Homer: In a supposedly 'fixed race,' John Beck fails to impress

[themurf]

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Heading into the final weekend prior to the start of the 2011 NFL season, there was only one question left to answer in regards to the Washington Redskins – who would be the starting quarterback in the season opener against the New York Giants?

Well, if the NFL insiders are to be believed, head coach Mike Shanahan finally made his decision and informed the team’s two signal callers over the weekend that veteran Rex Grossman has (at least temporarily) won the starting job over John Beck.

According to Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network, Grossman will face the Giants to open the season, and the situation will be re-assessed through the year.*

*Which is the polite way of saying Grossman gets the job until Grossman plays poorly enough to lose the job.

As I said last week, I just wanted the Redskins to pick a starter as soon as possible in hopes that whoever was named “the man” would have extra time to try and develop some chemistry with the rest of the offense.

Of course, I would have rather the team made this decision the day the lockout ended, but this is still the Redskins. And let’s be honest – this team never does things the easy way.

While I kept my opinion out of the discussion last week, the truth is I’m more comfortable with Grossman leading the team than Beck.

Why, you ask? Let me explain.

Yes, Grossman is flawed. He’s prone to turnovers and is basically a sitting duck in the pocket for opposing defenses to use as a piñata. None of that is even up for debate.

But he’s also in his third-consecutive season in this offense and is capable of making quick decisions to get rid of the football. There’s no need to worry about him wearing a wristband with the playbook on it because Grossman has been working with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan long enough that he’s essentially an extension of the coaching staff.

I’m not trying to say Grossman is the quarterback who will take Washington back to the Super Bowl or anything ridiculous like that. I’m just saying that, in my humble opinion, he’s the lesser of two evils.

I understood the appeal of Beck – he represents the unknown. And the Shanahans have basically given him a chance to claim the job while knowing full well if he stumbled, they still have Grossman ready and able to execute the offense.

But I’ve never been completely on board with Beck as a legitimate option for the role of starting quarterback for one simple reason – the eyeball test.

Whether in practice or the preseason, I’ve just never been blown away by the guy. He might make a nice play here or there, like the sidearm throw to receiver Donte Stallworth against Indianapolis, but those moments are too few and far in between.

Take a look at Beck’s numbers in Washington’s final preseason games of 2011 and 2010.

While the Redskins were happy to rest all of their starters last season against Arizona in the preseason finale and a majority of them against Tampa Bay this year, Beck was given a chance to shine against players who in all likelihood would be unemployed just a day or two later.

And how did Beck fare against Cardinals and Buccaneers backups? He completed 21 of 42 passes for 240 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. That’s good enough to earn the 30-year-old a quarterback rating of 47.7 and bad enough for even the most Shanahan of supporters to have to second guess things.

While a better quarterback would elevate the play of his teammates and take advantage of a defense comprised of scrubs, Beck hasn’t even been able to out-perform such “highly touted” players like Rudy Carpenter and Max Hall.

Click here for the full article.

[Gart Monk]

IMO Grossman had it the whole time. This will be fun.

[arkowi]

Great read. More comfortable with Grossman as well. Be fun to see how this season shakes out.

[MrJL]

I never thought that Grossman seemed particularly immobile

[SWFLSkins]

I wished we had one Qb that was just so dominant that this was never even a discussion. Good luck to Grossman I hope he gets in a grove and plays well.

[TSO]

lol, lesser than two evils. If how well Grossman (and even Beck) have played under center for the Skins thus far is "evil", I shudder to think what you're take is on almost every other QB in the league other than the very elite. Sometimes you're way too harsh, murf.

---------- Post added September-5th-2011 at 04:53 PM ----------

I never thought that Grossman seemed particularly immobile

He's not, just a stigma attached to him that will never go. Like how weak Beck's arm is, lol.

[Wyvern]

I definitely understand this selection of Grossman as starter to open the season.

But I'd also note it's a long season -- and sensed that Grossman has much less pocket awareness than Beck. So maybe part of Shanahan' 'assessment' might be how the O-line does in developing a decent pocket for Grossman. The worse the pocket, the greater the chance that you'll see Beck coming in for Grossman -- Becks a little more elusive, and Shanahan probably knows that Grossman wouldn't last for a full season if he was getting pummeled due to poor O-line protection.

The funny thing is, deep down, I believe that the more reps Beck gets with the first string, the better he's going to get. And If he gets a string of real games under his belt -- he'll continue to show improvement each week. My sense is Beck's a QB that relies on close coordination with his team-mates to make the plays click. He's also going to learn from his mistakes.

