Damn, cutting your starting QB??

[Lyion]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/08/04/bc.fbn.cowboys.carterou.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

OXNARD, Calif. (AP) -- Quincy Carter was cut by the Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday, leaving 40-year-old Vinny Testaverde as the starting quarterback.

The team wouldn't say why it released Carter.

"We made a decision to move in a different direction," owner Jerry Jones said. "This on my part was not a difficult decision at all, though it is very disappointing, very disappointing."

The third-year player, who started all 16 games last season, came to camp expecting to be the team's No. 1 QB.

"I'm saddened by this turn of events, I really am," coach Bill Parcells said. "I just couldn't keep him in the plans."

Carter's agent, Eugene Parker, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The backup quarterback now will be Drew Henson, who played at Michigan and was out of football for three years while in minor league baseball. He is considered a top prospect, but his long absence from the football field and total lack of NFL experience make him a huge risk as a starter. The third quarterback in camp is unproven second-year player Tony Romo.

Testaverde started for the New York Jets last season after Chad Pennington was hurt.

"He knows why he is here and what his job is, but right now that's the most experienced player (here) and I'm confident in that player," Parcells said. "I've got a good veteran quarterback here who's going to lead this team. And I've got two young guys I'm going to develop."

Parcells spoke to his team about Carter's departure after Wednesday's practice, but players declined to comment on that meeting.

"I think I probably speak for all the guys -- how disappointed we are that Quincy is no longer going to be part of this team," Testaverde said. "But at the same time we know we have to look forward to getting things down and go out and win games."

Testaverde said Carter stopped by camp Wednesday morning and told him and several other players goodbye. Testaverde said he didn't know why Carter was cut and didn't want to speculate.

"We're shocked, just like everybody else," safety Roy Williams said. "We're mind-boggled like everyone else is."

The Cowboys drafted Carter in the second round out of Georgia in 2001. He was picked as the starter to replace Troy Aikman during his first training camp, but he struggled and only started the first eight games. He went 3-5, completing 90 of 176 passes for 1,072 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

The next season, he was the starter out of camp again, leading Dallas to a 3-4 record before losing the job to Chad Hutchinson. Hutchinson was cut this year.

Last season, the Cowboys went 10-6 with Carter starting and returned to the playoffs in Parcells' first year in Dallas. Carter threw for 3,302 yards, but had 21 interceptions and 17 touchdowns. He was intercepted at least twice in a game six times.

Carter "did some really fine things over the past few years," Jones said.

Dallas opens the regular season at the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 12.[/url]

[Tacks]

A 40 year old Testaverde is still better than a young Quincy Carter.

[vonkaar]

That's arguable... although I won't be the one to argue it =p.

Trust in Bill...

[Herko]

He was smoking the same shit as Ricky Williams.

[Malluas]

too bad all the coaches aren't like Bill in that respect. Or Gms and organizations for that matter

[vonkaar]

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news_800.c ... C2B10B814B
By MICKEY SPAGNOLA
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
Aug. 4, 2004, 6:25 p.m. (PDT)

OXNARD, Calif. - Free at last, free at last, the Dallas Cowboys are now free to get on with their future.

For Quincy Carter hung himself professionally, and it was only a matter of time for this self-infliction to occur, either on the field or off the field. He needed only for the Cowboys to give him enough rope.

He would then crash and burn.

It will be officially said the Cowboys released Quincy Carter, as preposterous as that must sound for the guy who started 16 games for you last year, for the guy who won 10 games for you last year and for the guy who quarterbacked this team back into the playoff for the first time in four years last year.

But the reality of this shocking development here on an overcast Wednesday morning of training camp is this:

Quincy Carter cut himself. Not an obviously contrite Jerry Jones. Not a "saddened" Bill Parcells. And not even his play on the football field, which believe me would have gotten him soon enough, anyway, or at least when the Cowboys actually unleashed some real quarterbacks for him to battle for the starting job, not guys giving up on their baseball careers, not guys having spent careers on the practice squad and not 40-year-old quarterbacks, although the current one might have given him a run for his money.

No, himself.

Shame on him. Shame on him.

He let down this entire organization. He let down those other 84 guys on the field. Maybe even worse, he let down the legacy of quarterbacks in this franchise. Don Meredith. Craig Morton. Roger Staubach. Danny White. Troy Aikman. Heck, he let you down.

