Um, excuse me Mr Blake...

[AZCB34]

...maybe this is one of the reasons why you are labeled as Leon or locker-room cancer:

“It’s not like I have played bad ball,” Blake said. “I’ve just been on bad teams.”

 

[Russ Smith]

Kind of starting to look like that may be why Green cut him?

I kind of get the impression when Green took the job he thought Blake was teh starter. After watching films and talking to players, he either elevated his opinion of Josh, lowered his opinion of Blake, or a bit of both. Then he re-evaluated and said if Jeff isn't the starter he could be a problem, so he cut him?

That's my latest theory and I'm sticking with it... for now.

 

[Tangodnzr]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Kind of starting to look like that may be why Green cut him?

I kind of get the impression when Green took the job he thought Blake was teh starter. After watching films and talking to players, he either elevated his opinion of Josh, lowered his opinion of Blake, or a bit of both. Then he re-evaluated and said if Jeff isn't the starter he could be a problem, so he cut him?

That's my latest theory and I'm sticking with it... for now.

Seems as logical as anything I've heard or seen so far.

 

[ajcardfan]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Kind of starting to look like that may be why Green cut him?

I kind of get the impression when Green took the job he thought Blake was teh starter. After watching films and talking to players, he either elevated his opinion of Josh, lowered his opinion of Blake, or a bit of both. Then he re-evaluated and said if Jeff isn't the starter he could be a problem, so he cut him?

That's my latest theory and I'm sticking with it... for now.

Maybe so.

But, on Fox10 last night, they interviewed Blake. Blake said he was surprised he was cut. He said that even if he wasn't going to be the starter that he thought he could "help coach up the young guys."

Take it for what it's worth.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Originally posted by AZCB34
...maybe this is one of the reasons why you are labeled as Leon or locker-room cancer:

“It’s not like I have played bad ball,” Blake said. “I’ve just been on bad teams.”

This is exactly what Semen Rice, Jake Plummer, Thomas Jones, and so many Cardinal Castaways have said.

The team stunk.

Yes, a bunch of Leons! THEY WERE THE TEAM. They were our high priced play makers. And they were terrible. They cause the team to be bad in the first place.

But don't worry at age 36 Blake will get his shot somewhere..............

 

[birdie]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Kind of starting to look like that may be why Green cut him?

I kind of get the impression when Green took the job he thought Blake was teh starter. After watching films and talking to players, he either elevated his opinion of Josh, lowered his opinion of Blake, or a bit of both. Then he re-evaluated and said if Jeff isn't the starter he could be a problem, so he cut him?

That's my latest theory and I'm sticking with it... for now.

Sort of what I was thinking too....or maybe after watching films the decision was made that McCown would start and Blake was having a problem with that...maybe he didn't even want to be here if he wasn't starting... or maybe they thought his attitude would interfere with his team efforts or team morale??

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by ajcardfan
Maybe so.

But, on Fox10 last night, they interviewed Blake. Blake said he was surprised he was cut. He said that even if he wasn't going to be the starter that he thought he could "help coach up the young guys."

Take it for what it's worth.

Yeah I think that's what he means by saying I did everything they asked me to do, that he did mentor Josh(Josh, Mac and Sully all praised Blake for that ).

But maybe Green just felt he wasn't the "right" mentor because Green realizes Jeff considers himself a starter, and wasn't ready to accept this?

personally I'll wait but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Blake on the roster, than with no experienced guy.

the other thought I had, Green was talking WCO when he moved QUan to SE, maybe he just doesn't think Blake can play the WCO?
To my knowledge he never really has in Cincy, NO or Baltimore. Maybe he thinks it's just the wrong offense for Blake, in some ways it probably is he's not the most accurate passer, and he has problems sometimes on shorter routes because of his size.
So maybe there's no big conspiracy at all.

 

[CaliCards]

Originally posted by Russ Smith


the other thought I had, Green was talking WCO when he moved QUan to SE, maybe he just doesn't think Blake can play the WCO?

To my knowledge he never really has in Cincy, NO or Baltimore. Maybe he thinks it's just the wrong offense for Blake, in some ways it probably is he's not the most accurate passer, and he has problems sometimes on shorter routes because of his size.
So maybe there's no big conspiracy at all.

