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        the Gridiron >> the Red Zone >>  Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
        
(Message started by: Drugrunner on Sep 5^th, 2002, 10:45am)

Title: Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
Post by Drugrunner on Sep 5^th, 2002, 10:45am

This kind of hurts my QB sleeper Randy Fasani. >:(

http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/sports/football/MGBLWTR8N5D.html

Quote:

Weinke still in Panthers' future plans, Fox explains
Peete's knowledge of offense is main reason for change at quarterback, coach says

By Joe Menzer
JOURNAL REPORTER

CHARLOTTE

Coach John Fox insisted yesterday that Chris Weinke remains "the quarterback of the future" for the Carolina Panthers. But at the same time, Weinke is out as the quarterback of the week for Sunday's regular-season opener against Baltimore at Ericsson Stadium.

Fox made the decision this past Sunday to replace Weinke in the starting lineup with Rodney Peete, a 36-year-old veteran who is entering his 14th season. He told the two quarterbacks in separate phone calls, after word spread like wildfire in the media that the switch was a done deal.

Yesterday, Fox vigorously defended his decision and the way it was handled.

"This is not an indictment of Chris Weinke," Fox said. "Chris is the quarterback of the future. We brought in Rodney Peete (as a free agent in the offseason) to help Chris. I think right now at this point, with Chris only having five weeks in the offense and Rodney having a past in it, I think this decision is purely to give us the best chance of winning Sunday against the Ravens."

Weinke, 30, is playing in his second NFL season. He entered the league as a rookie last season because he spent six years playing minor-league baseball before beginning a collegiate-football career at Florida State that was culminated by winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior in 2000.

Weinke won the starting job last year and ended up starting 15 of 16 games, missing one because of an injury to his right shoulder. He entered training camp as the starter and stayed atop the depth chart throughout camp and four preseason games, the last two of which went badly for him. In the preseason finale at Cleveland, Weinke played only two series and threw just three passes - one of which was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

Despite his struggles, Weinke admitted yesterday that he never saw his demotion coming. He also vowed to prove Fox wrong, while carefully stating that he respects his coach's decision.

"By no means am I happy about this," Weinke said. "The timing of it is tough, going through the entire preseason and with it being the week of the first (regular-season) game. But it's a decision that Coach Fox made. He's the head coach, and he makes those decisions.

"Am I happy about it? No. Any competitor wouldn't be happy about it. My goal is to work hard, to go out there everyday and prove to him that I'm capable of this. In my opinion, my days as a starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers are not done."

Peete, meanwhile, always hoped that his starting days were not in his past. But since he hadn't started a game since Nov. 2, 1998, he wasn't sure.

Signed as a free agent in the offseason with the clear understanding that he was to serve as Weinke's mentor, he finds himself in an unexpected but welcome situation.

"As long as you're playing, you always create scenarios in your mind that will vault you into that starting position and get you back on the field," said Peete, 36. "That constantly goes through your mind. That's the reason I'm still playing....

"Yes, I understood my role coming here was to help Chris out and lend whatever experience I've had in my 14 years to help his development. And I will continue to do that. But always in the back of your mind you're hoping for one more chance to get out on the field and play. And that presented itself to me this week."

It presented itself in an unusual and totally unexpected way, catching not only Weinke and Peete off-guard, but virtually everyone else inside and outside of the Panthers' organization.

Fox said he was worried because Weinke seemed to have more trouble as the defenses he faced became more complex.

The coach said that Peete - even though he missed much of training camp with a sore knee and because of personal family matters - has a leg up on Weinke because Peete has run this offense before - in 1992 and 1993 when Peete played for the Detroit Lions. Dan Henning, Carolina's new offensive coordinator, was offensive coordinator for the Lions when Peete played there.

"The way I saw it, the way our staff saw it, was that when we started off we were simple and the (opponents) we played were simple. As it goes along, people are getting more diversified in their (defensive) packages and that's when I saw sputtering in our offense," Fox said.

"That's the way it goes. Defenses become more complex and we were becoming more complex and in five weeks, that's not a long time to be comfortable with this offense on a high level."