And it came to this, Quincy Carter being snuck out of training camp Wednesday morning in a van about 8:30 cloaked in heavy secrecy - there were policemen stationed on the walk outside his room to ensure privacy - for apparently failing a drug test.

You gotta be kidding me? The quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys? America's Team? Snuck out of training camp?

How utterly embarrassing.

And I know what you're thinking. Carter is not the first Cowboys player to fail a drug test. There have been others who have failed enough of them to get suspended and enough of them involved in drugs to get prosecuted. And in fact, he's not the first quarterback snuck out of this Residence Inn, Tony Banks first blazing this unceremonious path when we were here three years ago.

But not the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, and Banks never was. Not the guy who is supposed to set the example for the entire team. Not the guy who is supposed to be the face of the organization. Not the leader.

Leader? Hell.

This was a selfish, conniving, paranoid player, and while he talked the talk of only worrying about "my team" and only working hard for "my teammates," he never did walk that walk. Carter only cared about himself. Now we know.

If not, then why did he throw a fit when the Cowboys signed Vinny Testaverde? (Found out he did.) Did he think by crafting that 71.4 quarterback rating, by throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, by completing all of 57.8 percent of his passes merited him a free ride?

Or maybe he was reading all those excuses being provided for him; that he always had to learn a new offense, that he always had to work for a new coordinator; that he never was getting enough practice snaps. Poor baby.

And you know what, then why the hell did this self-anointed selfless player repeatedly fail a drug test, which if you play connect the dots with the Cowboys' sanitized announcement Wednesday, you could only come to this conclusion being widely reported by most media organizations.

You know Bill would not have pulled any punches if he was not prohibited by the NFL from doing so during the press conference. You know the Cowboys could not have given up on their starting quarterback after just eight practices, with only Testaverde, Drew Henson and Tony Romo behind him. We're talking competitive suicide if Vinny goes down. And you know Jones would have continued to stand by his man, as he has through the very little thick and mostly thin since being drafted in the second round of 2001.

Most telling here, was Jones' answer when asked if he felt Quincy Carter had let him down.

Jones stared ahead for what seemed like an eternity, at first making you think he was carefully crafting his answer so as not to spill any beans, which would be a fineable offense by the NFL. But then you realized, looking into his eyes and at his drawn face, he was getting emotional.

All he could say was, "Yes."

A thousand words would not have been as descriptive nor as telling.

Few have ever felt sorry for Jerry Jones over these past turbulent 15 years with the Cowboys. At that moment, if any one of you had been here, you would have felt sorry for Jerry Jones.

His guy had let him down.

See, those deep in the organization knew Carter was in the NFL's drug program, and that he was subjected to regular testing. They knew last year when the decision was made to entrust the team's starting quarterback job - and future - to Carter that they were going out somewhat on a limb, causing a heated internal discussion to occur.

But that limb was not near sturdy enough to handle these consequences: Sources told me Carter was one failed test away now from earning himself an NFL-sanctioned four-game suspension. The quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys? You kidding me?

Jones and Parcells obviously decided that was a chance they just couldn't take. They could not go into this season knowing they were one bad night away from losing their starter. They could not go forward with future plans knowing their starting quarterback was a guy who just couldn't be counted on for the long haul.

And probably most damning is the fact they felt so strongly about cutting ties with Carter that they have clearly put this season in jeopardy for the sake of this franchise's long haul - and also the fact Carter had such disregard for this franchise and its fans or his problem was so severe that he chanced putting this season in jeopardy by his actions.

"Bill said something to the team," Jones would say, "and that there is no perfect person or player, obviously, and we know that, and everybody is going to make mistakes. Bottom line is we're all imperfect. Quincy did some really good things with the Dallas Cowboys, he did some good things. There are a lot of great things about him.

"But there are some things though that imperfections in certain areas that just don't' fit with team concepts and don't fit with certain areas, and I don't care if that had been the only imperfection you had, there are just some things that don't fit."

He might have been talking in veiled terms of drug addiction. Remember, whatever Carter's drug of choice was, he chose to participate this close to training camp, knowing what the consequences could be. Again, that's either a huge problem or a wildly selfish person knowing he's been getting, and would be, tested.

But certainly Jones was talking about trust. And if you can't trust your quarterback . . . .

