Tarvaris Jackson and Success
Opinion by Dave Stefano
VikingsValhalla.com

The intangibles of success don’t necessarily rely on some bad statistics.  Deriving an opinion from them without seeing the whole picture can lead to some erroneous assumptions.  Michael David Smith has done just that.

Read this:
Vikes are a QB away from major success
by Michael David Smith

Now MDS is a decent writer on the subject of NFL football. He writes for AOL, and Pro Football Talk, now he runs College Football Talk and here at Fox, but this story looks like it was taken straight from the stat sheet, and a bad interpretation of it too.

Smith lathers praise on virtually the whole team except for Tarvaris Jackson.

"The Vikings ought to seriously consider benching Jackson for either of their backups, Brooks Bollinger or Kelly Holcomb. Neither Bollinger nor Holcomb is a legitimate long-term option at quarterback, but both of them have been around long enough to know how not to lose a game. And the Vikings are good enough elsewhere that all they need is a quarterback who won't lose games. It was one thing to have Jackson in the starting lineup at the beginning of the year, when no one thought Minnesota had a shot at the playoffs. But now that they're on the verge of making the postseason, it's not fair to the other players that Jackson is holding them back."

MDS may have looked at stats, but didn't take into account the improvement T-Jack has made over the season. He has not taken into account the field leadership TJ has displayed, and he sure enough hasn't taken into account the most important stat of all; Jackson is 8-2 as a starter.

Hey, I like Brooks Bollinger (especially off the bench), and I can live with Holcomb holding a clipboard, but as starters, they both couldn’t win the job, and give the Vikings a winning record. Only Tarvaris has done that.

Michael David Smith, you are seriously in error on this opinion. But, I do hope that it serves as just that little more motivation in Jackson's development and that he has you eating crow. We Vikings fans will be enjoying the success along the way.