Watching Franks play QB is beyond frustrating. Despite all of the sloppiness and shortcomings of the team as a whole last night, I can honestly say I feel like it could be an exciting, fun, and possibly even very high win season – if not for Franks.
There’s no doubting he is physically gifted. The arm strength, height, and (sometimes) even long ball accuracy. But for all of his physical skills, he lacks virtually every intangible gift imaginable…
Missing reads (all the time). Stringing out plays looking for the long ball (and then almost inevitably overthrowing, throwing OB, or taking a sack) – all while drive-sustaining cake under routes for 5-10 yard gains are wide open. Inexplicably throwing inaccurate ducks on easy passes in the flat. Randomly hanging WR’s out to dry with either inaccurate or unnecessarily high throws. Pointlessly “squatting” in the pocket (vs standing tall), negating some of that 6’6” height (and getting balls batted down in the process). His wild inconsistency from drive-to-drive and game-to-game (can look like a superstar for periods, then all of the sudden it’s like the clock strikes midnight and he’s back to being a pumpkin). Or the worst of all is how he has an aneurism, making the play a crap shoot, most any time he is under pressure.
And while I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate some great trash talk and cocky antics; unless you want to come off (as Franks often does) as a whinny entitled prat with major attitude and outlook problems, you have to back it up BEFORE you talk the trash. Although he often acts like it, he’s not some fresh-faced wide-eyed frosh. He’s nearly 22. Scholastically he’s a Senior. He’s older than a handful of dudes in the NFL. Point being, on his 4th go-around (2nd in this system), he should be more professional and light years ahead of where he is in a multitude of areas (both in footballing and maturity terms).
Despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to it being unlikely, I really do wish Franks could just flip a switch and reach his optimal potential tomorrow. I wish he could harness those intangibles, cut out the ‘derpity derp moments, and just run the offense, score a lot of points, and win us a lot of games. I sense CDM is trying to jump-start Franks into being a viable option. Like pushing an old stick shift down a hill, and throwing it into gear, hoping against hope if it just starts firing a couple times he can keep the engine running the rest of the season.
If he can’t do it soon, though, then logically it has to be time to cut bait and start to plan for the future. Maybe Franks is a great practice player, and just isn’t the same under the spotlight. Maybe everyone else behind him really is worse (scary if true). Maybe Franks really is well liked and respected by enough players that CDM thinks the morale boost of keeping him out there is worth having to constantly micro-manage his game manager.
If he has another performance like that in the next 3 weeks, though, it’s hard to imagine going through the rest of the season with him at QB.