Dolphins’ Beck creating headaches for Parcells

By Anthony Bialy  |   Friday, January 11, 2008  |  Comments( 38 )

Miami Dolphins
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It's redundant to acknowledge that a one-win NFL team will have multiple needs to be addressed over the offseason. It's also beyond obvious that a rookie quarterback thrown into a figurative bonfire is going to struggle. But John Beck's astoundingly painful first NFL campaign can't be excused away by what was fermenting around the quarterback spot. Did he give anyone, particularly Bill Parcells, hope that he's the Miami Dolphins' future?

Of course, Beck lost all four games he started during his rookie season, something that naturally can't be stuck entirely on him. But it was the way he played that's disturbing to Dolphins fans, specifically for his odd penchant to coat his hands in Crisco before every game. His fumble on his first play after stepping in for a wounded Cleo Lemon during the team's final game against Cincinnati was one of many times he couldn't handle the most fundamental of all quarterback actions, namely hanging on to the blasted ball.

The mishandled spheroid during the Bengal game was one of a disturbingly insane seven fumbles he managed in a mere five total appearances, as it seemed he was randomly teleported behind center in the midst of games and was therefore wholly unprepared for the exchange. In most offenses, it's my understanding that the, um, quarterback is the one who calls for the hike, so, unless the Dolphins do something spectacularly unconventional with the snap about which nobody outside the organization knows, he should have been better prepared to physically grasp the object upon which the game revolves.

Still, the Bengal contest was his best performance of the season; not to take too much away from his effort, but at the same time that's like being proud of the kid who lost the most weight of anyone in his cabin during fat camp. Beck completed 13 of his 21 passes, managing 135 yards in a partial day's work against a Cincinnati team that, it must be mentioned, finished the year 26th in pass defense. That's as good as his statistics got.

So many of his numbers look bad: For one, Beck's 56.1 percent completion rate for the season would have put him just ahead of Lemon (an even 56 percent), not what most would consider glamorously elite company. Much more alarming is the fact that Beck threw precisely one touchdown over his 107 attempts, the biggest factor leading to his gloomy 62.0 rating.

Even worse for Beck, he's not the new guy's guy. To extend one of Parcells' most famous comparisons, the team's most prominent front office employee is currently making dinner with the ingredients bought by the last head chef. If Parcells had been part of the Dolphins' selection process during the 2007 draft, Beck might be on a longer leash, but an executive brought in to fix a team that's collectively lying in the gutter isn't exactly going to be sentimental when assessing a player to whom he has zero connection.

It's also important to remember that, by the start of his second year, Beck will already be 27, having delayed college to serve his Mormon mission at BYU. It goes without saying that his commitment to serving humanity is admirable, but the harsh fact is player at his age and with his life experience should have frankly shown more poise during the admittedly difficult circumstances of this past season. Instead, he often looked dazed and unprepared, especially for a player who's older than 35 fellow Dolphins currently listed on the roster.

Certainly, Cam Cameron inserting Beck into the lineup of an insufferably bad team created a situation where being successful was a tricky proposition; the ex-coach's tough yet understandable decision to in turn pull the rookie in a desperate attempt to get a single win didn't benefit the player's confidence. And the path of an entire football career can't be accurately forecast after only five games played. The problem with Beck, though, is that he didn't even show brief flashes of brilliance upon which fans can latch and use to justify the belief that he has untapped pro potential.

His unfortunately disastrous season means the Dolphins' new vice president of football operations has to think about using one of this team's first-day picks on a quarterback in consecutive seasons, perhaps this time first overall. Alternately, they'd have to consider squandering resources trading for, say, a Cleveland Browns quarterback currently living in limbo.

Bringing in a rookie or an uneven veteran would be a tremendous waste, but would sticking with Beck be an even more ruinous setback than neglecting to draft at other need positions or dealing away either picks or current players? New quarterbacks coach David Lee won't have to quite work miracles, but he is going to have to treat Beck like a boot camp recruit and overhaul him from the cleats up if the quarterback is going to play next season, much less thrive.
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About Anthony Bialy

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CommentsComments: 38  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Pig		04:42 AM
01/11/2008
Let's see we need an o-line that can block and some reciever's who can catch the ball.Lemon and Beck both suffered from piss poor...
No.2
rai		07:09 AM
01/11/2008
John Beck was a very good QB at BYU and he will do better next year. Many QBs struggled during their first and second years in...
No.3
rai		08:02 AM
01/11/2008
Cleveland has committed to Derek Anderson as its starter for next season and is looking to sign him to a long term...
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