Good read on David Carr

[Jackass]

No new info but found it interesting.

 

Carr's tale: Signed, sacked and shipped off

QB's fall from grace took him through a dreadful 2-18 stretch with Texans

 

By DALE ROBERTSON

Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

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He would become the face of the NFL's newest franchise, and what a face he had. Tall, dark and handsome only began to describe the Texans' first starting quarterback — a young man with the squarest of jaws, the crewest of cuts and, not insignificantly, the cleanest of reputations.

 

On appearance, David Carr figured to be equally comfortable under center or on the cover of GQ. Dressed in a Texans uniform or one of those $2,500 Zegna suits the famed designer would foist upon him, no quarterback came into the NFL more perfectly sculpted for the highest-profile job in American sports.

 

And he seemed a perfect fit for the Texans in another way. They weren't going to be the Oakland Raiders. The church-going Carr, married to his college sweetheart and the father of two infant children, was "a good kid," projecting exactly the straight-laced, family-values image owner Bob McNair wanted for his team — hard-hitting on the field, clean-living off it.

 

The only tattoo Carr's buffed torso sported was the wash-off kind. It read "Can't Miss," and it was willed onto his skin by McNair, general manager Charley Casserly and coach Dom Capers. The Texans' original management team was a troika of true believers. They all thought their No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft was the right choice to lead the team from infancy to respectability.

 

But five years later, only McNair remains — an owner can't fire himself — and Carr also is gone, his mission here unaccomplished. The Texans won two more games in 2006 than they had in 2002 and never sniffed a playoff spot during his half-decade tenure that included one particularly dreadful 2-18 patch.

 

"When Carr was drafted, I didn't necessarily think he'd be a franchise quarterback, but I thought he'd become a decent starter and stay there a long time," Oilers Hall of Famer Warren Moon said Saturday. "I was a little surprised when I heard it all come down."

 

Here comes Schaub

Inevitably, a page was turned and a chapter closed. Unable to find another team willing to part with anything of value for Carr, the Texans cut their losses by cutting him Friday, having handed the reins to the largely untested Matt Schaub, a former third-round pick in Atlanta.

 

"To tell you the truth," said another former Oiler, Dan Pastorini, the only quarterback in Houston history to lead teams to the brink of the Super Bowl, which he did in 1978 and 1979. "I'm surprised it took them as long as it did. I was really pulling for Carr, but it's a sad reality of the game. He's a great kid, but you have to deliver in the NFL.

 

"A lot of what happened to him was his fault. He struggled with his mechanics and not picking things up. He has that sidearm delivery, and he had more balls batted down than any quarterback I've seen."

 

It was Casserly, the Texans' personnel expert, who played the point in selling the Fresno State phenom as possibly another John Elway, Peyton Manning or Troy Aikman, fellow former No. 1 picks who have arrived at, or are headed to, the Hall of Fame. But, unless Carr dramatically re-invents himself elsewhere — ironically, those unsavory, misfit Raiders are among those most intrigued by him as an unfettered free agent — he's pledging a different kind of fraternity.

 

Its members include the likes of Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith and Jeff George, monumental failures each because of how their stratospheric draft-day expectations were paired with subsequent desultory results.

 

Why did things go so terribly wrong for Carr? It's possible the answer is simple. The "good kid" who was supposed to have had it all might have lacked the most essential things — the sufficient talent and an all-consuming passion to succeed in the NFL.

 

From the moment the Texans ordained him as their cornerstone, there was clucking about his three-quarter-arm throwing motion (Vikings coach Brad Childress was harping about it as recently as last week) and other mechanical flaws. Then, as the seasons passed, questions arose about his leadership skills, maturity and dedication.

 

That he appeared to lean more on his family, particularly his doting, omnipresent father, than his brothers-in-arms perhaps should have raised more red flags than it did.

 

"Leadership is the most important thing in the world," Pastorini said. "The quarterback has to go out of his way to build camaraderie with his teammates. He has to make an effort, to sacrifice, to find out what they want and what they need. The quarterback has to spend time with them after practice in the regular season and after practice in training camp. He's got to know that when he steps into the huddle there are 11 minds thinking the same thing."

 

Although Carr's former teammates have been hesitant to criticize him publicly for lacking a take-charge mentality, it is widely known he didn't reach out to them as much, or as often, as he should have. He never, for example, forged the kind of bond Pastorini shared with crusty center Carl Mauck.

