Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress is talking up presumptive 2007 starting QB Tarvaris Jackson, whom Childress traded up to draft in the second round in 2006. At the same time, Childress seems to be openly defending his decision not to pursue former Falcons back-up QB Matt Schaub, who ended up being dealt to the Houston Texans this off-season. Said Childress to Star-Tribune columnist Sid Hartman:
"[Jackson] is as experienced as a guy like Matt Schaub, who’s had two starts. It seems like the fashionable thing to talk about him and where he was drafted. So, I like [Jackson] every bit as well as that guy, and the experience comes. You can’t put a premium on experience. But what [Jackson’s] doing is attempting with his work and his film study and his on-the-field with our guys is to eliminate all those [flaws] that he can eliminate — all those unknowns that he can eliminate.[Jackson’s] done a great job of leading this offseason program, and certainly that doesn’t take anything away from [backup quarterbacks] Brooks Bollinger or Drew Henson, who have been there. But all those receivers have been there day in and day out. Every one of those tight ends, the running backs, and so you have to have somebody that’s kind of the straw that stirs the drink. You have to have somebody that’s there getting those guys out in those groups, and Tarvaris has been there front and center all the way along — and I just believe it’s going to pay dividends as we go forward."
Coach-speak-to-English translation: Tarvaris is my guy. I decided he was going to be my guy when I traded up to draft him. I had everything to do with Donovan McNabb becoming a great QB in Philly, and I will do it again with Tarvaris. I am a QB guru, plus my offense is kick-ass (even if it mostly looks sorry-ass). So all you meatheads who wanted Schaub – sorry, but he was never my guy. Frankly, the only reason you want him is because he had one good game against the Vikes when he came in for Vick and made a couple long scrambles. One good game doesn’t make a great player. And one crappy game where the team only got 3 first downs doesn’t make a bad player. This year Tarvaris will have some better people around him, like Adrian Peterson and Bobby Wade and Adrian Peterson, and he will rock. He will validate me trading up to get him in the draft, and passing on Schaub and David Carr and Brady Quinn. And if he doesn’t – well, then I’ll just have to pull him and stick Brooks Bollinger in there. Or maybe even Tyler Thigpen. Either way it won’t be my fault or my system’s – it’ll be the players’.