For the Giants game, I definitely like Grossman startig. And Beck is not that big of a dropoff as backup.

[themurf]

lol, lesser than two evils. If how well Grossman (and even Beck) have played under center for the Skins thus far is "evil", I shudder to think what you're take is on almost every other QB in the league other than the very elite. Sometimes you're way too harsh, murf.

Too harsh? Why? Because I don't break out the poms poms and celebrate that Grossman is the quarterback? I mean, anyone who has read my site or heard me on Skinscast knows I'm completely comfortable with Sexy Rexy being the guy this season. He can be a turnover machine (which is why other teams weren't exactly lining up to sign him since Chicago), but when the guys is on his game, he's a solid B-plus. Does it make me too harsh for being able to see a player's strengths and weaknesses? If the alternative is blindly praising anyone and everyone who dons the burgundy and gold, then so be it.

[Chachie]

IMO Grossman had it the whole time.

Agreed. I think Kyle wanted Rex and it was never in question.

[grego]

He's not, just a stigma attached to him that will never go. Like how weak Beck's arm is, lol.

agree. i think people just see him as immobile cuz he looks a tad chubby.

[Skinsinparadise]

Good article, don't per se agree with all of it, the part that gets me is where you say they gave Beck one final shot in the last game which I took to imply he played poorly but lets give the dude one more try. IMO and most reporters at least, Beck played well in the preseason EXCEPT that last game, where he likely blew his chances. Just taking that performance and taking one from last year and leaving the impression that he played poorly in the preseason, I don't think presents the full picture well.

[Leonard Washington]

I agree with the assessment. However I think Grossman can improve.

[authentic]

I wished we had one Qb that was just so dominant that this was never even a discussion. Good luck to Grossman I hope he gets in a grove and plays well.

hopefully that QB is in next year's draft.

[E-Dog Night]

Nice choice of a pic for your latest entry. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

[authentic]

Nice choice of a pic for your latest entry. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

i thought the samething when i saw the pic. I was like that was the sack/fumblel.. Oh well, hopefully there would be none of those on Sunday. If it is it wouldn't be Osi, since he's not playing.

[themurf]

Good article, don't per se agree with all of it, the part that gets me is where you say they gave Beck one final shot in the last game which I took to imply he played poorly but lets give the dude one more try. IMO and most reporters at least, Beck played well in the preseason EXCEPT that last game, where he likely blew his chances. Just taking that performance and taking one from last year and leaving the impression that he played poorly in the preseason, I don't think presents the full picture well.

Beck didn't play against the Steelers in Week 1. The following week, he looked great against a Peyton Manning-less Colts team that had lost 24 of their last 28 preseason game. Against the Ravens Week 3, he threw a perfect pass to Anthony Armstrong on his first series and then didn't really do much else other than throw underneath and hope his receivers could extend the play (like Terrence Austin was able to do on his only touchdown pass of the preseason). Looking back, I think Beck had two really great throws in the preseason -- the Armstrong pass and the 19-yard gain to Donte Stallworth in the Indy game. That's it. The rest of the time he dinked and dunked and didn't really do much for me.

I'm sorry, but the guy has never blown me away. Like I said in this write-up, he never really passed the eyeball test for me -- no matter how many times the Shanahans praised him and Adam Shefter said he looked like a guy who had already locked up the starting job.

[Skinsinparadise]

i thought the samething when i saw the pic. I was like that was the sack/fumblel.. Oh well, hopefully there would be none of those on Sunday. If it is it wouldn't be Osi, since he's not playing.

Yeah Osi had a big game against Trent in the last game. I wonder though about Pierre Paul, he has a lot of hype as the next big pass rusher

[themurf]

Nice choice of a pic for your latest entry. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

What can I say? I like Rex, but he likes turnovers.

[Fred Jones]

So, we still need to find our QB of the future. That is just great.

[jsbaugh]

(photo by Brian Murphy)

Heading into the final weekend prior to the start of the 2011 NFL season, there was only one question left to answer in regards to the Washington Redskins – who would be the starting quarterback in the season opener against the New York Giants?

Well, if the NFL insiders are to be believed, head coach Mike Shanahan finally made his decision and informed the team’s two signal callers over the weekend that veteran Rex Grossman has (at least temporarily) won the starting job over John Beck.

According to Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network, Grossman will face the Giants to open the season, and the situation will be re-assessed through the year.*

*Which is the polite way of saying Grossman gets the job until Grossman plays poorly enough to lose the job.

