J2: Jam Jam on His Way Back?

                The year is 2007 and the Oakland Raiders have the first overall draft pick in the first round and they draft “The Big One”, Jamarcus Russell, who was thought to have a great upside and possibly be a great quarterback, but to their dismay, Russell got paid his 52 million dollars in guaranteed money and just stopped trying.  In an NFL draft that had, Adrian Peterson, Joe Thomas, Patrick Willis, Calvin Johnson, and Marshawn Lynch, the Raiders drafted Jamarcus Russell, arguably the biggest draft bust in NFL history.  Six years later the year of the Rookie Quarterback has come with three rookies leading their respective teams to the playoffs, Peyton Manning has a new team, Eli has won two Super Bowls, Brett Favre has finally retired, the 49ers and the Ravens are in the Super Bowl, and the Raiders are still the Raiders. In a year filled with so many story lines, one is starting to catch headway; Jamarcus Russell is trying to make an NFL comeback after being out of the NFL for 4 years, after Al Davis cut him. My question is, Why Now? You had 4 years to make a comeback and you finally get the itch to play again. Do you need some cash, because the last time I heard anything about you was that you were broke. Does he still deserve a chance to play again? I would probably say yes. In a sports league were comebacks are regular and because I personally believe that everyone deserves a second chance. Resently a report surfaced that Jamarcus Russell started his comback by dropping from 320 to 308 pounds. Well I guess that's a start. A trainer can work with Jamarcus Russell on getting in shape again and improving his mechanics, but the one thing that he can't improve or change is his "want" or his desire to play because Jamarcus has to change that on his.
              
            "My first year out, I couldn't watch football but after a while, I couldn't keep the TV off. I got that itchy feeling but now I gotta watch it, gotta watch,” Russell told Yahoo! Sports.

                   Jamarcus Russel in 2010 was attempting a comeback, when the Dolphins reportedly were inviting him for a "tryout" after they lost Chad Pennington and Chad Henne on the same day, (talk about bad luck), but nothing really materialized, just like Jamarcus' career. If Jamarcus is serious about this comeback it looks like he is getting involved with the right people, he reportedly reached out to Jeff Garcia and Marshall Faulk. I would like to see Jamarcus Russell make the comeback because I am all about giving people a second chance and I think it'd be a great story; to think that maybe his career could rise from the ashes.

J1: What Defines The Clutch Quarterback?

Throughout NFL history, the most important position has evolved over time. For most of NFL history the most important position on the field was the running back because of the belief that you had to establish the run. That started to change in the 80’s when Joe Montana and the 49er’s emerged as an NFL superpower. Today the most important position on the field is the quarterback. Brad Johnson may have been the last NFL quarterback to take a back seat to the rest of the team. Today you cannot win without a quarterback. This is many reasons why teams like the Browns, Cardinals* (*excepting them from the years Kurt Warner was there), Chiefs, Jaguars, and Bills have all been real bottom feeders in the NFL for the past ten years. On the contrary teams like the Colts, Patriots Steelers, Ravens, Falcons, Packers, Texans, and Giants have all excelled due to upper echelon quarterbacks. The term clutch in the NFL refers to a player usually a quarterback who has excelled in crunch time. Throughout history QBS like Joe Montana, John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Bart Starr, Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Troy Aikman have all defined themselves as being clutch in some way. To many those QBS are the greatest of all time, well that’s the point, the greatest QBs of all time are usually clutch. Joe “Cool” (Montana), never lost a Super Bowl and never through an INT in one either. Johnny Unitas invented the “two minute drill” in the “Greatest Game Ever Played”. John Elway for the longest time held the most 4^th quarter comebacks in NFL history, and had his signature game “The Drive”, where he led his team 98 yards for the tying score. Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls. Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach won a combined 5 Super Bowls, and their teams were never out of it. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have been widely regarded as the two most clutch QBs in the game today. Tom Brady always keeps his team in the game and Peyton Manning can read a defense faster than he can a sentence.. One example of this is the Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo, and how they have yet to really make a deep playoff run because of Romo. Recently one player has really stood out and it has been Joe Flacco. Flacco has helped take his team all the way to the Super Bowl and has beaten the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. I believe that quarterbacks must be at a certain level of  being clutch because how can you depend on the most important position in football if they haven’t ever been really clutch before.

January 8, 2000- 16 seconds are left and the Bills kick only needing to recover the kick to preserve an upset. What happened next will live in NFL history, Lorenzo Neal laterals the ball to tight end Frank Wycheck and the Titans would end up scoring on one of the most miraculous and controversial plays in NFL history.

Now let’s fast forward 13 years. The Bills have not played the playoffs since that day and have gone through 5 head coaches since that day, Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey, Dick Jauron, Perry Fewell (interim), and Chan Gailey. To get back to the playoffs the Bills hired Syracuse Alum and Head Coach, Doug Marrone. Doug was the head coach for 4 years; racking up two Pinstripe Bowl victories. He helped fix a program that was in shambles and helped it return to respectability. Marone spent 7 years in the NFL, 4 as the offensive line coach for the New York Jets and 3 as the Offensive Coordinator for the New Orleans Saints. Marrone is from the Bronx and he knows the area pretty well. Marrone has already made an impact with the Buffalo Bills, hiring his Offensive Coordinator, Nathanial Hackett, who worked with him at Syracuse as their OC and Mike Pettine the Defensive Coordinator for the New York Jets.

            I have been listening to news recently, and also have been watching NFL Network and ESPN, and nothing, but good things have come up about Doug Marrone, from Jon Gruden to Brian Billick. Many fans have showed their support in this decision as well. Recently I caught up with some people in Alden,

            Leyton Miner- “I would have preferred if they would have chosen someone from the NFL, but anyone who can help is okay.”
            Alex Darrow- “I was skeptical at first, but now I am just waiting to see what he does, whether or not he will draft Nassib.”

Phil Zobrest- “I don’t know, I really don’t really pay attention to Syracuse football.”

Austin Zelasko- “I was skeptical of it at first, he didn’t have a winning record at Syracuse, and I think the Bills went with the cheapest option.”

Brian Stoldt- “I’m a huge fan.”

Raeanne Over- “I don’t know, but I guess it’s good.”

Jordan Meyer- “He’s a good head coach, and was successful with Syracuse.”

Mr. Foss- “I don’t know about it.”

Sam Mietlowski- “I think it’s a great hire. He knows how important this is to us.”

            My opinion, I was skeptical at first, but now I actually think it’s a pretty good hire. Hopefully he drafts Ryan Nassib, because Doug Marrone knows his strengths and weakness well. My anticipation is that he can help bring a certain discipline and toughness to this team that we have been missing for some years.