Carter is Jets’ Insurance Policy
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Acquiring a backup quarterback is a little bit like purchasing a life insurance policy. You feel better having it. You also know that if you need it, it’s bad news.
The Jets bought their life insurance policy yesterday in the person of Quincy Carter, who last season led the Dallas Cowboys to their first playoff appearance since last century only to find himself unceremoniously dumped a couple of weeks into this year’s training camp. Now, they have to hope like hell they never need to cash it in.
If Carter, whose dismissal was reportedly prompted by a failed drug test in training camp, is ever seen on the field in a Jets uniform during the regular season, consider that season an unmitigated disaster.
This is not to say that Carter is a poor NFL quarterback. He is slightly better than that, although not much.
The real problem is the Jets offense, which is so mired in the mud of Paul Hackett’s game plans that only Chad Pennington can make it go.
Vinny Testaverde, who excelled under Bill Parcells as a Jet in 1998 and just may again this year as Carter’s replacement in Dallas, couldn’t do it. Nor could Brooks Bollinger or Ricky Ray when given the chance in preseason games.
The truth is, no one can make lemonade out of the lemons Hackett serves up in place of an offense. No one, that is, other than Pennington.
Pennington may not have the legs of Donovan McNabb or the athleticism of Michael Vick or the arm of Brett Favre, but he has the mind of a football Einstein and the uncanny ability to take Hackett’s predictable “West Coast offense” and breathe life into it.
If he goes down with an injury again, as he did in last year’s preseason game against the Giants, it doesn’t matter if the Jets’ backup is Quincy Carter, Jimmy Carter, or Nell Carter. The Jets aren’t going anywhere but home for the holidays this season.
That is why the announcement yesterday that the Jets had signed Carter, who went from Cowboy starter to outcast in the space of six months, is deserving of both a sigh of relief and a shrug of the shoulders.
It’s good for the Jets that they now have a backup quarterback who has some real in-game experience, not only in the regular season but in the playoffs – even if it was just one abysmal game. Neither Bollinger nor Ray has ever taken a snap in a real NFL game, and so far, neither has shown any qualifications to.
Still, if the Jets are forced to send Carter into a game, they are as sunk as the bodies supposedly buried beneath the field at Giants Stadium.
“This is a guy who won 10 games last season and went to the playoffs,” Jets General Manager Terry Bradway said yesterday. “We think he can help our football team.”
At the same time, Bradway acknowledged, “Is he going to be able to master the West Coast offense in 2004? I think it would be unrealistic to expect that.”
The West Coast, with its complex reads and reliance on short, accurate passing, is made for a quarterback with the strengths – and limitations – of Pennington. Checking down to second, third, and fourth options, making quick but sound decisions, getting rid of the ball, and keeping it out of the hands of the opposition are areas in which Pennington excels.
Carter, who has thrown 36 interceptions and 29 touchdown passes in his three NFL seasons, is almost the polar opposite. Like Testaverde, Carter is mistake-prone, with a tendency to get rattled under pressure. In the tightly-controlled Parcells offense, Carter, like Testaverde in 1998, showed significant improvement. But he is as much a fit in the West Coast scheme as Refrigerator Perry was in Spandex pants.
“Any time you put a backup quarterback in the game, you’re going to have a package that’s greatly reduced from that of the starter,” said Bradway.
Translation: without Pennington, we’re dead.
This, of course, makes the Jets not unlike most NFL teams, which can’t afford to carry both a starting QB and a capable backup. The Giants are a notable exception, having the luxury of both a two-time league MVP in Kurt Warner and a no. 1 draft pick in Eli Manning.
The Jets, on the other hand, are just one hard hit away from another lost season.
“I know I’m here to be Chad’s backup, and I definitely accept my role,” Carter said yesterday. “I’m here to help this football team any way I can.”
The best way for Quincy Carter to help the Jets would be by sitting on the bench, hoping the only time he has to get up is for the post-game handshakes.