Title: Re: Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
Post by Drugrunner on Sep 5^th, 2002, 10:46am

Interesting to note that the reason used for promoting Peete was his Familarity with the new Offense system because he played in it.

Yea, but that was in 1993! ::)

Title: Re: Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
Post by Drugrunner on Sep 5^th, 2002, 10:52am

Here's another Article where Fox says that Weinke should have had Surgry sooner, as it has set him back this season.

http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/sports/football/MGBFPKR8N5D.html

Quote:

Tue, September 3, 2002
Panthers' Notebook
Time off after surgery may have cost Weinke

COMPILED BY JOE MENZER

• Quarterback Chris Weinke of the Carolina Panthers thought it was no big deal when he underwent surgery to repair minor damage to his right shoulder last offseason. But yesterday, Coach John Fox wondered if the time Weinke missed in subsequent minicamps and coaching sessions while recuperating from the surgery played a role in costing Weinke his starting job.

Fox made the decision to replace Weinke with veteran Rodney Peete on Sunday night. Yesterday, Fox discussed his decision, and he mentioned that perhaps Weinke should have had the surgery on his shoulder earlier in the offseason so he would not have missed as much practice time in the spring.

"There is no question that set him back," Fox said. "You come in here, and it's hard to play as a rookie in this league.... It's a game where experience counts for a lot. Quarterbacks in this league sometimes take three or four years to develop. I'm not saying that's the case (with Weinke), but I know that for a fact in the NFL. So any time you miss, especially early in your career, that's a detriment."

• ?Weinke attempted to portray himself as positive and upbeat yesterday, but he couldn't mask his disappointment over the demotion. He also questioned the perception - and Fox's comments -- that he doesn't know the offense well enough to remain the starter.

"I had a long talk with Coach Fox, and I'm not going to agree with everything he says. He knows that," Weinke said. "I feel comfortable in this offense. My plan is to become more comfortable.

"I feel like I spent the whole offseason coming off of an injury and spending my time trying to learn this offense. This decision was made (Sunday), so it's just tough to swallow. But I'm not going to rock the boat by any means. Maybe I'm just going to work a little harder than I have been working to get to the point where I can gain the confidence of my teammates, the coaching staff and this community back. I feel like and I'm confident I have the ability to be successful in this league as a starting quarterback."

• Fox said that there was nothing to the rumor that Weinke might be dropped all the way to No. 3 on the depth chart behind Peete and rookie Randy Fasani, the fifth-round draft pick out of Stanford who had a promising preseason. He said that Weinke will be the No. 2 quarterback this Sunday when the Panthers play Baltimore at Ericsson Stadium.

• The Panthers made some minor roster moves yesterday when they claimed cornerback Rodney Heath and running back Rod Smart off waivers, and released cornerback Cordell Taylor and linebacker Brad Jackson.

Heath is a four-year veteran who was waived by Cincinnati on Sunday when NFL teams were required to trim their rosters to 53 players. Heath started 23 games for the Bengals, including the first five last year before a hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season.

Smart gained a small measure of notoriety playing for the Las Vegas Outlaws in the now-defunct XFL, where Smart wore a jersey that bore the words "He Hate Me." He played six games for Philadelphia in the NFL last season, mostly on special teams.

Title: Re: Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
Post by Jay on Sep 5^th, 2002, 2:35pm

I think Fasani looked incredible so far. My take is that he's the real quarterback of the future.

Title: Re: Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
Post by PhantasyPhilly on Sep 5^th, 2002, 6:33pm

Carolina's QB of the future is none other than Miami Hurricane QB Ken Dorsey. Anyone think they're not getting the #1 overall pick again?

Title: Re: Fox says Weinke still "QB of the Future"
Post by Drugrunner on Sep 16^th, 2002, 9:14pm

This might deserve it's own thread?

Don't have a link, but it's all over ESPN tonight

ESPN and Mort just announced that Carolina has named Peete the starter for the year. Mort said that this represents a lack of confidence in weinke and that management is placing an emphasis on wins right now.
he also stated that he wouldnt be surprised if late in the year, that fasani is getting playing time over weinke