Post by Banana Cat on Jun 3, 2011 3:35:29 GMT -5
www.albanyherald.com/sports/headlines/Redemption_122996338.html
Redemption
Jun 1, 2011
Mike Phillips / albanyherald.com
The Panthers didn’t have any plans for 2010 SIFL MVP Cecil Lester coming into this season, but the Albany quarterback has come back — and come off the bench — to lead them to a 9-1 record and a chance to win another Southern Division title.
This season — a season in which Lester has come off the bench to lead Albany to a 9-1 record — wasn’t supposed to include Lester, who was not only left out after the Panthers were knocked out of the SIFL playoffs last season in a shocking first-round, 41-35, loss to Louisiana, but left alone with his thoughts — thoughts that beat him up daily.
“I couldn’t watch the film of that game,’’ Lester said. “The offseason was long, real long. I watched a lot of film, but never watched that game. I blame myself for losing that game, and play it over and over in my mind.’’
It seemed as if everyone blamed Lester for the quick exit in the playoffs. After winning the league’s MVP award and leading the Panthers to the best regular-season record in the SIFL, it appeared his days with the Panthers were over. The week after the playoffs, the Panthers didn’t mention his name when the club talked about returning for a run at the title.
The exclamation point came when the Panthers signed former Albany State star and 2009 SIAC MVP A.J. McKenna in the offseason to be their quarterback.
McKenna, despite not having a lick of arena football experience, was going to be the savior — the golden arm that would lead Albany to a title.
Lester? He wasn’t even an afterthought.
“He changed his phone number, and I didn’t hear from him during the entire offseason,’’ Panthers coach Lucious Davis said. “Then about two weeks before we started training camp, I got a text from him. He asked me how I was looking at quarterback. I responded and wrote: ‘Who is this?’ He wrote back, ‘This is Cecil.’ ”
Davis was blunt, and during a phone conversation he told Lester that McKenna was the quarterback.
“I told him if he came back he would have to be the backup,’’ Davis said. “I could hear it in his voice that it hurt him.’’
Now it’s Lester who is hurting opponents. He has thrown 52 touchdowns and 2,163 yards in just nine games, and has completed 58.9 percent of his passes. He has thrown only 10 interceptions this year, a number that’s startling when you realize he threw four interceptions in the playoff loss to Louisiana that ended the Panthers’ season.
He has stepped off the bench and into the limelight, while a struggling McKenna had to be pulled on opening night. As a result, Lester led a furious second-half comeback to beat Louisiana, 30-27, in the opener. The next week in Carolina, McKenna went three-and-out in the first series, and Davis had seen enough.
Enter Lester and a new season for the Panthers.
“McKenna had some things that were bothering him,’’ Davis said without elaborating. “There were personal things that were affecting him mentally. I had to go with a guy who was mentally tough.’’
McKenna quit four weeks later.
Lester proved how mentally tough he is off the field, somehow handling all the negative talk that surrounded the team’s collapse in the playoffs. If he heard it once, he heard 100 times that he just couldn’t win the big one.
“It hurt,’’ Lester said. “I’ve heard the whispers. I just stay focused.’’
He wasn’t exactly welcomed back with open arms. Many of the players still blamed Lester for the loss in the playoffs. It took a closed-door meeting to open that door for the players
“At first, it wasn’t a great rally around him,’’ Davis said. “After about six or seven games I had to have a meeting with all the returning players. Cecil wasn’t there. All they remembered was how it ended last year. They were holding onto that past, and it hurt.
“I told them that if we were going to win we have to rally around him. I pointed out other guys’ mistakes, and they understood.’’
Life around the Panthers changed after that meeting.
“We were playing uptight,’’ Davis said. “The atmosphere was thick. I had to thin out the atmosphere. It’s like family — when you have a problem with someone in your family —and we had a family meeting. It’s been getting better ever since.’’
The Panthers are tied with Columbus at 9-1 at the top of the Southern Division, and they play at the Lions on Saturday with a chance to win the division and win home-field in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
They wouldn’t be here without Lester.
