Green Ranger
05-25-2005, 10:22 AM
according to msnbc.com:
I’m not going to ask why 42-year-old Jerry Rice wants to keep playing football. That’s easy to answer: It’s fun, it’s what he does, it’s what he is. Why would anyone give up what they love most to do as long as someone will pay him to keep doing it?
And there’s the question that’s not so easy to answer. Why would Denver or any other team want to sign an over-the-hill wide-out?
“We’re not just bringing him in here because he’s a leader and he knows the game,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan told the Associated Press. “I’m bringing him in here because I think there’s a legitimate chance for him to help our football team to win.”
That’s a stretch. In 2002, Rice caught 92 passes for the Raiders. The next year, his total went down to 63. Last year, playing for Oakland and then Seattle, the total was 30, three of them for touchdowns.
Although he averaged 14+ yards a catch, he wasn’t a prime target, and he didn’t help the Seahawks break their lifelong record of never reaching the Super Bowl.
He’s a year older and he’s not getting any faster, reduced to the status of a fourth or fifth receiver. And that’s where it doesn’t make sense to employ him, because players who see that little action normally make themselves valuable by playing on special teams, and Rice is not going to do that.
He’s the best receiver in the history of the game, and he holds virtually every record that applies to his position. But he’s outlived his usefulness, especially in today’s game, where teams can’t afford to keep guys around who can’t pitch in to help in other parts of the game.
But that’s Denver for you. Remember, Shanahan is the guy who still thinks Jake Plummer is a quarterback who can take you to the Promised Land.
I’m not going to ask why 42-year-old Jerry Rice wants to keep playing football. That’s easy to answer: It’s fun, it’s what he does, it’s what he is. Why would anyone give up what they love most to do as long as someone will pay him to keep doing it?
And there’s the question that’s not so easy to answer. Why would Denver or any other team want to sign an over-the-hill wide-out?
“We’re not just bringing him in here because he’s a leader and he knows the game,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan told the Associated Press. “I’m bringing him in here because I think there’s a legitimate chance for him to help our football team to win.”
That’s a stretch. In 2002, Rice caught 92 passes for the Raiders. The next year, his total went down to 63. Last year, playing for Oakland and then Seattle, the total was 30, three of them for touchdowns.
Although he averaged 14+ yards a catch, he wasn’t a prime target, and he didn’t help the Seahawks break their lifelong record of never reaching the Super Bowl.
He’s a year older and he’s not getting any faster, reduced to the status of a fourth or fifth receiver. And that’s where it doesn’t make sense to employ him, because players who see that little action normally make themselves valuable by playing on special teams, and Rice is not going to do that.
He’s the best receiver in the history of the game, and he holds virtually every record that applies to his position. But he’s outlived his usefulness, especially in today’s game, where teams can’t afford to keep guys around who can’t pitch in to help in other parts of the game.
But that’s Denver for you. Remember, Shanahan is the guy who still thinks Jake Plummer is a quarterback who can take you to the Promised Land.