 

Further, those who observed Carr in social settings were occasionally surprised by his unworldly behavior. After following Carr for a few holes at a celebrity golf tournament, a prominent local doctor who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject said: "He acted like a teenager. It was hard for me to picture him in a huddle, trying to lead an NFL team."

 

But it's also possible that a succession of injuries to critical supporting-cast members, myriad strategic gaffes and just plain rotten luck doomed him.

 

Weak link on the left side

First, there was Tony Boselli, who was supposed to have had Carr's back from the get-go at left tackle, the most important and highly paid position in the offensive line. Yet, beset by chronic shoulder problems, the Jacksonville All-Pro never played a down for the Texans and Carr's introductory year in the NFL came to constitute the most cruel and unusual of punishments. His 76 sacks set a league record and left him with psychological scars that surely affect his decision-making.

 

"He's been hit so much," said Pastorini, who knows a good bit about the subject because he was similarly tortured at the outset of his career, "I think he's damaged goods."

 

Still, Carr, 27, toughed it out that season and the four that followed. No one questioned his pain threshold. He missed only four games despite being dumped an astonishing 249 times. But he proved to be consistent only in his stoic fortitude. His game-to-game football performance was erratic and a graph of his "progress" became a succession of parabolas, not the upward-trending straight line you hope to see.

 

"I've got some sympathy for the fact that he had to begin his career with an expansion franchise," said Oliver Luck, once Moon's backup with the Oilers. "It's tough to start out as the top draft choice for an expansion team. He wasn't surrounded by great talent, and I think the Texans would admit that. But, quite honestly, I don't have much sympathy for David because he didn't show what a first-round pick needs to show.

 

"If you see signs of a guy getting better year to year that's one thing. But he didn't. In some games, yes, he looked like a legitimate NFL quarterback. But he didn't do it in enough games. Most quarterbacks find certain things — special plays, a particular receiver — to fall back on when they need to. David never really established any of that."

 

Luck, the president of the Major League Soccer champion Dynamo, suggested Carr's college statistics and, hence, reputation could have been skewed by the caliber of the competition he faced at Fresno State.

 

"It's a hard thing to do as a scout, to decide if a quarterback, coming from a smaller school, has what it takes to move up to play in the NFL," Luck said. "It's the most difficult position to evaluate because so much more than physical skills are involved. So much of it is mental. It's also about how much time a guy is willing to invest, how much homework he'll do. Is he willing to watch film all night long? Does he have the leadership skills an NFL quarterback needs?

 

"At the end of the day, David just didn't show enough in all the areas for Gary (Kubiak) to have justified hitching his wagon to him."

 

Kubiak, who took over for Capers last offseason, is the mystery component in the Carr saga. McNair, Casserly and Capers had a vested interest in giving Carr every opportunity to establish himself. But, afforded the opportunity to give Carr a thumbs-down a year ago when the likes of Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler were options, Kubiak chose the status quo.

 

Move was overdue, Pastorini says

"Man," Pastorini said, "to think we could have had one of them ... But I hope the Texans have turned the corner. I want to see them win. What (the Oilers) experienced in 1978 and 1979 was worth all the injuries, pain and losses I had. I wouldn't trade those two seasons for anything.

 

"This (Carr's release) should have happened a long time ago. When (Sage) Rosenfels got to play, he showed a lot of promise. And I like Schaub's mechanics a lot better than I liked Carr's. But he's got to prove himself."

 

Something the man Schaub supplants never was able to do.

 

"Carr got sacked so much and (the Texans) committed so many blunders that he just didn't get any better," Moon said. "Watching him last season you could tell he's lost a lot of confidence. He needs a change of scenery. I think a new environment will do him good."

 

The Chronicle's John McClain contributed to this report.

 

dale.robertson@chron.com

[MikesVikes]

a young man with the squarest of jaws, the crewest of cuts and, not insignificantly, the cleanest of reputations.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the boy scout that the Vikings are looking for. This is all you need to play for the Vikes.

[irish]

 

"To tell you the truth," said another former Oiler, Dan Pastorini, the only quarterback in Houston history to lead teams to the brink of the Super Bowl, which he did in 1978 and 1979. "I'm surprised it took them as long as it did. I was really pulling for Carr, but it's a sad reality of the game. He's a great kid, but you have to deliver in the NFL.

 

 

 

Now I see why you posted this. Pretty slick giving Big Dan some PR.

Edited March 27, 2007 by irish

[Jackass]

Now I see why you posted this. Pretty slick giving Big Dan some PR.

 

 

i cannot lie. i heart dastardly dan

[Hat Trick]

A Dan Pastorini sighting