Blake vows to show 'em all
Passion, determination motivate Cards QB
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
May. 2, 2003 12:00 AM
Jeff Blake leans forward until his face is just inches away, so uncomfortably close that you glance back, checking for a path of retreat.
It doesn't take much to set him off: A question about the doubts that have chased him like an angry defensive end throughout his career, another about the obstacles he has faced in keeping a job as an NFL starting quarterback.
"Listen, I'm a 6-foot brother, a sixth-round draft pick from East Carolina," he says. "The odds of me making it to this point of my career are one in 18 million, one in a trillion. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Not that Blake, 32, is satisfied with making it just this far - ready to enter his 12th NFL season with his fifth team, the Cardinals.
To him, Arizona represents another chance - not at retribution, but at validation. It's an opportunity to open the eyes of others, to finally get someone to see him as more than a journeyman or a temporary replacement while the team develops someone else.
Until then, Blake will play the way he always has: with a huge chip on his shoulder.
"I'm kind of glad it happened that way," says Blake, who will take part in this weekend's minicamp. "Having the chip on your shoulder gives you incentive to always go out and shut people's mouths."
It's that chip that intrigued the Cardinals when they searched for a replacement for Jake Plummer, who left for Denver via free agency this off-season.
Uncertain of what they have in Josh McCown, a third-round pick last year, the Cardinals wanted a veteran to serve as a bridge to the future.
Blake wowed the Cardinals with his passion for the game and his desire to prove that the Jets, Bengals, Saints and Ravens all had made colossal mistakes over the past 11 years.
"He's got plenty of gas left in the tank," Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis said. "That's one position where, as you get a little more seasoning on you, there are a lot of good things that happen, and mostly they happen from the shoulders up."
A new start
That was the chief criticism of Plummer, who threw more touchdown passes than interceptions just once in his six seasons with the Cardinals.
Plummer had a penchant for the spectacular and the stupefying, and the Cardinals and many of their fans were out of patience.
Blake's career statistics are considerably better. He has thrown 39 more touchdown passes than interceptions in his career, completed 56 percent of his passes and has a rating of 79.2.
Still, Blake hasn't been able to hang on to a starting job. The Jets drafted him in the sixth round in 1992 and cut him two years later. Cincinnati claimed him off waivers, and in 1995 and 1996, he was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He threw for 52 touchdowns, was intercepted 31 times and went to the Pro Bowl.
But he was benched in 1997, played in just nine games in 1998, and by 1999 the team was counting on Akili Smith to replace him.
In 2000, he moved to New Orleans as a free agent and started the first 11 games before being sidelined with a foot injury. He led the Saints' resurgence that year, with the team going 7-3 in games he started and finished.
But he was replaced by Aaron Brooks, who played well down the stretch and was given the job the following year.
In 2002, Blake moved on to Baltimore and started 10 games after Chris Redman was injured.
Baltimore wanted him back, but the two sides couldn't reach a contract agreement, which brought Blake to Arizona. The Cardinals signed him to a three-year contract worth $7.5 million, including a $1.5 million signing bonus.
At each stop, Blake says, he performed well. At each stop, the team seemed eager to find his replacement.
He can't figure out why. There were stories, quoting unnamed sources, that criticized his leadership skills and implied that his teammates disliked him.
Blake denies that.
"People always think they have something better," Blake says. "They're never going to say, 'He just can't play.' They would try to belittle a person and try to take something out of that person, physically, mentally or emotionally. Because they know if I have a chance to come back and play against them, I'm going to kick their butts."
A tough start
Blake should be accustomed to the slights. No major college recruiters wanted him as a quarterback, even though he was one of the best in Florida as a senior at Seminole High in Sanford.
His father, Emory, was the team's offensive coordinator, and fans used to boo when Blake would check off from pass to run at the line of scrimmage.
"They were booing me," Emory says. "I said, 'Jeff, go ahead and pass the ball because people want to see you pass.' "
But college recruiters felt he was too short, and most wanted him to play receiver or defensive back. At 6 feet tall and Black, Blake wasn't the stereotypical quarterback.
Emory told his son not to give in to the vision of others - or, more accurately, to their lack of vision.
"I told him somebody would look at him for who he was and want him for what he was," says Emory, who played in the Canadian Football League and the World Football League. "They may have got somebody bigger, but they did not have somebody better. We stuck to our guns."
Jeff grew up respectful but tough.
He was just 5 when his mother, Peggy, died after saving her younger sister from drowning at a family outing.
Peggy Blake made it to shore but had too much water in her lungs to survive.
"He (Jeff) was old enough to understand, but he wasn't totally accepting of the fact it had happened," says Emory, a minister for 20 years, the last 19 at Progress Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford. "But when you have a tragedy, you use it to get you to another level. And Jeff's done that throughout his career. You control just what you are in charge of."
It's a philosophy Blake has tried to use in his professional career. Blake hasn't been fortunate enough to play on many good teams. When you've started in Cincinnati, New Orleans and Arizona, you've completed the Bermuda Triangle of the NFL.
"But I'm still here," he says. "I didn't disappear. I've stood the test of time.