As I said last week, I just wanted the Redskins to pick a starter as soon as possible in hopes that whoever was named “the man” would have extra time to try and develop some chemistry with the rest of the offense.

Of course, I would have rather the team made this decision the day the lockout ended, but this is still the Redskins. And let’s be honest – this team never does things the easy way.

While I kept my opinion out of the discussion last week, the truth is I’m more comfortable with Grossman leading the team than Beck.

Why, you ask? Let me explain.

Yes, Grossman is flawed. He’s prone to turnovers and is basically a sitting duck in the pocket for opposing defenses to use as a piñata. None of that is even up for debate.

But he’s also in his third-consecutive season in this offense and is capable of making quick decisions to get rid of the football. There’s no need to worry about him wearing a wristband with the playbook on it because Grossman has been working with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan long enough that he’s essentially an extension of the coaching staff.

I’m not trying to say Grossman is the quarterback who will take Washington back to the Super Bowl or anything ridiculous like that. I’m just saying that, in my humble opinion, he’s the lesser of two evils.

I understood the appeal of Beck – he represents the unknown. And the Shanahans have basically given him a chance to claim the job while knowing full well if he stumbled, they still have Grossman ready and able to execute the offense.

But I’ve never been completely on board with Beck as a legitimate option for the role of starting quarterback for one simple reason – the eyeball test.

Whether in practice or the preseason, I’ve just never been blown away by the guy. He might make a nice play here or there, like the sidearm throw to receiver Donte Stallworth against Indianapolis, but those moments are too few and far in between.

Take a look at Beck’s numbers in Washington’s final preseason games of 2011 and 2010.

While the Redskins were happy to rest all of their starters last season against Arizona in the preseason finale and a majority of them against Tampa Bay this year, Beck was given a chance to shine against players who in all likelihood would be unemployed just a day or two later.

And how did Beck fare against Cardinals and Buccaneers backups? He completed 21 of 42 passes for 240 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. That’s good enough to earn the 30-year-old a quarterback rating of 47.7 and bad enough for even the most Shanahan of supporters to have to second guess things.

While a better quarterback would elevate the play of his teammates and take advantage of a defense comprised of scrubs, Beck hasn’t even been able to out-perform such “highly touted” players like Rudy Carpenter and Max Hall.

Click here for the full article.

You fail at knowing any thing about football. You really think Beck lost the starting job based on his last preseason game? Beck could have thrown 3 TD's for 500 yards and he wouldnt be the starting QB this year. Fact is Mike is more comfortable with Rex running the show, probably based on his experience. Beck had a couple of good games and a mediocre last game. You make it sound like QB's never have an off night or a bad game and Beck is one of a kind. I thought Beck proved a lot of the haters wrong this preseason. I support Rex and hopefully he can win some games but the odds are we will be seeing Beck at some point this season because you are going to get a whole more of bad Rex than good Rex. His nine years in the league don't lie.

[TSO]

Too harsh? Why? Because I don't break out the poms poms and celebrate that Grossman is the quarterback? I mean, anyone who has read my site or heard me on Skinscast knows I'm completely comfortable with Sexy Rexy being the guy this season. He can be a turnover machine (which is why other teams weren't exactly lining up to sign him since Chicago), but when the guys is on his game, he's a solid B-plus. Does it make me too harsh for being able to see a player's strengths and weaknesses? If the alternative is blindly praising anyone and everyone who dons the burgundy and gold, then so be it.

Oh, come on... nowhere did I state anything about having to excessively celebrate Grossman or Beck as QB, and if not, it means you're too harsh. But by stating he's the lesser of two evils, you're saying (if taken literally, which may have been wrong for me to do, but you can't fault me for it either as one can't tell when reading) he's not a good option either. My fault if that's not what you meant, but it wasn't crazy for me to read that and say "yeesh, that's harsh". I thought both of them played well so far and neither are "evil". They both can run this offense effectively, it seems, with Grossman doing it better right now.

By the way, nice read as usual murf. Maybe I should've thrown that in there my first post so you didn't think I was attacking you, lol. But you know that I always feel like you're a little too negative in some of your articles. It seems like you try too hard not to show a bias. Both Grossman and Beck have played better than anyone and their mother's expected this preseason... if anyone says otherwise they're lying. I think it's ok to be optimistic about either of them at this point.

[grego]

What can I say? I like Rex, but he likes turnovers.

i think he will prove people wrong in that regard.

