Leftwich faces former team
TAMPA (AP) – Byron Leftwich is not interested in rehashing the past.
The veteran quarterback has a chance to earn Tampa Bay’s starting job Saturday night, and he insists it’s not a big deal that the opportunity comes against the team that gave up on him two preseasons ago.
“As a quarterback in this league, most of us are going to get thrown into what I call a blender. They throw you in, and they hit liquefy or ice-crush. You’ve just got to survive it,” Leftwich said.
“If you can survive it, it makes you a better person. I believe it makes you a better quarterback because it gets you prepared for a lot of different situations.”
Including returning to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars, who drafted him in the first round in 2003 with expectations he’d finally lead them to a Super Bowl.
Leftwich said visiting Jacksonville in a different uniform is not even a new story line. That happened last year, although he did so as a backup with Pittsburgh and did not play.
“It won’t be strange. I’m not going to make it personal,” said Leftwich, who was 24-20 as a starter while helping the Jaguars get to the playoffs once in four seasons before losing his job to David Garrard two years ago.
“It’s not personal anymore. I actually had time to heal, so it’s not about me going back to Jacksonville. It’s about us going up there and making sure we execute, do the things we’ve got to do to make sure when it does get serious in September that we’ve been doing all the little things that we need to do.”
Pressed on the subject of being released so late in training camp that it was difficult to latch on with another team, Leftwich conceded it would have been difficult to go back later in 2007 as a member of an Atlanta team reeling in the aftermath of dogfighting charges that toppled Michael Vick.
Leftwich joined the Falcons the third week of the season, losing both games he started.
“If I had went in there that year after, I probably would have been furious. That would have been too much, to be honest with you,” the 29-year-old said.
“Right now, as I’m getting older and maturing, I understand this league is a business. It happened. We’ve both moved on. They’ve had success, and I’ve had success also.”
Leftwich spent 2008 as Ben Roethlisberger’s backup in Pittsburgh. He appeared in six games, one during the playoffs, and won a Super Bowl ring.
Not playing much the last two years also gave his body time to heal from some of the injuries he said lingered from his days in Jacksonville. Tampa Bay offered him an opportunity to compete for its starting job, and Leftwich embraced it.
“You’ve got to understand, most guys coming into this league have always been successful at everything they did, and to come in and not be successful, even if it’s for one year, it’s different,” he said.