Breakin' it Down – The Quarterbacks

Training camp is here so I might as well do a quick position-by-position breakdown of the team.  First the quarterbacks:

Tarvaris Jackson

Is there a player in the league who has more pressure on him than Tarvaris?  Right or wrong, T-Jack is perceived as the guy who will make or break the Vikings‘ season.  He’s started enough games now that inexperience can’t be used as an excuse – he either plays well or he doesn’t.  We know he has the physical tools so now it’s all about making the plays…reading defenses, delivering the ball on rhythm, improvising when things break down.  He doesn’t get another full season to prove himself as far as I’m concerned.  If he hasn’t shown the stuff of a playoff QB by six weeks in, he’s got to go.

Gus Frerotte

If things go right Gus will spend the season as a de facto coach.  If not?  Let’s not think about that.  At least we know he’s better than what we had last year.  Or we think he is.  It’s possible he’s completely over-the-hill.  The best we can realistically expect is a good game or two if T-Jack happens to get dinged up (like he was a lot last year).  And let’s hope, if he does make a good play, he doesn’t get overenthusiastic and break his own neck.

John David Booty

A guy certain people will call for if and when Tarvaris falls on his face.  Totally insane given that he is a rookie, and given the consensus opinion that he doesn’t have much of an arm.  Looks like a career back-up to me frankly.  Think Jim Sorgi.  Except that Sorgi plays behind one of the greats of all-time, a guy who never misses a snap.  If Booty is playing by week 15, we’ll know the season was a dismal failure.

Brooks Bollinger

Some really cataclysmic things would have to happen for Bollinger to make the team.  Now might be a good time for him to segue into coaching.  He never did much for the Purple except give T-Jack naysayers someone to point to as a never-that-realistic alternative.

#4

I’ll throw him in there, since I think there’s still a .05% chance he could wind up with the Purple.  You know, if the Packers can’t make a trade and just get fed up with his ass and cut him, not caring where he ends up signing.  Unfortunately, I’m now convinced that, if he did end up with the Vikings, it would be a disaster.  It’s one thing for a guy to freewheel it in a situation he mostly has command of…quite another for him to go gunslinger on a team he’s had no chance to develop chemistry with.  #4 on the Vikes would equal at best a really exciting 7-9 (and a whole lot of ‘splainin’).