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November 25, 2006
Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Oak Park
Journal
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November 25, 2006
Just how good is Rex Grossman? Much better than what you might
think.
by Dan Peters
Rex Grossman is the winningest “active” NFL quarterback to have
started a minimum of 16 games. His record is
13-4 as a regular season starter
with a .765 winning percentage. Grossman’s foe this
weekend at New England, Tom Brady is close boasting a .739 winning
percentage. (65-23)
Lovie Smith Is Rex the Bears “weak link?” “This is a guy who has
led us to a 9-1 record. Look at a football team, and
you look at the quarterback on most of them, and they will tell
you how the team is doing.
Rex has led us to nine wins. We love him being our
quarterback.”
Reacting to a game situation &
conservative play against the New York Jets. “After a while when
you know our defense is playing well, the last thing you want to
do is throw a pick.” Grossman said. “Maybe that
had something to do with my accuracy. It’s a fine line between
being aggressive and being too conservative. I need to ride that line
maybe a little bit more on the aggressive side than what it was against
the Jets. I have been on both sides of it, and right in the middle is
where I play the best.”
Against the Jets Sunday, Grossman had a season low 119 passing yards.
All said, he still ranks 11th in that category
with 2,414…… 82 fewer than Tom
Brady on 22 fewer completions. At this pace,
Grossman can become the Bears first 3,000 yard passer since Erik
Kramer set a team record with
3,838 yards in 1995. All told, only five Bears
quarterbacks have thrown 20 or more touchdown passes in a season. So
far through nine games, Rex has 18 touchdown passes, which again is the
most since Erik Kramer’s team record in 1995.
Lovie Smith loves what Rex Grossman brings the this Bears team, a
vertical passing game and how he can produce the “big” plays by getting
the ball downfield and score some big points. “We like what Rex
is,” Said Smith. “We realize what our offense is and what is expected
of the quarterback position. That’s what Rex will do. You have to go
through a couple of games like Rex did. That is all a part of becoming
one of the ‘Elite’ quarterbacks in the league, to go through a
situation like that. Then, to have a day like he had Sunday (Jets)
where he didn’t put up big numbers, but in the second half of the
football game he had a quarterback rating of 120. When the team needed
to do a few more things, he was able to do that. There is nothing wrong
with managing the game as a quarterback and still having that
gunslinger mentality also. We’re not going to stop Rex Grossman from
being Rex Grossman. That’s why he’s our starting quarterback.”
Can Rex Grossman rebound and bring the Bears back in a football game?
One only has to look at the Giant’s game two weeks ago. Grossman only
completed only one of his first passes early in the contest. Then, he
hit 17 of his next 24 passes to cap one of the best periods of
quarterback growth offensive coordinator Ron Turner has seen. “No doubt
about it,” Turner said, saying Rex Grossman is actually improving as a
result from these bad games. More can be learned from defeat or
struggle than from victory itself.
“You can talk about those situations all you want, but once you
experienced them, they stay with you a little more,” said Wade Wilson,
Bears quarterback coach and 19 year NFL veteran.
“There’s no replacement for actually playing games, dealing with
emotional highs and lows, media scrutiny, all that.”
Rex Grossman’s darkest moment this season? The Monday night game
against the Arizona Cardinals. “That Arizona game (October 16) will
never happen again in my career,” Grossman said. “I might throw four
interceptions. But that ‘game’ will never happen again.”
How has Rex handled the intense public and media scrutiny? Rather than
becoming belligerent or defensive, Grossman has had fun with the media
interviews and always remained available … never dodging any questions.
“A lot of the forced throws were bad decisions when I don’t read the
coverage right,” Grossman said. “It’s a bad throw, but it’s a bad read
as well. Throwing into something I didn’t see or recognize.”
Rex Grossman has the heart of a free spirit, and has remained healthy
thus far this season. As long as he has both, the Bears will have the
best chance to get to the Super Bowl the team has had since 1985.
© Oak Park Journal photo
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