“Believe it or not, I always had the mindset that this was my team,’’ Lester said. “Even when I wasn’t starting. As far as being a leader, I always felt that way.’’
He felt that way even when the players failed to embrace him.
“I knew it would take some time,’’ Lester said. “We’re all human. They weren’t angry at me. They were upset because we lost in the playoffs. When you are the quarterback, they love you when you win and when you lose they hate you. It comes with that position.’’
Davis said you can’t judge a guy simply because he didn’t lead a great team to a title.
“Brett Favre was a great quarterback and he only won once. Peyton Manning was a great quarterback and he has only won once. Dan Marino? He never won it (at all),” Davis said.
Lester’s perseverance has given him a new life in this his seventh year in arena football, a year no one could have predicted.
“It’s been a remarkable comeback,’’ said Panthers general manager Will Carter. “Cecil has shown resilience. It was a tough time for him to go through after last year, but it helped make him stronger.
“Your quarterback is always going to get the blame when you lose, and the credit when you win. He admitted he didn’t play well in that game, and (a lot of people blamed him for the loss).’’
Davis said someone should make a movie about Lester’s comeback.
“It’s amazing when you think about what he’s been through personally and for him to play the way he has played this year,’’ Davis said. “It would be a good comeback movie. We all know what happened last year. I was surprised when he called me. When we talked on the phone (before training camp) he told me he wanted to come back even if he was the backup. He wanted to redeem himself. He wanted to prove himself. I’m happy for him.”
But Lester had to convince himself to come back.
“I took that last game hard,’’ he said. “I put most of that loss on my shoulders, and it took a lot out of me to want to come back and compete. I have replayed that game over and over in my mind. I know I left a lot of opportunities on the field due to my decisions. But I knew I had something left in the gas tank. I wanted to redeem myself.’’
He feels there’s more to come.
“Have I redeemed myself? There’s two games left,’’ he said. “In some people’s eyes I have redeemed myself. And in my eyes, probably yes. I think I did that. But not to the city. In the city’s eyes I have to win a championship.’’
Jun 1, 2011
Mike Phillips / albanyherald.com
The Panthers didn’t have any plans for 2010 SIFL MVP Cecil Lester coming into this season, but the Albany quarterback has come back — and come off the bench — to lead them to a 9-1 record and a chance to win another Southern Division title.
This season — a season in which Lester has come off the bench to lead Albany to a 9-1 record — wasn’t supposed to include Lester, who was not only left out after the Panthers were knocked out of the SIFL playoffs last season in a shocking first-round, 41-35, loss to Louisiana, but left alone with his thoughts — thoughts that beat him up daily.
“I couldn’t watch the film of that game,’’ Lester said. “The offseason was long, real long. I watched a lot of film, but never watched that game. I blame myself for losing that game, and play it over and over in my mind.’’
It seemed as if everyone blamed Lester for the quick exit in the playoffs. After winning the league’s MVP award and leading the Panthers to the best regular-season record in the SIFL, it appeared his days with the Panthers were over. The week after the playoffs, the Panthers didn’t mention his name when the club talked about returning for a run at the title.
The exclamation point came when the Panthers signed former Albany State star and 2009 SIAC MVP A.J. McKenna in the offseason to be their quarterback.
McKenna, despite not having a lick of arena football experience, was going to be the savior — the golden arm that would lead Albany to a title.
Lester? He wasn’t even an afterthought.
“He changed his phone number, and I didn’t hear from him during the entire offseason,’’ Panthers coach Lucious Davis said. “Then about two weeks before we started training camp, I got a text from him. He asked me how I was looking at quarterback. I responded and wrote: ‘Who is this?’ He wrote back, ‘This is Cecil.’ ”
Davis was blunt, and during a phone conversation he told Lester that McKenna was the quarterback.
“I told him if he came back he would have to be the backup,’’ Davis said. “I could hear it in his voice that it hurt him.’’