The WCO theory and the fact for Green, Blake might not have looked that much better than Josh after Green and his coaching staff reviewed tapes of their individual performances. Also, if you have two players of seemingly equal talen--one young with more physical up side, and the other older and wiser, NFL coaches tend to always go with the younger player.

Remember that Jeff George was let go by Green after he took the Vikes to the playoffs to make room for rookie QB Duante Culpepper (sp).

 

[vikesfan]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Yeah I think that's what he means by saying I did everything they asked me to do, that he did mentor Josh(Josh, Mac and Sully all praised Blake for that ).

But maybe Green just felt he wasn't the "right" mentor because Green realizes Jeff considers himself a starter, and wasn't ready to accept this?

personally I'll wait but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Blake on the roster, than with no experienced guy.

the other thought I had, Green was talking WCO when he moved QUan to SE, maybe he just doesn't think Blake can play the WCO?
To my knowledge he never really has in Cincy, NO or Baltimore. Maybe he thinks it's just the wrong offense for Blake, in some ways it probably is he's not the most accurate passer, and he has problems sometimes on shorter routes because of his size.
So maybe there's no big conspiracy at all.

1 Green does not run a WCO he never has and I doubt he will start now. I don't know where you get this WCO idea from?

2 What exactly does "coach up" the young guys mean.

3 Those guys you mention were playmakers Blake is not. Plus did you win with those guys?

It is about winning. If DG thinks someone is not "going to carry their own water" they are gone. He doesn't fine people he cuts them.

 

[BuckeyeCardinal]

Maybe?

Maybe Jeff "The Next Jake Delhomme" Blake can get a job with Denver competing against Jake "The Next Joe Montana" Plummer.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by CaliCards


Remember that Jeff George was let go by Green after he took the Vikes to the playoffs to make room for rookie QB Duante Culpepper (sp).

Yes but IIRC that was totally finance, George had a great deal for that first year but obviously wanted more to stay the starter, Culpepper had a big contract but hadn't played as a rookie. Green knew he couldn't have two highly paid QB's, so he went with the young guy as you say.

Blake's contract is small for a starter big for a backup. Would have seemed to me they could have gone to minicamp and opened it up, if Blake isn't the starter, then you tell him take a paycut or we cut you?

I will wait and see how it plays out, I'm concerned with no veteran QB. For example I shudder to think how bad the first 13 games might have been this year without Blake, and to an extent Emmitt, there to show the young WR's where to line up. Obviously there were so many problems with young WR's a brand new OC etc. We shouldn't see most of that as a factor this year with Green in charge.

I don't quite understand the anti Blake sentiment on the board, but like everyone else I'm tired of losing so if this helps us win, by all means make moves its hard to complain when you lost as many games as we did with the current players.

 

[vikesfan]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Yes but IIRC that was totally finance, George had a great deal for that first year but obviously wanted more to stay the starter, Culpepper had a big contract but hadn't played as a rookie. Green knew he couldn't have two highly paid QB's, so he went with the young guy as you say.

Blake's contract is small for a starter big for a backup. Would have seemed to me they could have gone to minicamp and opened it up, if Blake isn't the starter, then you tell him take a paycut or we cut you?

I will wait and see how it plays out, I'm concerned with no veteran QB. For example I shudder to think how bad the first 13 games might have been this year without Blake, and to an extent Emmitt, there to show the young WR's where to line up. Obviously there were so many problems with young WR's a brand new OC etc. We shouldn't see most of that as a factor this year with Green in charge.

I don't quite understand the anti Blake sentiment on the board, but like everyone else I'm tired of losing so if this helps us win, by all means make moves its hard to complain when you lost as many games as we did with the current players.

It had nothing to do with money. DC was still getting paid peanuts. George had a good year but there were the usual LEON problems with George he wouldn't run the plays correctly - his panic vs STL - he blamed teammates for problems. Plus DG system made George good after he left he disappeared and did nothing.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by vikesfan
1 Green does not run a WCO he never has and I doubt he will start now. I don't know where you get this WCO idea from?

2 What exactly does "coach up" the young guys mean.

3 Those guys you mention were playmakers Blake is not. Plus did you win with those guys?

It is about winning. If DG thinks someone is not "going to carry their own water" they are gone. He doesn't fine people he cuts them.

