T-Jacked Up: An Open Letter to Tarvaris Jackson

By MikeBullock  |   Saturday, August 15, 2009  |  Comments( 1 )

Minnesota Vikings
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T-Jacked Up: An Open Letter to Jackson

While watching last night’s game, it certainly appeared on the surface that Sage Rosenfels clearly has the edge to be the starter when the Vikings face the Browns on September 13th.

Upon deeper inspection, however (thanks to the rewind on our new DVR), it’s fairly evident that Tarvaris Jackson is far more physically talented.

I’m not alone in this evaluation either. From coach Childress, and Darrell Bevel, to various other sportswriters, commentators and fans, the prevailing idea from those with a coaching level knowledge of the game is simply that T-Jack isn’t living up to his potential.

While watching Jackson last night, I witnessed something I’ve seen from him all too often in his short career: inconsistency. One play, he looks like the second coming of Steve Young and the next he appears more akin to Moe Howard. After riding that train of thought a little further down the tracks, I wondered what Steve Young had that T-Jack lacks and that’s when it struck me: self-confidence.

Flashback two years to the preseason in ’07. A reporter asked Tarvaris if he was ready to play and his answer amounted to “No, not yet, I’m not ready.” At the time, that answer troubled me; it takes guts and fire to play this game, not hesitancy and self-doubt. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Donovan McNabb, Ben Roethlisberger and a long list of other star quarterbacks all entered the league with the words “Give me the ball, coach!” on their lips. It’s obvious where that outlook has led them.

Now, four years in and Jackson is still saying things like “But honestly, me personally, I feel like I've got a lot more work to do.”

Why is that? If Childress, Bevel and host of other football experts believe in him, why doesn’t T-Jack believe in himself?

I don’t want to get into the laundry list of reasons why young men grow up lacking self-confidence, nor do I think you want to read about it. However, I wish I could sit down with T-Jack for an hour and get to the root of it, dispel his doubts and allow him to unleash the great signal caller he’s keeping at bay inside his own mind.

Tarvaris,
On the very slim chance you ever read this, I’d really like to encourage you to believe in yourself the same way your coaches and teammates believe in you. Stop worrying about the defense and start envisioning the end zone. The man you were on December 14th of 2008 is the man you were born to be, not the guy who tells reporters “I’m not ready.” You’ve been given chance after chance to embrace greatness. You’re in the lead dog spot on a championship caliber team and the keys to Superbowl immortality are well within your reach. Grab those keys, fire up that purple Lamborghini and drive it all the way to the Hall of Fame. The only thing stopping you from achieving that is you.

If you can’t or won’t do these things, then you owe to it your teammates, coaches and the Vikings faithful to simply step aside, walk away from the shot you have (one that most men would die for) and go buy a car dealership or whatever else has-beens do when they ride off into the afternoon sun. However, when the sunset finally arrives, all you’ll have are regrets.

I pray you choose the first route. God gave you the talent to electrify this game we all love, it’d be a shame to continue wasting it…
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