Devil's Advocate: Beck or Lemon?

Contrary to common sense, Cleo Lemon will get the start against Buffalo and delay John Boy Beck's quest for world domination. Conventional wisdom says now is the time to throw the rookie in and let him take his licks, and I can't disagree with that. I realize that stating the majority opinion does little for debate, so to make things interesting, I'll play devil's advocate. Here's the voice of the majority:

"Cleo Lemon isn't our future starter. Beck is."

That may be the case, but consider that Lemon is 28 and Beck, the rook, is 26. So, how should one define "future"? Five-years worth of production? Six? Seven? Truth is, it SHOULD be an open competition. The only reason Beck is considered the "future" is due to his second-round status, and the obvious fact that he hasn't played yet. Imaginations are running wild. Beck jump-starting the offense. Beck to Ginn. Beck to Booker. Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! It's all a wonderful, orgasmic dream. But consider that the team's HUGE issue this season is not with the offense or the quarterback or, thank God, the offensive line. If our defense played with half the production as last year's unit the Phins could be at .500 or even better (Key word here is "could").

"This season's over. Play Beck. What's there to lose?"

I'm thinking Cam is sticking with Lemon not because of his play "giving us the best chance to win" or because "Beck's not ready" or any other press conference banalities. Let's cut the s&%$ here. His job will be at stake if he gives the offense to Beck and he struggles...like bad...like Heath Shuler bad. There's so much more at stake than a couple wins this season. For Cameron, disappointing play from Beck -- his guy, the QB he waited to get -- would only reflect on Cam's inability to evaluate talent (And, boy, has that been a problem for the Dolphins). He didn't make friends drafting Ginn over Quinn, and judging by the response he got for that pick, we can only imagine what the public outcry would be if Beck falters. The safest and, I'll admit, wussiest of moves would be to play Lemon, which is exactly what Cam's doing this week.

"Why not play them both -- platoon style?"

Sure, it's not a "future" move, but at the very least it gives Beck some playing time. The only problem is Cam would be pussy-footing around the issue, getting his toes wet before jumping in head first. If Beck is, in fact, the "future", give him the job...the whole damn thing. Make a choice and stand by it. That's what any good, er, marginally OK, er, considerably underperforming coach would do, right?

"BECK ISnt PLAYNG becuze HEs a bust! Fire CAmORON!!!"

Typical mindless banter from the fairweathers. Next.

"Roethlisberger dominated in his rookie season. How do we know Beck can't do the same?"

Logical point. If I remember correctly Big Ben was No. 2 on the depth chart his rookie season and only saw action when Tommy Maddox went down. Who knows what would have happened if ol' Tommy didn't break down. Sure, we also lost our starter to injury, but Beck is currently No. 3 on the depth chart for a reason -- he's a rookie, the Dolphins offense isn't exactly "run ten steps and break left", etc. Plus, comparing Roeth to Beck isn't exactly apples to apples. Least we forget that Pittsburgh's success in 2004 didn't ride solely on Ben's arm. The Steeler defense ranked No. 1 that year. Currently, Miami's defense ranks worst in points allowed and has contributed in approximately ZERO wins. Beck won't be our Big Ben this season.

If this Dolphin season continues down the path to SuckTown -- and there's really no reason to believe that there will be a change of course, the Phins will secure a top-3 pick. BC's Matt Ryan or whoever will get a long look, but this team has far too many needs than quarterback -- serious secondary help, d-line, receivers...Hell, we could use just about anybody. If Miami is playing for the future, management needs a solid assessment of Beck's play. Hesitating too much longer on a decision to play Beck might buy Cameron some time as coach, but it most certainly doesn't get us any closer to finding out who is best fit to run the Dolphin offense.