Former PSU quarterback Anthony Morelli is waging the fight of his life for the Arizona Cardinals #3 quarterback position.
Matt Leinart is listed as first on the depth chart, and Kurt Warner is second. Those two might switch places several times during the pre-season and into the regular season. Although they are battling for the starting slot, hey both have guaranteed jobs. Not so #3. That’s where the real battle is.
The two contenders for third-string quarterback are Brian St. Pierre and Penn State’s own Anthony Morelli. St. Pierre, whom you Nittany Lions fans might remember as one of the fine quarterbacks produced by Boston College, has been a career third-stringer in his six year NFL career, mostly with the Steelers, but including a brief stint with the Ravens. He has been played very little, unless you count scout team service. As a Steeler, he played for Ken Whisenhunt, former Steelers offensive coordinator and current Cardinals head coach. The Cardinals signed him to a one-year contract this year. Some would say that this gives him the inside track.
I don’t know about that. After all, St. Pierre can hardly be described as an experienced NFL quarterback, and Whisenhunt did not regard him highly enough to give him any reps in Pittsburgh. Indeed, he was cut twice, and relegated to the scout team on another occasion. To Whisenhunt, Morelli is something new and strange. Very strange.
From the Arizona Republic, August 15:
“That’s been one of our strongest competitions in camp, as far as guys stepping up and getting better,” the coach said. “I can sit up here and say all the time that I think competition makes us a better team, but in that area, I’ve really seen it. I’ve seen dramatic improvement in all of those guys in terms of what we’re trying to get done.”
Morelli stepping up and getting better? What the hell took him so long? I wonder if his dad is telling Whisenhunt how to coach his son. As I saw no quote by Morelli, I’ll assume that Dad is still not allowing him to talk to the media.
Will I ever stop bashing Morelli? Or will Morelli prove that it was not his lack of talent, brains or football acumen, but rather the crappy quarterback coaching at Dear Old State that was to blame for his failure at PSU.
If you’ve paid any attention at all to the sports news for the past week or so, you’ll know that Brett Favre is already sick and tired of being retired, after only a few months. The NFL’s all-time leading passer wants to play again, but this Turkey has severe misgivings about the whole thing.
When I was a much younger Turkey Muhammad Ali delighted me by coming out of retirement. I could never get enough of “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!” Of course, I was in denial about “The Greatest” and his flagging fighting abilities. After having been beaten by toothless Leon Spinks in 1979 and then coming back the same year to exact revenge in the rematch to win the heavyweight title for the third time, it was clear that his abilities had eroded significantly. I remained in denial through a yearlong series of exhibition fights with bums like the late Lyle Alzado of NFL fame. These bouts led up to Ali’s final, unsuccessful title defense in 1980, in which he was taken apart by Larry Holmes in Las Vegas. I was thoroughly embarrassed for him and, in fact, by him. By the time he fought his final fight, which he lost to Trevor Berbick in Nassau in 1981, I was completely disenchanted and disgusted with Ali hanging on for too long.
Some thirty years earlier, a prior generation of Americans watched their great hero Joe Louis face a similarly ignominious end after coming out of retirement to fight Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano. Louis lost on points to Charles, then was massacred by Rocky Marciano, who knocked the Brown Bomber through the ropes in the eighth round, driving him into his final retirement. Although it was income tax woes that had forced Louis to come out of retirement, the result was predictable. More embarrassment.
The same was true of Michael Jordan’s second retirement. His first was understandable, for personal reasons. It was more a sabbatical than a retirement, taking place while he was at the top of his game. He came back and won a championship for his Bulls, and that should have been that. Instead, he took a couple years off and exited retirement, signing with the Washington Wizards (formerly the Bullets until owner Abe Pollin concluded that a team named after a bullet was a politically incorrect lionization of drive-by shootings). Jordan still had game, but without a team around him, even the great MJ could not get those bums to the playoffs. More importantly, seeing Jordan in any uniform that did not say Chicago on it was off-putting. I couldn’t watch.
Repeat the same story with Joe Montana, although his wasn’t really a retirement. When it was time for Steve Young to take over in San Francisco, Montana should have retired. He couldn’t bring himself to do it at the age of 36. He still had skills, and played two good, but not memorable years for the Chiefs. At least the uniform in Kansas City was red but it was still hard for me to watch.