[jsbaugh]

Beck didn't play against the Steelers in Week 1. The following week, he looked great against a Peyton Manning-less Colts team that had lost 24 of their last 28 preseason game. Against the Ravens Week 3, he threw a perfect pass to Anthony Armstrong on his first series and then didn't really do much else other than throw underneath and hope his receivers could extend the play (like Terrence Austin was able to do on his only touchdown pass of the preseason). Looking back, I think Beck had two really great throws in the preseason -- the Armstrong pass and the 19-yard gain to Donte Stallworth in the Indy game. That's it. The rest of the time he dinked and dunked and didn't really do much for me.

I'm sorry, but the guy has never blown me away. Like I said in this write-up, he never really passed the eyeball test for me -- no matter how many times the Shanahans praised him and Adam Shefter said he looked like a guy who had already locked up the starting job.

You can think of only two good throws by Beck? Why dont you go back and watch the games.

[Skinsinparadise]

Beck didn't play against the Steelers in Week 1. The following week, he looked great against a Peyton Manning-less Colts team that had lost 24 of their last 28 preseason game. Against the Ravens Week 3, he threw a perfect pass to Anthony Armstrong on his first series and then didn't really do much else other than throw underneath and hope his receivers could extend the play (like Terrence Austin was able to do on his only touchdown pass of the preseason). Looking back, I think Beck had two really great throws in the preseason -- the Armstrong pass and the 19-yard gain to Donte Stallworth in the Indy game. That's it. The rest of the time he dinked and dunked and didn't really do much for me.

I'm sorry, but the guy has never blown me away. Like I said in this write-up, he never really passed the eyeball test for me -- no matter how many times the Shanahans praised him and Adam Shefter said he looked like a guy who had already locked up the starting job.

It's cool if he didn't blow you away but IMO taking the stats of his last preseason game this year, and his last one last year and categorizing his play by those 2 games and throwing away the two games where he played well (if you don't agree he played well, he did do well at least statistically in them) IMO is purposely stacking the deck to make him look bad to fit what you think of him. Especially when you have such a small sample to work with to start. It would be like me talking about Grossman's play last year and ignoring the Dallas game. No biggie though, it just struck me as the only aspect of your article which I found unfairly imbalanced.

Personally, am unsure about Beck but Grossman scares me. I rewatched the Giants game from last season the other night, and to my eyes he didn't look like a new and improved version -- seemed same old same old. Hot and cold -- fumbles, INT -- and I wonder about this preseason where the blitzes are much more vanilla than when he will see during the real season. But hopefully he surprises me. I don't think he's horrible, he's OK, good moments, bad moments, but not IMO the long term solution. So am pretty much on the same page with a lot of your thoughts here. Though I'd have liked to see Beck given a chance but I suspect he will get his opportunity this season.

[themurf]

By the way, nice read as usual murf. Maybe I should've thrown that in there my first post so you didn't think I was attacking you, lol. But you know that I always feel like you're a little too negative in some of your articles. It seems like you try too hard not to show a bias. Both Grossman and Beck have played better than anyone and their mother's expected this preseason... if anyone says otherwise they're lying. I think it's ok to be optimistic about either of them at this point.

I'm not trying to be unbiased or anything else. I'm just writing what I think/feel on that particular day. That being said, those who know me well will tell you that I'm an eternal pessimist. As a lifelong D.C. sports fan, I always brace myself for the worst so if/when it happens, I'm not completely kicked in the nuts. It's a defense mechanism I've developed over the years, I guess.

Like I said, I don't hate Beck or Grossman. I just don't think either is necessarily the long-term solution either.

---------- Post added September-5th-2011 at 08:13 PM ----------

It's cool if he didn't blow you away but IMO taking the stats of his last preseason game this year, and his last one last year and categorizing his play by those 2 games and throwing away the two games where he played well (if you don't agree he played well, he did do well at least statistically in them) IMO is purposely stacking the deck to make him look bad to fit what you think of him. Especially when you have such a small sample to work with to start. It would be like me talking about Grossman's play last year and ignoring the Dallas game. No biggie though, it just struck me as the only aspect of your article which I found unfairly imbalanced.

Fair point. My thought on the final two preseason games is that a top-tier player would light it up against guys a day or two from bagging groceries (like when Kevin Durant goes off in Summer League games against guys you and I have never heard of). John Beck did nothing to stand out in either of those games, which is why I wonder how much better than those depth players he actually is.