Mort Takes a Cheap Shot

I like Chris Mortensen. I really do. He's knowledgeable and he seems like a really nice guy. So why is he taking cheap shots at JaMarcus?

Just like 5 minutes on NFL Countdown, he was going over the QB carousel: Rex Grossman/Brian Griese blah blah blah. Then he said how JaMarcus is "wowing" his teammates and Daunte may not be able to hold him off, and that depending on a number of things (including W-L record) he could be starting by Thanksgiving.

Except he said, "the two hundred, seventy-five pound Russell could be started by Thanksgiving, assuming they can keep him away from that Thanksgiving table."

275!?

The only other person I've seen question JaMarcus weight is Ann Killion in the Merc, where, in a snarky, parenthetical aside, she wrote he "ought to avoid doughnut shops, judging from his spare tire," and later that the red shorts he wore at his press conference were "big enough to hide a Prius."

Are Mort and Killion just haters, or is everyone else in denial? JaMarcus doesn't look bad to me. He looks big, but in a good way. A way I've never seen anyone at that position look except for maybe Daunte. But JaMarcus looks bigger, faster, stronger to me.

I would love to see JaMarcus play, but the AFC West is so weak right now, we really have a shot, even going 8-8.

So stop with the fatty jokes, please. They're not nice and irrelevant.