Back to Brett, I’m not saying the Favre can no longer throw a pass. When the forthcoming season cranks up, he’ll be on the verge of turning 39 years old. Perhaps he has a year or two left if someone gives him an offensive line and a running game. Perhaps not. No one knows. One thing is pretty much assured: athletic skills do not tend to improve after age 35, and that’s stating it the kinder way.
Alas, if he does indeed come out of retirement, he won’t be wearing the familiar green and yellow of the Green Bay Packers. Not if the Packers have their way, anyway. The Packers took Favre seriously when he retired, as well they should have. What were they supposed to do? Keep a spot for Favre just in case? They have to move on.
However, Old #4 still has a contract with them and the Packers are not about to let him out of it. If it remains up to Packers management, Favre has two options: ride the bench in Green Bay or stay home. It is understandable that as long as Favre is under contract, the Packers don’t want to take a chance on him signing on with Chicago or Minnesota to make life miserable for Green Bay. They would just prefer that Favre work on his movie cameos, maybe in a Japanese re-make of There’s Something about Mary.
Favre is currently asking Green Bay to let him out of the contract. He wants to play and he fully comprehends the need for the Packers to move on. However, he still wants to play somewhere else and therein lies the contract controversy.
Any way you slice it, Favre is putting the Packers in a no-win public relations position. You can be sure they’ll turn fans against them regardless of which way their decision goes. If they keep Favre but don’t let him play anything more than backup reps, the fans will rebel. If they let Favre go, the fans will rebel. Cheeseheads will only accept one thing: Favre plays in Green Bay. The Packers’ front office is between a rock and a hard place, and Favre is making management look like the bad guys. They’re not. They’re merely protecting their interests.
As for this Turkey, I don’t want to bear witness to yet another aging athlete performing his swan song while looking more like a wounded duck. Furthermore, and most importantly, I don’t want to have to watch another tearful retirement announcement by Favre. No way! Not after having seen the last one repeated at least 20 times on every sports news and commentary program I tuned into for an entire week after the fated press conference.
Stay retired, Brett! We all have great memories of you. Let them be! I don’t want to see you wearing blue or red or black and I don’t want to see the inevitable deterioration of your abilities. I want to remember you on top of your game.
The Centre Daily Times reports that Nittany Lion head coach Joe Paterno was treated for dehydration and released after having been taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center by ambulance this morning. Apparently, he is well enough to still expect to complete a planned excursion to Austin, Texas tomorrow.
In a humongous sweep of draft leftovers, the NFL Cleveland Browns signed 23 free agents. Among them was ex-Nittany Lion tailback Austin Scott.
Unfortunately, Austin Scott will be better remembered around Penn State circles for his off-field exploits than for his accomplishments as a running back. However, he never lived up to the promise of his high school career.
Scott’s penchant for dancing around behind the line of scrimmage before moving forward was a great hindrance to his success in the faster moving college game, where opposing linebackers were in the backfield before Scott could get his ass in gear.
It is important to distinguish Scott’s actual performance from his potential, but that is all water under the bridge. He’s the Brownies’ problem now for a year, if he survives all the cruel cuts of the NFL pre-season.
Jamal Lewis is the Browns’ feature back. It is unclear how Scott will fit in to the Browns’ offensive scheme.
A Cleveland Plain-Dealer reader posted the following comment:
I’m excited about Austin Scott. This guy is amazing…if he can stay out of trouble. I never like taking questionable character guys..I leave that to the Bengals…but I’m glad the Browns are taking a flyer on him. Remember, Jam Lewis was in trouble and actually had his career derailed for a time by it…[even] serving time in prison Maybe Lewis can serve as a mentor to Scott. Go Browns!
Scott signed a one-year contract, but it is conditional on his making the team, which is to say that he must be on the final, 53-man roster.
“I’m going to turn it up another couple of notches,” Scott vowed. “I just want to get ready for the preseason minicamps and make an impression to make the final cut, to make it to the season, actually. I want to make sure that they understand they can use me and that I’m a good athlete to have on their team. I want them to know that I can help the Browns. I want to make an impression on special teams.”
Meanwhile, at Arizona Cardinal mini-camp, Anthony Morelli continues to struggle with apprehending the playbook, as he vies with Brian St. Pierre for the third-string job behind Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner. Par for the course, eh?
On the other hand, Dan Connor was impressive lining up at middle linebacker with the Carolina Panthers second and third teams. Having scant time to master a complex defensive playbook, Connor was still able to make some decent reads.
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