You gotta be able to trust your quarterback, and too many of you misguided folks did. Man, you gotta be mad. Jones said he wasn't mad. Parcells said he wasn't mad.

But aren't you mad? Aren't you mad for saying all the rude, unkind, unprintable things you have over the past year, and then the guy you were blindly sticking up for is not the guy you thought he was? Aren't you?

Man, I would be, and so should his teammates and so should the Cowboys organization.

"There is some of that going on with the guys," Cowboys veteran defensive tackle La'Roi Glover said of Carter letting down the team, "but we just don't know, and until I know the hard facts, then I really can't say."

Yet, you know what? The handcuffs have been removed from the Cowboys. Now they can get on with their future, even if that future suffers a hickey this year. With Carter, they were basically treading water - they would have kept their heads above water, maybe found ways to manufacture wins as they did last year, but never, ever swam the distance with him at quarterback. Si in reality, he did Parcells and Jones a favor, now never having to make the hard decision about Carter's future.

So it's time to get on with it, either finding out if there is something to this Henson guy or wisely using next year's two first-round draft choices.

And let's not be remorseful. Because as long as Quincy Carter was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, there would always have been something, and the last something you want - the last imperfection you want if it wasn't his inaccuracy or those bone-head decisions or his inability to find the open receiver in time - is a distrustful quarterback. He has held the Cowboys hostage long enough.

Carter has been out-ed, proving not to be the person some thought he was, and certainly not the person to entrust the future of a storied franchise.

And you know what?

Just as well.

[Mop]

I got a crazy idea-

for 10 million dollars you can stop smoking weed and doing coke for 20 weeks.


Jesus fucking christ.

I hope he gets run over by a bus and fucked up the ass by a wild bore while getting ready to do his next rail.


God bless Bill.

[Ouchyfish]

I have hated testaverde ever since his bogus ass blew the orange bowl with what, 8 or so interceptions?

[Mop]

The Dallas cowboys is the slowest most geriatric offense in football now though.

and with their trio of wide reciver headcases they should implode on themselfs by game 5 or 6 - that isn't taking into account eddie george will probally get a hang nail and unable to play and vinnie testaverdie will be suffering from old age pains.

[labbats]

I have hated testaverde ever since his bogus ass blew the orange bowl with what, 8 or so interceptions?

Haha, I remember that.

Also, I hate the Cowboys and relish in their failure.

[Mop]

agree'd !

[Minrott]

The rumors of the Vikings being interested in this dickweed had better be untrue.

[Arlos]

There is one issue with the cut, tho. It's in the CBA that you cannot, period, cut a player due to drug issues. If that IS why he was cut, the Cowboys are going to have their asses in a sling when the player's association gets through with them. Dunno what the upshot will be, possibly forcing the Cowpatties to reinstate him (and wouldn't THAT make for some interesting locker room dynamics, eh?) or at the very least still have to pay him his contract (and have it counted against their cap) unless he finds another job.

ESPN article on this issue: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1853462

One thing I take issue with in that article, is it gave the impression that Carter didn't work hard. Wasn't it just earlier this week, before the cut, that Parcells was praising Carter's work ethic? Talking about how they had to force him to leave the film room, etc? Seems to me, if this columnist is the official Cowpatties talking head, that he's engaged in some serious serious spin control for the team.

All that said, Dissention in Cowpatty land brings a smile to my face. As I said, the perfect outcome for every Cowpatty season is 7-9, or maybe 8-8. While them going 0-16 might be rather satisfying in the short term, it would also mean they get too good a draft pick. So, if they go 7-9 or 8-8, they don't have even the morale boost of a winning season, they certainly won't be in the playoffs, but on the other hand, they probably also wouldn't even get a top-10 draft pick. Ahhhhh, now THAT is perfection.

-Arlos

[Tacks]

eddie george will probally get a hang nail

lmao so true


I'm happy anytime I hear bad news for the Cowboys. America's team? haha, no, the only type of people who like them are the ones who love the Braves in baseball.

[Lyion]

Thats a great article, Vonk, thanks.

Arlos, the Cowboys never claimed to cut him for drugs. They can cut anyone, anytime, anywhere. Legally, they are on rock solid footing, and Jones is too cunning to screw himself.

[Mop]

if the rule is don't do drugs, for x million you can suck it up.


fucking whiney ass people

I hope he goes to min and ends up in some hunting accident