Cross Hats be Damned!
In the NFL's 2003 season, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna was the only quarterback in the league to take every one of his team's offensive snaps, and in doing so led the team to an 8-8 record, only the second non-losing season for the team since 1990, and the first since 1996.
Kitna's numbers were good enough to earn him the Comeback Player of the Year Award, after coming back from a dismal 2-14 campaign that was worse than the record suggested.
That record, along with the firing of then-head coach Dick LeBeau, brought in Marvin Lewis to be the Bengals' head coach; Lewis's first move was to draft USC Quarterback Carson Palmer with the first pick of the 2003 NFL Draft in April. Palmer earned about 3 million last year to hold a clipboard. There is no word on how much the clipboard earned to hold papers, and the NFLPA (who I really did call) had no comment on the subject.
Today, however, marks a new era in the world of Evangelical Christian quarterbacks, as Lewis named Palmer the undisputed heavyweight king of the world and Bengals starting quarterback for the 2004 season, in an attempt to prevent the sort of infighting that lead to 2002's 2-14 showing.
Kitna's performance in the 8 games the Bengals won was good, great, and perhaps some of the best quarterbacking in the league, nevermind the fact that the guy has hands the size of your neighbor's two-year-old kid. His arm strength is also suspect (by suspect, I mean nonexistent. He couldn't break a pane of glass from three yards). But in those 8 wins, including a 24-12 shocker over the then-undefeated Chiefs, he was stellar.
In the Bengals' 8 losses, however, Kitna was abysmally bad, and the previously-mentioned neighbor brat could have played as poorly as Kitna did, without demanding the 2 million bucks that Kitna earned.
Kitna's a stand-up guy, but this year marks the first time since 1990 that the Bengals have a new starting quarterback that was drafted by the team and yet didn't start a game his rookie year. The others franchise QBs, who did both start their rookie years, were "worldbeaters" Akili Smith and David Klingler. Note the use of quotes to denote sardonic and barely-concealed disrespect.
He's also the first franchise QB in 15 years not coached by Ken Anderson, who was recently demoted from QB Coach to Receivers Coach by the Jacksonville Jaguars (note that Byron Leftwich did not get much better last year - part of that is due to coaching, and Jack Del Rio knows it).
I look forward to seeing what Palmer can do. Not many teams have the patience that the Bengals displayed last year in holding Palmer on the bench, even as their potential playoff season went flush. As a Bengals fan, my fingers are crossed.
In the NFL's 2003 season, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna was the only quarterback in the league to take every one of his team's offensive snaps, and in doing so led the team to an 8-8 record, only the second non-losing season for the team since 1990, and the first since 1996.
Kitna's numbers were good enough to earn him the Comeback Player of the Year Award, after coming back from a dismal 2-14 campaign that was worse than the record suggested.
That record, along with the firing of then-head coach Dick LeBeau, brought in Marvin Lewis to be the Bengals' head coach; Lewis's first move was to draft USC Quarterback Carson Palmer with the first pick of the 2003 NFL Draft in April. Palmer earned about 3 million last year to hold a clipboard. There is no word on how much the clipboard earned to hold papers, and the NFLPA (who I really did call) had no comment on the subject.
Today, however, marks a new era in the world of Evangelical Christian quarterbacks, as Lewis named Palmer the undisputed heavyweight king of the world and Bengals starting quarterback for the 2004 season, in an attempt to prevent the sort of infighting that lead to 2002's 2-14 showing.
Kitna's performance in the 8 games the Bengals won was good, great, and perhaps some of the best quarterbacking in the league, nevermind the fact that the guy has hands the size of your neighbor's two-year-old kid. His arm strength is also suspect (by suspect, I mean nonexistent. He couldn't break a pane of glass from three yards). But in those 8 wins, including a 24-12 shocker over the then-undefeated Chiefs, he was stellar.
In the Bengals' 8 losses, however, Kitna was abysmally bad, and the previously-mentioned neighbor brat could have played as poorly as Kitna did, without demanding the 2 million bucks that Kitna earned.
Kitna's a stand-up guy, but this year marks the first time since 1990 that the Bengals have a new starting quarterback that was drafted by the team and yet didn't start a game his rookie year. The others franchise QBs, who did both start their rookie years, were "worldbeaters" Akili Smith and David Klingler. Note the use of quotes to denote sardonic and barely-concealed disrespect.
He's also the first franchise QB in 15 years not coached by Ken Anderson, who was recently demoted from QB Coach to Receivers Coach by the Jacksonville Jaguars (note that Byron Leftwich did not get much better last year - part of that is due to coaching, and Jack Del Rio knows it).
I look forward to seeing what Palmer can do. Not many teams have the patience that the Bengals displayed last year in holding Palmer on the bench, even as their potential playoff season went flush. As a Bengals fan, my fingers are crossed.
posted by Brian at 12:27 PM
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