The hot seat:

Yea I hate to say it but I agree. So far it still seems like McCown is out in front. I think (hope) Beck gets a shot this year. If he doesn't though then I can see him being gone next season. Henne is obviously far from ready so at least Beck is safe this season.

 

Agreed.

Player development takes more than 3 1/2 games (or 6 in this case), if we keep tossing players off to the side because they don't show us instant results then our QB search will be a never ending headache. I can't think of a better way to piss away draft picks than by giving up on a player way too soon.

 

I duno. I would hope that with all the work they've said that he put in that he gets more then a few games to show what he has. Another idea would be that we rotate Beck and McCown for games, kind of like what happened in Arizona last year. I guess we really won't know till the end of TC whats going to happen. Even then, if McCown starts and we aren't looking good for the first 4 games then I would hope Beck gets in there. Hell, I wish they could just split games the first 4 weeks to see who can win the job if nobody has at the end of camp.

I really am being kind of a homer for Beck here bc I know Parcells will prefer a vet like McCown. O well I hope Beck proves me wrong.

 

I hope your right man. I think we can all agree that Beck is probably going to have to really outshine McCown in TC to have the job out of the gate. The Lorenzo Booker trade definitely demoralized me a little bit with what kind of disregard the new regime has for talented guys that aren't theirs.

 

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/Whispers/2008/whispers061508.htm

Hope it's not true, or just rookie mistakes.

 

I'm not worried about that at all. Beck had last year, which we all agree is not enough to judge him one way or the other. Now he's had an entire offseason, and will be getting plenty of work in with the first team offense. I think he'll have more than 6 games to prove himself, but 6 games will be plenty to show whether or not he has improved. If he's as bad as he was last year with an entire offseason of NFL preparation, then it will be time to give Henne his chance. On the other hand if Beck struggles, but is moving the ball and putting some points on the board, then Sparano and company will know they need to stick with him longer. I trust the new regime to make the right call on when, if ever, to give up on Beck.

Bottom line is he has no more excuses. It's time to put up or shut up. I hope he can make it happen.

 

We have speed rushers?

 

Whether you want to call this his rookie season or not, the simple fact is that John Beck will be 27 years old when the season starts. Some might think nothing of that, but I certainly feel it warrants a slightly shorter "trial run" than say a 22 or 23 year old draftee.

I am a Beck supporter. I want him to start, and I want him to do well. But if he comes out looking poorly over the first third of the season, I'm not going to have too big of a problem switching horses mid-race. The last thing this team needs is a "franchise" QB going through his growing pains at the age when he should be climbing towards his peak.

 

Most of the examples you cited don't support your argument. Almost all of those guys started playing well their second year. At the very least, they were moving the ball and putting points on the board. That's something John Beck has yet to do. Heck, Tony Romo and Kurt Warner started out great the first time they saw regular season NFL action.

As Frayser correctly points out, John Beck's clock is ticking faster than your average rookie QB. I know we don't want to give up on him too early, but at the same time how much time do you give a 27 year old QB?

Hopefully John Beck comes out and shows great improvement over last season and all this discussion will be pointless!

 

I t sucks that John Beck is getting 5 to 6 games to prove hium self. It also sucks that people are judging him on last year which really is not far

 

I think he'll be aight... He's got the tools and the brains, he's just got to slow down and put it all together.

 

Just to put Beck's age and last year's performance into perspective:

Steve Young, now in the Hall of Fame, played 2 years with Tampa Bay, after the USFL folded. He played on a bad team and had a 3-16 record as a starter, throwing 11 TD's and 21 INT's, with less than a 55% completion rate.

He went to SF and backed up Joe Montana for several years. In 1991, at age 30, he essentially STARTED his HOF career with SF in his 8th NFL season, eventually winning 6 passing titles, 2 NFL MVP's, and ending with the highest QB rating in NFL history, retiring in 1999, after 9 years as SF's starter.

Don't throw him under the bus yet (or for that matter, McCown, either). A lot of you guys would have sent Steve Young packing after two poor years with Tampa Bay, the way you're talking about Beck.

Also, one of the secrets to Young's longevity (he retired at age 38)? Not a lot of wear and tear as a backup QB. Beck may be 26, but he's 23 or 24 in football years.

 

Yup. We have speed rushers. They rush at one speed, but it isn't fast