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Panthers QB
Chris Weinke
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A few days before his team’s less-than-scintillating matchup against the
struggling Redskins last Sunday, Panthers head coach George Seifert admitted that the
thought of retiring from the NFL wars for a second time had entered his mind.
"I’d be lying if I didn’t suggest that," said Seifert, who was then
in the midst of a four-game losing streak for the first time in his distinguished 11-year
career, a streak that has been extended to five as a result of an overtime loss to
Washington..
The suggestion here is to hang in there, George. While the Panthers could have trouble
winning even five games this season, their future is a great deal more promising than that
of all those other bottom-feeders currently soiling the NFL landscape.
The reason is crystal clear: Chris Weinke is the real deal.
Six weeks into his rookie season, Weinke has already shown enough to convince me that
his five-year contract, which can net him as much as $20 million with incentives (an
eye-popping pact for a mere fourth-round pick), will end up being a tremendous bargain for
a franchise that has wasted a lot of money on poor personnel decisions the last couple of
seasons.
Weinke gives Carolina a precious commodity that the Redskins, Cowboys, Bills, Lions, et
al would die for — a rock-solid starting quarterback for a long time to come,
provided he stays healthy.
Weinke couldn’t have made a better first impression in his debut on the road
against the Vikings. Performing across the river from where he grew up in St. Paul, Minn.,
Weinke calmly brought the Panthers from behind in what at the time seemed like a stunning
24-13 upset.
Minnesota appeared to gain control with 6:05 left in the third quarter when Daunte
Culpepper connected with Cris Carter on a 12-yard TD pass to give the Vikings a 13-10
lead. But Weinke had other ideas. He proceeded to direct a seven-play, 80-yard drive,
highlighted by a 43-yard strike to Muhsin Muhammad on a flea-flicker and a pinpoint
16-yard TD pass to Muhammad three plays later on 3rd-and-9. Later, Weinke’s one-yard
sneak with 9:52 remaining in the fourth quarter iced the game.
So much for rookie jitters.
In my mind, though, Weinke was even more impressive in losses to the 49ers and Saints,
when he managed to offset sustained stretches of the kind of faulty play one would expect
from a raw rookie with the resilience of a seasoned veteran.
And a future star.
On the road against the Niners, on a night in which he threw three drive-killing
interceptions, Weinke also engineered a spellbinding 10-play, 99-yard scoring drive,
during which the Panthers looked like a bona fide playoff team.
It was on this drive that I first really foucused on Weinke’s deft downfield
touch, when, on 1st-and-10 from the Carolina 27, he lofted a 39-yard strike to Donald
Hayes that couldn’t have been thrown more perfectly. Weinke’s 10-yard TD pass
against the grain to a wide-open Wesley Walls, after faking a handoff and rolling right,
was also a thing of beauty.
Against the Saints, Weinke looked flat-out awful in the first half, compiling a 25.2
passer rating while completing just 7-of-20 attempts for 71 yards with an interception in
the face of relentless pressure from the Saints’ vaunted defensive front.
While a normal rookie would have been a hopeless basket case by that point, Weinke
suddenly turned into Dan Marino Jr. in the second half, completing 14-of-19 attempts for
125 yards and two touchdowns.
With 8:43 left in the game and the Panthers trailing 20-12, Weinke directed a 61-yard
TD drive that made me more of a believer. Having converted only 2-of-11 third downs up to
that point, he converted three straight — a 12-yard pass to Hayes, an 11-yarder to
fellow rookie Steve Smith and a five-yarder back to Hayes. Then Weinke turned the tables
with a beautiful pass over Walls’ shoulder for a 23-yard touchdown.
Above all else, Weinke did what all the best quarterbacks do repeatedly — he took
what the defense gave him.
And all the while, Weinke conducted his business on the field in the same methodical,
utterly unflappable fashion. He operated in the same manner in the Panthers’ ugly
loss in overtime to the Redskins last Sunday, maintaining his composure despite throwing
four interceptions in a very forgettable performance.
"The one thing Panther fans will realize is that I’m an even-keel guy,"
Weinke said. "If I do well, you aren’t going to see me going crazy. And if
I’m struggling, you’re not going to see me walking around with my head
down."
What Panthers fans have seen already is an eminently worthy successor to former
Carolina signalcaller and fan favorite Steve Beuerlein — only with more mobility and
better command when the chips are down.
Longtime Beuerlein watchers will tell you he was a great quarterback with a lead but
nothing special in the comeback department, save for his memorable QB draw for a
game-winning TD against the Packers a few years back that was the gutsiest call I had seen
in recent years — until the one-yard sweep with no time remaining by Saints RB Ricky
Williams, enabling New Orleans to upstage Weinke’s second-half heroics a few weeks
ago.
As soon as Williams crossed the endzone behind All-Pro OLT Willie Roaf, retirement
probably started crossing Seifert’s mind again.
But if the Panthers’ head coach can just demonstrate the same kind of patience as
his new never-say-die quarterback, he won’t be sorry.
Weinke will eventually make sure of that. |
