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Someone once said, “If you have Two good QBs on your team, you have NO QBs on your team. Meaning, competition is great, when one drives another. But when you have two starters on one team, they end up offsetting the other. Bucs fans needn’t worry at this time, we’re not even sure we have ONE good QB yet.
The Pro argument for Glennon centers around numbers; Other than fantasy football, numbers are only part of the game. Drive, heart, courage, those are immeasurables that QBs like Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw all have it.
You can say what you want to about Josh Freeman, but he had more 4th Qtr comebacks than any QB in Bucs history, More than Brad Johnson, Doug Williams and Jeff Garcia combined. No one knows the real story behind Freeman’s fall, but either his leadership or his determination (or a bit of both) willed the Bucs back from being down in games like @ Cincinnati, or home vs St. Louis. Last year against the same Rams, only 3 years removed, Glennon’s game was a melting pot of everything wrong with the kid.
He single handedly handed Robert Quinn the St. Louis Rams franchise Sack record with 18 on the season. Kevin Carter, who played for the Bucs the last few years of his career, had to be throwing objects at the TV screen, trying to get Glennon to move his legs a little faster! Quinn had 3 sacks in the game, 2 of them came on the final plays of the game, including the video above, where surely Carter launched a bowl of chips at his HDTV. To call Glennon a statue would be a dishonor to Rob Johnson.
If the Glennon Mob will use numbers, lets use them. He was 16 of 26 for 158 yards, NO Touchdowns. Yes, he also threw 0 interceptions, but 16 completions for 158 yards is just over 9 yards a pass. When you consider that Vincent Jackson caught 3 balls for about 80 yards, the rest of the passes were about 5.9: IE dump-offs. Was it HC Greg Schiano’s instructions? Or is he ‘scaerred’???
Not one game did Mike Glennon show an inkling of ability to lead the Bucs to comeback in games; and there were opportunities, thats for sure. Not to say that the ability to comeback should rest solely on the Quarterback to accomplish, there are 10 other players out there and a slew of coaches (few Bucs teams had as many coaching assistants as the 2012 and 2013 Bucs teams). The QB and the Coach are the ones people look to first though for answers, First ones to blame, first to get credit as the saying goes.
Last season was also not the most ideal for a rookie to come in and take over. The words MRSA, Freeman, Drug Testing, and Captain’s Vote come to mind! This time one year ago things were, for the most part, optimistic for a good season. Greg Schiano came off a 7-9 first year, and were in the playoff race for a number of games in the middle of the season. By the time the Captain’s vote revealed Josh Freeman was no longer a Captain, the season began to unravel slowly, speeding up after the first drive of the season against the NY Jets.
Glennon completely out-performed Freeman in preseason, but Bucs fans were under no illusion (Bucs fans, minus the newly formed MGB), having seen one Bruce Gradkowski operate during games that don’t count. Not getting anything from Freeman after 3 games and an 0-3 season, the Bucs under Schiano went with a rookie QB who wasn’t ready.
What would have happened had the Bucs made more of an effort to reconcile with No.5? We’ll never know…and Glennon is in the same position he was last year, 2nd string, this time behind a Free Agent the team went out of it’s way to go out and acquire in Free Agency. Will the knowledge he is set as the 2nd string football man allow him to concentrate on the things he needs to for growth at the position? The shockwaves that happened when HC Lovie Smith announced the former NC State Product was to be his QB of the future are still resonating around Bucdom.
What kind of future would Bucs fans expect to see if he is the QB of the future? Remember Glennon was only a 3rd round draft pick, who may have been drafted lower. Its well known he was a QB sought after by Coach Schiano since Rutgers. Glennon’s deep passes were all pretty much under thrown; WRs had to come back for the ball almost all the time. Vincent Jackson made two ESPN highlight reel One Handed Touchdown catches that were something to see. Short and intermediate passes are accurate for Glennon, but how far does that get you?
Is he a fit for the offense? Is that why he’s being touted as the future? In 1994 the Bucs had a shot at what was considered one of the top 2 QBs that year. Both came into the draft as a Cant Miss QB ready to be thurst into the limelight and turn your franchise around. Coaches Norv Turner and Sam Wyche almost never recovered from those picks of Heath Shuler and Trent Dilfer.
Dilfer wasn’t a bad fit for Dungy’s offense run by OC Mike Shula. Run the Ball, Run it some more. Keep score close, the defense will take over in the 4th qtr and find a way to win the game.
The more fans see clips like this, the harder it is to forget about the deficiencies that surround young game managers like Mike Glennon, right or wrong.
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