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| The next Jon Kitna? |
For context, know that Kitna regularly finished last, or among the worst at Joyner's bad decision percentage metric. In 2010, however, Kitna ranked first, meaning he had the lowest percentage of passes which were intercepted or almost intercepted due to poor judgement. The old gunslinger ranked ahead of perennial leaders Philip Rivers and Tom Brady.
Cowboys Nation: Jon Kitna has just retired, so you might think of naming the bad decision award after him.
Looking back, it appears Jason Garrett got the best run of Jon Kitna's career in 2010. Dallas needs a backup who can give them that '10 level Kitna play. When you review the list of free agent quarterbacks, you have to consider the marginal NFL quarterbacks, because the good ones are going to start somewhere.
I have two questions. First, which of these candidates would be willing to play backup and second, which can excel in that role?
K.C. Joyner: The thing about Kitna last year is, and I'll use a Bill James anecdote about pitchers. James said pitchers like to throw fastballs. They got where they are in life throwing a fastball better than anybody else and they just like to do that; it's what they've always been able to lean on. So it's hard to get them to throw other pitches and change their games.
I think that's what it was with Kitna. That's who he was. "I'm a quarterback and I'm a gunslinger and that's what I do." And it paid off for him. He had some success in college and the pros. And I think last year, Garrett got it through Kitna's mind that if you play that sort of game, your career is over. We will not bring you back and you know you won't get another job in this league. You have to play my game of high percentage football.
I think Kitna made a commitment to play it that way. That's why we saw the Jon Kitna we saw in 2010. You wonder, maybe if Kitna has encountered a Garrett earlier in his career he might have developed differently. Showed him that there's risk-reward here and you can get the best of both worlds. I don't think Kitna ever bought into that. I think he was pitched that before, but never really took to it. I think we might have seen the Cowboys Kitna much earlier in his career and we might be looking at him a lot differently today.
Getting that out of the way, there are a small number of guys who could potentially serve as good backups. Chris Redmond in Atlanta had some really good numbers when he filled in. It's a really small sample size, but he had some really good numbers. He's accepted being a backup, so he's not going to come in and move for a starting job.
I don't see a lot of whole lot of good options. Now here's one, and it's going to sound crazy and I doubt if it happens, but look at what Garrett did with Kitna. What if he were to get Rex Grossman? I'm just throwing it out there. I don't think it would happen, but ...
CN: If you needed him for a month, I'm sure he could do it. He moved the Redskins, certainly against the Cowboys. He's moved his teams, wherever he's been.
K.C.: Imagine if Garrett had the same effect on Grossman that he had on Kitna. Granted, Grossman is younger. He's 31. If he could make this kind of connection with Grossman, and again this is all supposition, Rex Grossman could be the best backup quarterback in the NFL. He could be the Don Strock of the NFL, where Strock was that guy for Miami for about a dozen years. Bob Griese gets hurt? David Woodley gets hurt? Dan Marino gets hurt? Strock is your guy.
Now, Grossman is older, but he could stretch out his career a lot longer if he developed into a role like Strock's.
CN: He does have the arm, and that's vital for a backup, because they're usually older, and they lose some zip on their throws, so you want a guy who had a good fastball to begin with. Look at Brad Johnson, who preceeded Kitna in Dallas. He never had a gun, and when he backed up Romo the offense ground to a halt, because all the deep throw options disappeared.
Kitna was a gunslinger, so even when he was in Dallas, at age 36 or so, he could still chuck it, and he could run most of Romo's playbook, maybe all of it.
K.C.: I think a Jason Garrett could work wonders for a Rex Grossman if he embraced the system. If Romo gets hurt, and that's been a theme of late, a Grossman could help the team win while Romo heals.
CN: Dallas put a waiver claim on Kyle Orton when Denver released him. One reason is that Orton had played in Ron Turner's offense at Chicago, which is similar to Jason Garrett's. Rex Grossman ran Ron Turner's offense when he was a Bear, so he has some familiarity with what the Cowboys do.
K.C.: (laughing) Cowboys fans are going to read this and think, "Grossman?! A Redskin?! On the Cowboys?!" But it could be a good fit.
And Grossman had that issue a few years ago when he went to a party on New Year's Eve, instead of a practice, but I think Shanahan might have tried to push Grossman's buttons.
I think A.J. Feeley might be an option. He's got the smarts, but I don't know that he's got the arm. He might be a shorter-term guy. I don't see other guys who stand out. I'm not sold on Kyle Orton at all.
CN: I've received several questions about David Garrard. He didn't play this season. Do you have any insight into that? Might he make a comeback?
K.C.: There are injury concerns with Garrard. Back injury concerns. Jacksonville let him go about three days before the season and said Blaine Gabbert is our guy and that surprised people. And I remember doing an interview with Jacksonville, because I did some research on it. I said going in, if he was healthy, he had really good numbers in 2010, with a bad receiving corps. I was told back injury. I heard they looked at an x-ray of his back and it looked like an old, beaten-up lineman's back.
CN: That's what happened to Troy Aikman. He hurt his back and lost his power base, and that affected his arm.
Next: Are two heads better than three, when it comes to Dallas' running back rotation?
