Tarvaris Jackson is ready to deliver

 

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 8/20/2008

 Last year, Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson played well enough in his first year as a starting quarterback in the NFL to go 8-4 as a starter. The position of quarterback today naturally draws the combination of great expectations and very little patience from most fans, particularly now that the Fantasy Football wave is such a popular release for new-wave fans.

 Jackson drew much criticism last year and was not a popular fantasy choice. However, he is the choice of third-year Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress, and for Jackson, that’s all that matters.

 When the Green Bay Packers falsely accused the Vikings in July of enticing the legendary Brett Favre to end his retirement so that he could ultimately play for the 2008 Vikings, Jackson was the victim of “What have you done for me lately?”

 “I just answered the questions that they asked me about it and day to day just tried to do my part, because I cannot control that part of it,” said Jackson.

 Now that the Packers have traded Favre and he is a New York Jet, Jackson is again the man in the hot seat for the Vikings. From what I’ve seen so far in workouts and preseason games, Jackson is ready to make all those fantasy draft owners and general managers eat crow for passing on him.

 “Confidence-wise, I’m going to be a lot better from the standpoint of knowing what to expect,” said Jackson. “It was huge for me gaining that experience to play in 12 games last year. It’s going to help me out a whole lot.

 “We’ve added Bernard Berrian, and he is going to help,” Jackson continued. “He’s going to help the other guys with the running game, because if you put one guy on him, you pretty much have a one-on-one situation where we like our match-up with him on anybody. So, hopefully he’ll open up some holes for the other guys to catch some balls and take that extra guy out of the box for our running game.”

 The relationship between head coach and quarterback is critical. If it’s successful, it can lead to the Super Bowl; if not, it can lead to divorce.

 On his relationship with Childress, whose vision on Jackson’s potential was no fantasy, Jackson said, “It’s a player-coach relationship; we communicate about football stuff and little other stuff other than football. But he gets on me about different things. It’s part of being a young guy and understanding he’s the head coach.”

 There are many Jackson doubters and haters out there. It comes with the nature of the demanding quarterback position and the personal view some have of his ability to lead.

“I’m my toughest critic,” said Jackson, “but I’ve got my coaches on me about everything, little small things. But I just try to listen to the criticism objectively and with an open mind and learn…and try to take it to the field.”

 With the talent the Vikings have added to a group that already included seven Pro-Bowlers, winning Minnesota’s first-ever Super Bowl is the team’s 2008 expectation. “We have the potential, but we have to go on the field and do it,” Jackson said. “We have to as a team go out on the field committed to make things happen. Hopefully everybody stays healthy and we can go out there week in and week out and prove it.”

Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Lar ry-Fitzgerald.com.