"I haven't been blessed to play on stellar teams. I've always played with fixer-uppers, and that's cool with me. You have to have that thing inside your heart, inside your mind - that commitment, that dedication
Passion, determination motivate Cards QB
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
May. 2, 2003 12:00 AM
Jeff Blake leans forward until his face is just inches away, so uncomfortably close that you glance back, checking for a path of retreat.
It doesn't take much to set him off: A question about the doubts that have chased him like an angry defensive end throughout his career, another about the obstacles he has faced in keeping a job as an NFL starting quarterback.
"Listen, I'm a 6-foot brother, a sixth-round draft pick from East Carolina," he says. "The odds of me making it to this point of my career are one in 18 million, one in a trillion. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Not that Blake, 32, is satisfied with making it just this far - ready to enter his 12th NFL season with his fifth team, the Cardinals.
To him, Arizona represents another chance - not at retribution, but at validation. It's an opportunity to open the eyes of others, to finally get someone to see him as more than a journeyman or a temporary replacement while the team develops someone else.
Until then, Blake will play the way he always has: with a huge chip on his shoulder.
"I'm kind of glad it happened that way," says Blake, who will take part in this weekend's minicamp. "Having the chip on your shoulder gives you incentive to always go out and shut people's mouths."
It's that chip that intrigued the Cardinals when they searched for a replacement for Jake Plummer, who left for Denver via free agency this off-season.
Uncertain of what they have in Josh McCown, a third-round pick last year, the Cardinals wanted a veteran to serve as a bridge to the future.
Blake wowed the Cardinals with his passion for the game and his desire to prove that the Jets, Bengals, Saints and Ravens all had made colossal mistakes over the past 11 years.
"He's got plenty of gas left in the tank," Cardinals coach Dave McGinnis said. "That's one position where, as you get a little more seasoning on you, there are a lot of good things that happen, and mostly they happen from the shoulders up."
A new start
That was the chief criticism of Plummer, who threw more touchdown passes than interceptions just once in his six seasons with the Cardinals.
Plummer had a penchant for the spectacular and the stupefying, and the Cardinals and many of their fans were out of patience.
Blake's career statistics are considerably better. He has thrown 39 more touchdown passes than interceptions in his career, completed 56 percent of his passes and has a rating of 79.2.
Still, Blake hasn't been able to hang on to a starting job. The Jets drafted him in the sixth round in 1992 and cut him two years later. Cincinnati claimed him off waivers, and in 1995 and 1996, he was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. He threw for 52 touchdowns, was intercepted 31 times and went to the Pro Bowl.
But he was benched in 1997, played in just nine games in 1998, and by 1999 the team was counting on Akili Smith to replace him.
In 2000, he moved to New Orleans as a free agent and started the first 11 games before being sidelined with a foot injury. He led the Saints' resurgence that year, with the team going 7-3 in games he started and finished.
But he was replaced by Aaron Brooks, who played well down the stretch and was given the job the following year.
In 2002, Blake moved on to Baltimore and started 10 games after Chris Redman was injured.
Baltimore wanted him back, but the two sides couldn't reach a contract agreement, which brought Blake to Arizona. The Cardinals signed him to a three-year contract worth $7.5 million, including a $1.5 million signing bonus.
At each stop, Blake says, he performed well. At each stop, the team seemed eager to find his replacement.
He can't figure out why. There were stories, quoting unnamed sources, that criticized his leadership skills and implied that his teammates disliked him.
Blake denies that.
"People always think they have something better," Blake says. "They're never going to say, 'He just can't play.' They would try to belittle a person and try to take something out of that person, physically, mentally or emotionally. Because they know if I have a chance to come back and play against them, I'm going to kick their butts."
A tough start
Blake should be accustomed to the slights. No major college recruiters wanted him as a quarterback, even though he was one of the best in Florida as a senior at Seminole High in Sanford.
His father, Emory, was the team's offensive coordinator, and fans used to boo when Blake would check off from pass to run at the line of scrimmage.
"They were booing me," Emory says. "I said, 'Jeff, go ahead and pass the ball because people want to see you pass.' "
But college recruiters felt he was too short, and most wanted him to play receiver or defensive back. At 6 feet tall and Black, Blake wasn't the stereotypical quarterback.
Emory told his son not to give in to the vision of others - or, more accurately, to their lack of vision.
"I told him somebody would look at him for who he was and want him for what he was," says Emory, who played in the Canadian Football League and the World Football League. "They may have got somebody bigger, but they did not have somebody better. We stuck to our guns."
Jeff grew up respectful but tough.
He was just 5 when his mother, Peggy, died after saving her younger sister from drowning at a family outing.
Peggy Blake made it to shore but had too much water in her lungs to survive.
"He (Jeff) was old enough to understand, but he wasn't totally accepting of the fact it had happened," says Emory, a minister for 20 years, the last 19 at Progress Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford. "But when you have a tragedy, you use it to get you to another level. And Jeff's done that throughout his career. You control just what you are in charge of."
It's a philosophy Blake has tried to use in his professional career. Blake hasn't been fortunate enough to play on many good teams. When you've started in Cincinnati, New Orleans and Arizona, you've completed the Bermuda Triangle of the NFL.
"But I'm still here," he says. "I didn't disappear. I've stood the test of time.
"I haven't been blessed to play on stellar teams. I've always played with fixer-uppers, and that's cool with me. You have to have that thing inside your heart, inside your mind - that commitment, that dedication
