[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa3iU1fOffY"]YouTube - Oronde Gadsden Catch Vs. Raiders[/ame]

That man could pull down the ball like no other

 

I am sick, sick, sick, sick of people making Jay Fielder out to look like a terrible QB. For what the guy lacked in talent, he had guts, determination, was a great leader, was incredibly smart, and he won football games.

Fine... he wasn't Dan Marino. I get it. However, if Fielder, in your opinion, was a 'terrible' QB... in my opinion... you have rocks between your ears.

 

He made some nice catches. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan back then.

 

I agree.

We sure had a hard time replacing Jay for such a "terrible" player. Was he the best QB in the league? Far from it, but he wasnt a glaring hole either.

 

I respect Jay's guts and intangibles. His worst crime was actually just existing and being good enough to somehow prevent Wanny and the Front Office from ever thinking they should go try to get a GREAT QB. Draft after draft we went elsewhere with our picks. I mean, it ain't a mystery... in the last thirty years we have taken a QB in the first round only ONCE: Dan Marino.

We happen to have a starter who was a first round pick now: Chad Pennington. Both are the best two QB's we've had over the last thirty years. So, when a front office doesn;t draft QB's high... you get mediocre results. Having Fiedler helped create the sense we 'were okay' at QB.

Not Fiedler's fault. He was serviceable, made the most of his potential and was a good leader. We won a lot of games under Jay.

That said, I would have loved to see an effort to upgrade from him to an even BETTER QB. It peeved me that we were content with Jay. He'd have been a GREAT back-up QB behind a true 1st round, Pro Bowl caliber starting QB. Instead of a great backup though he was a "good" starter. That's all.

Regarding Oronde, I loved watching him. What made him was the mettle he developed in Arena league. He was fearless and played with great hunger to catch every single ball. Guys like that don;t ever want to go back to arena league.

That's why I'm not sure Turner fulfils his potential. He comes with a built in sense of entitlement, I'd think, being a USC guy (as compared to an arena league dude who gets a shot at the NFL). That said, our staff pushes guys. I got the sense Turner didn;t try his hardest nor was he as focused as he could have been in college. Guys like Sanchez have intimated as much and that Turner's best football is ahead of him. I think our staff may be able to get the most out of Patrick... maybe.

He doesn;t have oronde's hunger though. Damn that guy was a game day player.

 

Man Orende Gadsen made some amazing catches in heavy traffic. You needed someone to jump over 2 defenders and get the catch Orende was the man.

 

freak of nature & a very special football player

 

Great hands, superb WR. Fun to watch.

 

Great football player with the type of talents and desire every team needs.

Also a great guy, which of course, every team needs

 

I had the amazing luck of being at that game.

I try to buy tickets for me and my dad for a Father's Day present. That happened to be one of the years I could afford it. Huuuuge game. We had finally broken the 8 (i think) game losing streak to those bastards. That atmosphere was ridiculous.

The catch was incredible live. Everyone knew it was a pick, and the stadium went silent when it was in the air...OG makes THE GREATEST CATCH IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL, but it happened so fast it took another second or two for the crowd to realize what happened and erupt. I don't know if you can tell by the tv, but that ball had serious zip on it. They must have showed that catch a 100 times on the jumbotron. That day was the best football experience of my life.

 

Incredibly smart? not in a football sense the guy threw picks like they were going out of style. how could he be tough when he was constantly banged up.

He didnt win those games for us, our Defense did. He did fit into Wanstache's crappy mentality of playing not to lose though.

 

Yeah I agree FF. Fielder wasn't all horrible, but he wasn't anything good either. The only thing i can give him props for is that he was better than the next 10 or so qb's we had after him, but that's not a huge accomplishment either.

 

Another thing about OG is, he played hurt a lot. Had a torn tendon in his wrist I believe when he made that catch.

And he was among the most popular players in the locker room. Guys always had his back when it came to issues with management, etc.

I met him a few years ago. Indeed, those are bear claws he's got.

 

Does anyone have actual video of that catch against the Jets?

 

Fiedler just didn't have a starting QB arm. He couldn't throw a quick out. He make Pennington's arm look strong.

 

Man he had to my favorite Dolphins receiver.