111 and Counting: The Ballad of Chris Greisen
Matt Eichenblatt
Monday June 18, 2007
If you were to look up the word ‘greatness’ in the dictionary, chances are you would find some long, drawn out explanation describing someone or something that goes beyond a common standard and achieves more.
While that definition is probably sufficient enough for most circumstances, I believe that the term takes on a whole new mean in athletics; especially football. For example, when explaining what made Joe Montana or Michael Jordan truly great, you can use words like ‘clutch’ or ‘game-changer. But out of all the words describing great players or feats in sports, none embodies the definition of greatness better than the term, ‘it-factor’.
When a player is said to have the ‘it-factor’, that usually means that they possess something that just can’t be learned on a practice field or studied in a film room—it means they have that unique ability to take over a game, make that impossible pass, and mostly, make their teammates better.
Well folks, after 15 games into the 2007 AFL season, it is safe to say that Chris Greisen has that ‘it-factor.’
Coming into the season, there were a lot of doubts surrounding Chris, mostly because of experience, or a lack there of. With the dominant receiving trio of Troy Bergeron, Derek Lee and Chris Jackson being reunited and the construction of the AFL’s most productive defensive line, the production from the quarterback position was easily the number one question mark for Force fans heading into the season.
15 games and 111 touchdown passes later, that question mark has been vanquished.
With the receiving core that Georgia has, some have found it easy to write off the incredible performance Greisen has put on during the 2007 campaign; but if you ask Georgia Head Coach Doug Plank, the notion couldn’t be farther from the truth, “He was the catalyst that reactivated our receiving core this year,” remarked Plank. “It wasn’t that our receiving core last year wasn’t special, but when you add another ingredient in there like a Chris Greisen, and his ability to deliver the ball on time, it just made our receivers better, it made our offense better, and it gave us an incredible trust in our offense.”
While things may look easy for Greisen on the field this year, it hasn’t always been the story for him in the past. Coming from a small school and then bouncing around the NFL for a bit, Greisen initially struggled with finding a home to hone his incredible potential as a quarterback. After catching a break with the AFL 2’s Green Bay Blizzard and having a colossal year setting several team records, Chris finally had a stage to showcase his abilities.
After a successful stop in Green Bay, Greisen took the step up to the AFL in 2005 as he signed with the Dallas Desperados to backup AFL legend, Clint Dolezel. While sitting as a reserve was difficult for Greisen to stomach, the time spent in Dallas proved to be invaluable. When asked whether or not he learned anything from Dolezel during his time in Dallas, Greisen’s answer was a resounding, ‘yes.’
“When you see all the pumping I do, and doing different things like how to read, it all came from him. I was always in his head last year asking him what plays he likes and why and in certain situations what to do. We were always talking and I was always in his head, and I just really felt fortunate to be a backup behind him.’
The ability to retain knowledge from other people, and use them as resources is one of the best examples of greatness. In an interview Steve Young gave the San Francisco Chronicle following the 49ers Super Bowl victory in 1995, Young was quoted as saying that “sitting under Joe Montana, was the turning point in my career.”
The maturity and patience over the course of the past few years finally culminated with a record breaking performance that hopefully Chris will always remember. In the AFL’s toughest venue against one of the team’s most bitter rivals, Greisen was the one who stood out the most.
So what did it mean to Chris Greisen to break his mentor’s record?
“To me personally it means I have a great support staff around me,” remarked Greisen. “From Jim Kubiak bringing here, Steve Thonn calling me great plays, my receivers making great catches and my line giving me plenty of time, they are all why I am where I’m at.”
While winning a championship would solidify his place in AFL lore as having the single greatest season ever for a quarterback, his play and great character has already established him as a premier quarterback in this league. As the leader of the AFL’s most powerful offense this year and maybe even ever, Chris Greisen has a lot to be proud of. Not only has he won his team some games, he has won the respect of his teammates and former doubters—myself included.
It is hard to describe what Chris Greisen has meant to the Georgia Force this season, because he has been a leader and so much more. His presence in the huddle and on the field radiates a confidence the Georgia Force have never had under center; simply ask Coach Plank, “It certainly is easy to be a coach when you have a guy like Chris Greisen as your quarterback.”
Yeah, what he said.
