azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Dan Zeiger, Tribune
When an NFL quarterback trying to get his career to take off is beset by injuries almost from the moment he is named his team’s starter, a lot of people would call it bad luck.
For Tim Rattay, it is par for the course.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback, the son of a local high school coaching icon and product of Phoenix Christian High and Scottsdale Community College, is toiling for a winless team while trying to stay healthy. He has suffered three injuries since joining the first string in spring minicamp.
“It’s been difficult,” said Rattay, who will take snaps when San Francisco plays the Cardinals on Sunday. “But it’s just stuff that will help to make me a stronger player and person.”
The latest ailment, a shoulder injury and biceps muscle tear that caused him to miss two games, represented more long odds for a player who has overcome a lot of them to get this far.
He was not recruited at all in high school and given only one Division I-A scholarship offer out of SCC. Rattay made that school, Louisiana Tech, look smart by setting records there, but he was forced to labor as a backup in his first four NFL seasons.
“It’s not going to happen to everybody, where all the teams at the next level and are going to want you, and you go in and play well,” Rattay said. “It didn’t work that way for me, but it’s made me mentally tougher.
“Yeah, it stunk being hurt, and it stunk watching the team play without me. I was burning up inside, missing that (playing) time. But it made me want to do everything in my power to get back in there.”
In minicamp, Rattay suffered a torn groin. He strained a forearm muscle during training camp. The shoulder and biceps injuries occurred in the season opener against Atlanta, when Rattay was walloped by 285-pound defensive tackle Rod Coleman.
“He realizes that this is a tough man’s game,” said Rattay’s father, Jim, who has coached state title teams at Mesa High, Desert Vista and Phoenix Christian, his current school.
“He’s not a high-pollutant quarterback, as he likes to say. He knows that some of the nastiest men on the planet want to get him when he’s got the ball, so he knows he has to be resilient.”
Rattay came back in against the Falcons and directed three long drives, two for touchdowns, late in the game. After Ken Dorsey started two games at quarterback, Rattay returned to complete 31 passes for 299 yards and two TDs last week against St. Louis.
For the season, Rattay has completed 62.8 percent of his attempts for 474 yards, four scores and two interceptions.
“Tim got set back because of those injuries,” 49ers coach Dennis Erickson said. “But I thought as last week’s game went on, he got better and better. I look for him and the team to improve. Tim has a great football mind, and he knows what he wants to do out there.”
The shoulder and biceps injuries forced Rattay to adjust his throwing style, going to more of a sidearm delivery. While he said he can still feel a sensation at times, Rattay said his velocity and accuracy are back.
“I feel like I’m 100 percent right now,” Rattay said.
Rattay is hoping for a similar resuscitation of the San Francisco offense, which went scoreless for a period of 113 minutes, 34 seconds during the team’s last three games.
The 49ers have fallen behind early and been inconsistent with the run, forcing the quarterbacks to throw much more often than planned.
It has been a less-than-ideal way for Rattay to get accustomed to life as an NFL starting quarterback. But, as always, he plans to grow from the adversity.
“Throwing 47 times a game is not what we want to do,” Rattay said. “But it’s put me in situations to work with a no-huddle offense and two-minute offense, things I’ll need to know in the future. So, that’s been a help.
“Every time you drop back to pass, you can learn something.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=29289
When an NFL quarterback trying to get his career to take off is beset by injuries almost from the moment he is named his team’s starter, a lot of people would call it bad luck.
For Tim Rattay, it is par for the course.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback, the son of a local high school coaching icon and product of Phoenix Christian High and Scottsdale Community College, is toiling for a winless team while trying to stay healthy. He has suffered three injuries since joining the first string in spring minicamp.
“It’s been difficult,” said Rattay, who will take snaps when San Francisco plays the Cardinals on Sunday. “But it’s just stuff that will help to make me a stronger player and person.”
The latest ailment, a shoulder injury and biceps muscle tear that caused him to miss two games, represented more long odds for a player who has overcome a lot of them to get this far.
He was not recruited at all in high school and given only one Division I-A scholarship offer out of SCC. Rattay made that school, Louisiana Tech, look smart by setting records there, but he was forced to labor as a backup in his first four NFL seasons.
“It’s not going to happen to everybody, where all the teams at the next level and are going to want you, and you go in and play well,” Rattay said. “It didn’t work that way for me, but it’s made me mentally tougher.
“Yeah, it stunk being hurt, and it stunk watching the team play without me. I was burning up inside, missing that (playing) time. But it made me want to do everything in my power to get back in there.”
In minicamp, Rattay suffered a torn groin. He strained a forearm muscle during training camp. The shoulder and biceps injuries occurred in the season opener against Atlanta, when Rattay was walloped by 285-pound defensive tackle Rod Coleman.
“He realizes that this is a tough man’s game,” said Rattay’s father, Jim, who has coached state title teams at Mesa High, Desert Vista and Phoenix Christian, his current school.
“He’s not a high-pollutant quarterback, as he likes to say. He knows that some of the nastiest men on the planet want to get him when he’s got the ball, so he knows he has to be resilient.”
Rattay came back in against the Falcons and directed three long drives, two for touchdowns, late in the game. After Ken Dorsey started two games at quarterback, Rattay returned to complete 31 passes for 299 yards and two TDs last week against St. Louis.
For the season, Rattay has completed 62.8 percent of his attempts for 474 yards, four scores and two interceptions.
“Tim got set back because of those injuries,” 49ers coach Dennis Erickson said. “But I thought as last week’s game went on, he got better and better. I look for him and the team to improve. Tim has a great football mind, and he knows what he wants to do out there.”
The shoulder and biceps injuries forced Rattay to adjust his throwing style, going to more of a sidearm delivery. While he said he can still feel a sensation at times, Rattay said his velocity and accuracy are back.
“I feel like I’m 100 percent right now,” Rattay said.
Rattay is hoping for a similar resuscitation of the San Francisco offense, which went scoreless for a period of 113 minutes, 34 seconds during the team’s last three games.
The 49ers have fallen behind early and been inconsistent with the run, forcing the quarterbacks to throw much more often than planned.
It has been a less-than-ideal way for Rattay to get accustomed to life as an NFL starting quarterback. But, as always, he plans to grow from the adversity.
“Throwing 47 times a game is not what we want to do,” Rattay said. “But it’s put me in situations to work with a no-huddle offense and two-minute offense, things I’ll need to know in the future. So, that’s been a help.
“Every time you drop back to pass, you can learn something.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=29289
