The Legend of Khari Jones

[The Unknown Poster]

So Im engaged in a debate on another forum (not THE other forum, a different one entirely) about the talent of Khari Jones.

 

I'm willing to let the experts here (which clearer memories than me) settle it.

 

Was Khari Jones a mediocre QB with great receivers, a good QB with artificially inflated stats for one season or a great QB in Bombers history?

[Jpan85]

So Im engaged in a debate on another forum (not THE other forum, a different one entirely) about the talent of Khari Jones.

 

I'm willing to let the experts here (which clearer memories than me) settle it.

 

Was Khari Jones a mediocre QB with great receivers, a good QB with artificially inflated stats for one season or a great QB in Bombers history?

 

Khari's greatest gift was his ability to read a defense and make quick correct decisions. He also had a special relationship with Milt those to could communicate with a slight move and take advantage of a blitz or a weak coverage.

[Atomic]

IMO, Khari was a good QB who was able to foster some uncommon chemistry with great receivers.

 

I don't buy that he was mediocre and certainly not that his stats were "artificially inflated", whatever that means.  He was good, and his receivers were great.

[Logan007]

Yeah I agree, he wasn't great, but he wasn't mediocre either.  He was a good QB with a fantastic receiver in Milt and quite a few other good ones.  Jpan's assessment of his abilities are dead on.

[rebusrankin]

Very good QB for a 4 year period.

[17to85]

Khari Jones was a damned good qb, a damned good qb. Yeah Stegall had huge numbers, but he didn't get those lofty totals with any other qb throwing him the ball. As always it's a two way street with qbs and receivers. Great qbs always have great receivers because they throw them passes that let them make plays. Khari knew that if the safety was blitzing that Stegall or Bruce or someone would be open deep and he put the ball up for them to make a play on it. Yeah he threw a lot of ints, but a lot of that was simply putting a ball up and letting the receivers make a play and it wound up scoring more touchdowns than ints. It's a great shame that he never had a top notch offensive line to play behind and that it caused his shoulder to be buggered up and shorten his career. A real leader on the field too. I had thought that after this much time people would have stopped this nonsense about him being carried by his receivers when they looked back at the play from the position since he was here and what Khari accomplished. 

[The Unknown Poster]

I agree with all of you.  I even busted out some great stats such as:

 

- 2001 CFL Most Outstanding Receiver

- 2002, one of only 4 QB's in CFL History to throw for over 40 TDs in one season

- From 2000-2002, threw more TD's (107) than any QB in the CFL or NFL over the same period.

 

The response was, weak arm, couldnt throw, slow, too many INT, couldnt play when he left Winnipeg, elite receivers made him look good.

[Jpan85]

I agree with all of you.  I even busted out some great stats such as:

 

- 2001 CFL Most Outstanding Receiver

- 2002, one of only 4 QB's in CFL History to throw for over 40 TDs in one season

- From 2000-2002, threw more TD's (107) than any QB in the CFL or NFL over the same period.

 

The response was, weak arm, couldnt throw, slow, too many INT, couldnt play when he left Winnipeg, elite receivers made him look good.

Also voted best quarterback/receiver duo with Milt at the 2005 Grey Cup

[17to85]

The response was, weak arm, couldnt throw, slow, too many INT, couldnt play when he left Winnipeg, elite receivers made him look good.

wasn't a strong arm but it was good enough, fast enough to run when he needed to, certainly a lot faster than the likes of Ray or Calvillo right now. Lots of ints sure but a hell of a lot more TDs and a hell of a lot of wins in his time as a bomber qb. When speaking of receivers just think about 2002 for a while... Jones through 46 tds, almost enough for a record, Stegall had 23 but one was from Barnes so 22 from Jones, that still leaves 24 tds for Jones, only Calvillo threw more than 24 tds in 2002, that's a staggering number. even without his top receiver Jones was still top 2 in td passes. Not to mention that Charles Roberts was in double digits in touchdowns as well. 

 

People maybe forget what happened to his shoulder in his last bit of time here. It was damaged and never able to recover properly. It's also worth pointing out that in Calgary he did have some success, the problem was that he was brought in by Dunigan and when he was fired they wanted to turn the page completely and with Jones being one of Dunigans moves he had to go to make way for Burris. Bottom line people who don't think Khari was a very good to great qb are morons.

[Valderan_CA]

Khari was fun to watch

[Blueandgold]

It could just easily be argued that he deserved to win the 2002 MOP over Milt as well.

[Captain Blue]

Khari was great, until age and injuries caught up to him.

[Mark H.]

Khari was great, until age and injuries caught up to him.

 

He wasn't old, he just playing behind a poor OL. He was only 35 when he retired, 33 when the Bombers traded him.

[iso_55]

Reminds me of the debate about whether or not winning a championship defines a great qb. I think it does when you mention names like Russ jackson, Ken Ploen, Joe Kapp, Ron Lancaster, Damon Allen, Matt Dunigan & Warren Moon. But then you throw out names like Rick Cassata & Sean Salisbury & it's clear those 2 were in the right place at the right time & weren't great qbs even though they won a championship. To me, Khari Jones was a very good qb but that 2001 GC loss prevents him from being mentioned as a truly great qb. The team he played on should have beaten the Stampeders but didn't. Having said that, if KJ  was in his prime & I needed a qb, take him in a heartbeat. I have a ton of respect for Khari. I liked the guy a lot as a qb. One of my favourites.

[sweep the leg]

Not great, but very good. He had one great season & 3 good ones.

 

My favourite thing about him was I always had full confidence that we could come back in any game. That's something I haven't felt since he left.

[Mark H.]

Not great, but very good. He had one great season & 3 good ones.

