Q: Who is the happiest guy in the NFL?
A: Jon Kitna, the Cowboys' new backup QB.
In 2006 the Lions gave up 63 sacks. This stat only reflects the times defenses were actually credited with sacks, not how many times defenders crashed into the QB just as he got the ball away. He went 372/596 for a 62.4% completion record while running for his life. Compare that to Tony Romo who was 220/337 for 65.3% in 2006 with only 21 sacks.
In 2007 the Lions gave up 52 sacks, three behind league leader San Francisco with 55 vs Romo who was sacked 24 times that year. Kitna has taken more hits than Bob Marley at a Cheech and Chong Film Fest.
Last season Kitna was injured in game five of the season and finished out the year on IR. You know he must be thinking about his move to the Cowboys, "Only around twenty sacks per year? Heck, I usually get that before the end of October!"
I have heard that he is a good teammate, and is willing to play his role - whatever that may be. He was brought in to Cincinnati to mentor young Carson Palmer and give him time to develop. Kitna was successful in that role, winning ‘NFL Comeback Player of the Year' in 2003 then stepping aside to be Palmer's backup in 2004. Kitna and Palmer also became close friends off the field through their mutual love of golf. I'm sure Tony and Jon will be on the links together this summer.
He's a leader and a hard worker. He was angry with some of his Lions teammates and their lack of effort and he spoke out about it in the local newspaper.
"By that I mean, this is your job," Kitna said. "This is not, you come to work, you get here five minutes before you're supposed to be here and you leave two minutes after they let you go. That's not how this profession works. It's just not." ... "You can't have the veteran that everybody looks up to in your meeting asleep," Kitna said. "You can't have that. If that's the case, then what's the young guy learning? That that's OK. That's what he's learning."
Jon Kitna is not as mobile as Romo but he's not as statuesque (in a negative way) as Brad Johnson. If Romo goes down again, I'm confident Kitna will do a better job of keeping us in the game - but he is not without some warts.
He has a 152/151 career touchdown to interception ratio. In fact in his 12 year career he has only had 3 years in which he tossed more touchdowns than picks. He also has a history of putting the ball on the ground - like his new golfing buddy.
|
2006 |
Fumbles |
Fumbles Lost |
|
Kitna |
11 |
11 |
|
Romo |
9 |
6 |
|
2007 |
Fumbles |
Fumbles Lost |
|
Kitna |
17 |
10 |
|
Romo |
10 |
5 |
That fumble problem could be a result of taking all those shots. I'm hoping that a Romo-friendly offense is also a Kitna-friendly offense and that his primary duty is to hand off to Marion Barber during the fourth quarter mop-up and no one even gets a hit-na on Cowboy Kitna.
I'm sure he feels happy that he upgraded his situation. I think we did and I'm happy too. What are your thoughts?