Signing George a curious move

William L. Bryan, Special to the News

Published September 8, 2006 at midnight

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The Oakland Raiders signed Jeff George.

No sports fan can deny the inherent comedy in that statement. You have known it for a week now and you still laughed. Now consider the next logical question: What if the Raiders were serious?

I realize that Jeff George is such a head case that he should be a wide receiver, just as I realize that he has been hired to share a huddle with the similarly, er, dynamic Randy Moss and Jerry Porter. I get that Al Davis had to chip him out of a glacier and revive him in a lightning storm and I do remember that no fewer than three NFL teams cut George for arguing with coaches during games. I cannot argue that despite their reputation, the Raiders have not successfully saved a guy from the scrap heap since Jim Plunkett.

But I think this was an OK move.

Nobody denies that Jeff George has ability. There was hardly any dropoff when he replaced Red Grange at the University of Illinois. But for every pundit who will admit that George has a cannon, none will mention his production.

Jeff George's NFL numbers are solid. They are, for instance, generally better than Oakland's starter, the redoubtable Aaron Brooks. Moreover, if you squint and shake your head side-to-side, his career numbers are better than John Elway's.

In every apples-to-apples statistical category, that is anything that remains constant irrespective of career longevity, George has a slight advantage. Better touchdown-to-interception ratio, better passer rating, better yards per attempt, better completion percentage.

Both Brooks and Elway are admittedly far superior athletes to George, but it comes at a price. In this single aspect, George is much, much better than either Brooks or Elway: He does not fumble. Elway coughed up the ball every 53 pass attempts, Brooks every 48 and George only once in every 83 attempts.

The Raiders did not disclose financial terms of their deal with George, but we can safely assume that he is playing for the veteran minimum and little or no guaranteed money. Given George's well-chronicled efforts to reinsert himself into the league, the NFLPA is probably the only thing saving Jeff George from toting a clipboard in exchange for Al Davis' pocket lint.

And while a lot of people might take cheap shots at George's age, like I did a minute ago, the guy just isn't that old. He is 38. And no, he has not thrown an NFL pass in five years, but while this makes him rusty on one hand, it makes him a young 38 on the other. Over the past four seasons, he has been sacked 208 fewer times than David Carr.

So the Raiders signed an experienced, cheap, productive, strong-armed quarterback who takes pretty good care of the ball and will never be nearly the problem that either of his two best receivers are bound to be. We should all be so lucky.

Bill is a family guy, novelist and agitator sadly unable to grow hair. To subject yourself to more of his ridiculous opinions, feel free to check out his blog: www.myspace.com/wlbryan

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