 

My favourite thing about him was I always had full confidence that we could come back in any game. That's something I haven't felt since he left.

 

He was literally the king of come backs in '01...mostly because he wasn't afraid to take chances with the deep ball.

[Onyenegecha]

He was a very, very good QB who developed amazing chemistry with what I thought was the best group of receivers any team has seen in 15 years in Lethal Weapon 4.

[17to85]

Reminds me of the debate about whether or not winning a championship defines a great qb. I think it does when you mention names like Russ jackson, Ken Ploen, Joe Kapp, Ron Lancaster, Damon Allen, Matt Dunigan & Warren Moon. But then you throw out names like Rick Cassata & Sean Salisbury & it's clear those 2 were in the right place at the right time & weren't great qbs even though they won a championship. To me, Khari Jones was a very good qb but that 2001 GC loss prevents him from being mentioned as a truly great qb. The team he played on should have beaten the Stampeders but didn't. Having said that, if KJ  was in his prime & I needed a qb, take him in a heartbeat. I have a ton of respect for Khari. I liked the guy a lot as a qb. One of my favourites.

are we putting more of the blame on the offense then? How about a dominant defense that gave up 2 seperate big play touchdowns? How about a blocked kick for a TD? There were lots of issues for Winnipeg that day. Hell the way the game started it looked like it might be a short day for the bombers. 3 times early the bombers moved into field goal range but rather than being up 9-1 they were up 4-1. Gotta admit that it's a totally different game with one score vs. the other. 

 

The real shame was 2002 having Stegall hurt before the playoffs and Roberts get hurt on the first play of the west final. That's your 2 most dangerous weapons out of a game that you lost by 3 points. 

[SPuDS]

great qb with outstanding supporting cast. he burned up while here.tho... toasted his arm..

wasnt a rocket thrower but knew where to throw it.. very.very cerebral..

but wasnt a joe montana or dan marino... but was an elway or flutie..

[sweep the leg]

but wasnt a joe montana or dan marino... but was an elway or flutie..

You're going to have to explain. I don't see how this makes any sense.

[Logan007]

 

but wasnt a joe montana or dan marino... but was an elway or flutie..

You're going to have to explain. I don't see how this makes any sense.

 

Yeah I'll second that.  What?  Flutie was a freakin freak of nature.  He was an AMAZING QB.  I've never seen a guy look like he's about to fail and succeed nonetheless.  The guy had rabbit feet and horseshoes coming out of his ass.  And Elway was a great QB as well.

[iso_55]

 

Reminds me of the debate about whether or not winning a championship defines a great qb. I think it does when you mention names like Russ jackson, Ken Ploen, Joe Kapp, Ron Lancaster, Damon Allen, Matt Dunigan & Warren Moon. But then you throw out names like Rick Cassata & Sean Salisbury & it's clear those 2 were in the right place at the right time & weren't great qbs even though they won a championship. To me, Khari Jones was a very good qb but that 2001 GC loss prevents him from being mentioned as a truly great qb. The team he played on should have beaten the Stampeders but didn't. Having said that, if KJ  was in his prime & I needed a qb, take him in a heartbeat. I have a ton of respect for Khari. I liked the guy a lot as a qb. One of my favourites.

are we putting more of the blame on the offense then? How about a dominant defense that gave up 2 seperate big play touchdowns? How about a blocked kick for a TD? There were lots of issues for Winnipeg that day. Hell the way the game started it looked like it might be a short day for the bombers. 3 times early the bombers moved into field goal range but rather than being up 9-1 they were up 4-1. Gotta admit that it's a totally different game with one score vs. the other. 

 

The real shame was 2002 having Stegall hurt before the playoffs and Roberts get hurt on the first play of the west final. That's your 2 most dangerous weapons out of a game that you lost by 3 points. 

 

Good points but I've said this before. The whole attitude of the Bombers was one that they felt all they had to do was show up & they'd win. That Calgary would just roll over & die. Of course they didn't. Ritchie did a bad job preparing the team, not bringing the hammer down & stopping the players from thinking the game was in the bag before the teams even kicked off.

[pigseye]

Khari was like a lot of great QB's, he'd hang in the pocket and take the big hit to make a play, and he made many of them.

[Brandon]

 

The response was, weak arm, couldnt throw, slow, too many INT, couldnt play when he left Winnipeg, elite receivers made him look good.

wasn't a strong arm but it was good enough, fast enough to run when he needed to, certainly a lot faster than the likes of Ray or Calvillo right now. Lots of ints sure but a hell of a lot more TDs and a hell of a lot of wins in his time as a bomber qb. When speaking of receivers just think about 2002 for a while... Jones through 46 tds, almost enough for a record, Stegall had 23 but one was from Barnes so 22 from Jones, that still leaves 24 tds for Jones, only Calvillo threw more than 24 tds in 2002, that's a staggering number. even without his top receiver Jones was still top 2 in td passes. Not to mention that Charles Roberts was in double digits in touchdowns as well. 

 

People maybe forget what happened to his shoulder in his last bit of time here. It was damaged and never able to recover properly. It's also worth pointing out that in Calgary he did have some success, the problem was that he was brought in by Dunigan and when he was fired they wanted to turn the page completely and with Jones being one of Dunigans moves he had to go to make way for Burris. Bottom line people who don't think Khari was a very good to great qb are morons.

 

46 TDs.... have we even thrown for that many TD's in the 3 years with LaPolice and Burke all combined????

[Noeller]

The only thing you need to know about Khari Jones is that he was smarter than pretty much everyone else on the field. That's what allowed him to play the game at such a high level. Underrated arm and speed, but the biggest thing people didn't realize was just how smart he was. Maybe the single most intelligent QB the Bombers have ever had.