1) John Clayton said green was moving Quan from Slot to SE to use him the way Walsh used Rice in his "original WCO". Green is a Walsh disciple, is he a WCO guy, not really, but that's where the comment came from.

2) I didn't say coach up, someone else did, but it's a phrase Mac used a lot so it's kind of an inside joke.

3) I didn't mention anybody but Josh so I'm not sure who you're talking about on this point. Did Blake win in Cincy, NO and Baltimore, actually to an extent yes. One of the real promising aspects of signing him was looking what happened to those 3 teams when they got him as their QB, all 3 got better. Cincy and NO got quite a bit better(Cincy then fell off again), and Baltimore while record wise didn't improve much, clearly improved their passing game dramatically when Blake replaced Redman 2 years ago. Unfortunately, he didn't do the same thing here.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by vikesfan
It had nothing to do with money. DC was still getting paid peanuts. George had a good year but there were the usual LEON problems with George he wouldn't run the plays correctly - his panic vs STL - he blamed teammates for problems. Plus DG system made George good after he left he disappeared and did nothing.

his rookie contract was reportedly 5 years 7 million with escalators and a 5 million signing bonus. So he was counting roughly 1.4 million against their cap as a rookie, while George made 400K with incentives.

George wanted a raise, Green didn't have the caproom.

From a Minnesota paper I found online :

The Vikings lost George to Washington after he refused to accept a one-year, $500,000 contract following his great season. The Vikings also courted Dan Marino, who eventually retired from the Miami Dolphins.
Green is going with Culpepper, last year's first-round draft pick, as his starter and signed Bubby Brister to be the primary backup. Green has been criticized heavily for drafting Culpepper ahead of Jevon Kearse, who went on to be the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year for Tennessee.


I'm not saying George wasn't selfish etc, but he was let loose because of money as much as anything else, otherwise why'd they bother to offer him that 500K?

 

[kerouac9]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
I'm not saying George wasn't selfish etc, but he was let loose because of money as much as anything else, otherwise why'd they bother to offer him that 500K?

That's what I remember, too. I think that Snyder gave George a monster deal and ran Brad Johnson out of town on a rail. The Vikes wanted George back, in a way, and were desperate to sign another vet QB (a la ardently couring Marino) but went with Culpepper anyway.

It worked out all right for them, but I don't think that it was the plan.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by kerouac9
That's what I remember, too. I think that Snyder gave George a monster deal and ran Brad Johnson out of town on a rail. The Vikes wanted George back, in a way, and were desperate to sign another vet QB (a la ardently couring Marino) but went with Culpepper anyway.

It worked out all right for them, but I don't think that it was the plan.

In fact the same article says they cut Cunningham to save 1.5 million so they could sign their draft picks. It's an AP article from Minnesota. I would say clearly at the time they tried to get a veteran cheap, couldn't, and basically decided it was Daunte's job now.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2000/Jun-03-Sat-2000/sports/13705130.html

 

[kerouac9]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
In fact the same article says they cut Cunningham to save 1.5 million so they could sign their draft picks. It's an AP article from Minnesota. I would say clearly at the time they tried to get a veteran cheap, couldn't, and basically decided it was Daunte's job now.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2000/Jun-03-Sat-2000/sports/13705130.html

That's all right: vikesfan is a big revisionist historian. Remember: There was nothing wrong with Dimitrius Underwood when they drafted him...


...all he did was quit on his team for an entire season and refuse to play because he might get injured. The team that was paying his way through school. No, there were no problems with that guy. I bet his teammates loved him.

 

[Mr.Dibbs]

Originally posted by kerouac9
That's all right: vikesfan is a big revisionist historian. Remember: There was nothing wrong with Dimitrius Underwood when they drafted him...


...all he did was quit on his team for an entire season and refuse to play because he might get injured. The team that was paying his way through school. No, there were no problems with that guy. I bet his teammates loved him.

Hey now, remember how the national media talks about Mac? Remember what we KNOW about Mac? I trust Vikingfan's posts because he follows that team. NEVER TRUST THE NATIONAL SPORTS MEDIA!!! If you do trust the national sports media, then we are stupid for firing Mac, because he's a great coach...