very true, good point. I guess Aaron Rodgers might have been a better option with that 1st overall pick.
Both Smith and Andrew Bogut were the number one picks in the NFL and NBA the same year out of Utah and are turning out to be bad picks!
Posted: 05/05/08 at 9:59 am
I agree 100% Dave. This can only be a bad thing. I still think Smith deserves a shot. People clamouring for a QB change always forget that generally the reason they aren’t winning is because the overall team is bad, or because they are constantly overhauling the offense with new QB’s, coaches, etc.
Posted: 05/05/08 at 10:48 am
Good call Tim. This offense was starting to gel in the latter half of 2006, but Norv Turner left and it freefell last year, not to mention the fact that Smith was hurt for a good portion of the season.
If I were to make a prediction right now, I’d say Smith will start on opening day. Unfortunately, he’s going to be on too short of a leash for him to be remotely effective.
Posted: 05/06/08 at 3:00 am
I like the competition! How much effort would you put into your training, when you know that you will be the number one guy no matter what? These guys have delt with competition their whole lives, and to think that it should be different in the NFL is, in my opinion wrong. Until you establish yourself by being the best, and playing your heart out, your possition should never be set.
That said, in the end, I believe that they have to go with Smith, but they need to make him work for it.
Prove yourself, earn your coaches respect, earn your teams respect, earn your fans respect, and use that to be someone who is feared!