A Kerry Collins Debriefing

I remember the day I officially gave up on Kerry Collins, because I wrote about it. It was right after the Broncos home game, after I’d had time to process the nightmare. I wrote: “At some point, sometimes, a quarterback just has to find a way to win. It is time to stop waiting for the magical transformation, because it’s not coming. What you see is now officially what you get, and what we’ve got is apparently not enough to win.”

Not that I was a pioneer. Others in the Raider Nation had called for his head earlier. At the same time, the media continued to write glowing articles about Collins. Five days after the Broncos game, we witnessed an article that actually stated: “Collins becoming the reliable quarterback Raiders hoped he’d be.”

This odd and ongoing media praise for Collins was one of the great mysteries of the 2005 season. I still think it was some sort of mind-trick conspiracy. But I digress…

Until the Denver game, I’d tried to rationalize Collins’ shortcomings. We’d fallen just short against the Patriots and Eagles, the most recent Super Bowl contestants, on the road. The zebras had screwed us against the Chiefs—twice. We’d had a gutsy win against Dallas, and had crushed the Bills and Titans.

I sure wasn’t in any mood to write glowing articles about Collins, but at the same time I wondered if he might soon gel with Moss and gang, and finally turn a corner. No dice, and the Broncos home game was my epiphany. Two weeks later, my disappointment turned to rage as I watched Collins "lead" one lackluster series after another against the Dolphins, impervious to any sense of urgency as the Raider Nation clenched its fists. Right after time expired, the lights literally and inexplicably went out in the Coliseum as a massive armada of garbage-feeding seagulls swirled overhead. How’s that for symbolism?

I can forgive poor play. Really, I can. That doesn’t mean poor play shouldn’t have consequences (ideally sooner rather than later, I might add). I’m just saying if you can’t do it, you can’t do it. An article in today’s Press Democrat sums up my sentiments: “He (Collins) was always was a microsecond too late. He never will be a winning quarterback in Oakland or anywhere else. It is a sad fact but it is true, and we wish him well in his life, wherever it takes him.”

My biggest problem with Collins was his utter lack of urgency in the face of defeat. The seven-minute touchdown drive in the fourth quarter while 21 points down against the Broncos was a classic example. Hey, man, nice stats! There were many other examples, including the second Broncos game. Now, Norv Turner and company share some of that blame. They couldn’t manage the clock and they didn’t play to win, and they’d apparently never heard of concepts like “no huddle” and “two-minute drill.”

Nevertheless, I ask you to envision, say, Rich Gannon in those situations, with those coaches. Do you think he would have found a way to get the team moving, literally and figuratively? You bet. He would have led. He would have barked. He would have gotten the team to the line, fast, and fought.

Collins didn’t, and that’s why he was the reincarnation of Jeff George, whose pretty stats also looked best in a suitcase accompanied with a one-way ticket out of Oakland.

These are my final words on Kerry Collins. It’s over. Pour me another glass. It’s snowing along the California coast today. But things are heating up in Oakland.