Now it’s Lester who is hurting opponents. He has thrown 52 touchdowns and 2,163 yards in just nine games, and has completed 58.9 percent of his passes. He has thrown only 10 interceptions this year, a number that’s startling when you realize he threw four interceptions in the playoff loss to Louisiana that ended the Panthers’ season.
He has stepped off the bench and into the limelight, while a struggling McKenna had to be pulled on opening night. As a result, Lester led a furious second-half comeback to beat Louisiana, 30-27, in the opener. The next week in Carolina, McKenna went three-and-out in the first series, and Davis had seen enough.
Enter Lester and a new season for the Panthers.
“McKenna had some things that were bothering him,’’ Davis said without elaborating. “There were personal things that were affecting him mentally. I had to go with a guy who was mentally tough.’’
McKenna quit four weeks later.
Lester proved how mentally tough he is off the field, somehow handling all the negative talk that surrounded the team’s collapse in the playoffs. If he heard it once, he heard 100 times that he just couldn’t win the big one.
“It hurt,’’ Lester said. “I’ve heard the whispers. I just stay focused.’’
He wasn’t exactly welcomed back with open arms. Many of the players still blamed Lester for the loss in the playoffs. It took a closed-door meeting to open that door for the players
“At first, it wasn’t a great rally around him,’’ Davis said. “After about six or seven games I had to have a meeting with all the returning players. Cecil wasn’t there. All they remembered was how it ended last year. They were holding onto that past, and it hurt.
“I told them that if we were going to win we have to rally around him. I pointed out other guys’ mistakes, and they understood.’’
Life around the Panthers changed after that meeting.
“We were playing uptight,’’ Davis said. “The atmosphere was thick. I had to thin out the atmosphere. It’s like family — when you have a problem with someone in your family —and we had a family meeting. It’s been getting better ever since.’’
The Panthers are tied with Columbus at 9-1 at the top of the Southern Division, and they play at the Lions on Saturday with a chance to win the division and win home-field in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
They wouldn’t be here without Lester.
“Believe it or not, I always had the mindset that this was my team,’’ Lester said. “Even when I wasn’t starting. As far as being a leader, I always felt that way.’’
He felt that way even when the players failed to embrace him.
“I knew it would take some time,’’ Lester said. “We’re all human. They weren’t angry at me. They were upset because we lost in the playoffs. When you are the quarterback, they love you when you win and when you lose they hate you. It comes with that position.’’
Davis said you can’t judge a guy simply because he didn’t lead a great team to a title.
“Brett Favre was a great quarterback and he only won once. Peyton Manning was a great quarterback and he has only won once. Dan Marino? He never won it (at all),” Davis said.
Lester’s perseverance has given him a new life in this his seventh year in arena football, a year no one could have predicted.
“It’s been a remarkable comeback,’’ said Panthers general manager Will Carter. “Cecil has shown resilience. It was a tough time for him to go through after last year, but it helped make him stronger.
“Your quarterback is always going to get the blame when you lose, and the credit when you win. He admitted he didn’t play well in that game, and (a lot of people blamed him for the loss).’’
Davis said someone should make a movie about Lester’s comeback.
“It’s amazing when you think about what he’s been through personally and for him to play the way he has played this year,’’ Davis said. “It would be a good comeback movie. We all know what happened last year. I was surprised when he called me. When we talked on the phone (before training camp) he told me he wanted to come back even if he was the backup. He wanted to redeem himself. He wanted to prove himself. I’m happy for him.”
But Lester had to convince himself to come back.
“I took that last game hard,’’ he said. “I put most of that loss on my shoulders, and it took a lot out of me to want to come back and compete. I have replayed that game over and over in my mind. I know I left a lot of opportunities on the field due to my decisions. But I knew I had something left in the gas tank. I wanted to redeem myself.’’
He feels there’s more to come.
“Have I redeemed myself? There’s two games left,’’ he said. “In some people’s eyes I have redeemed myself. And in my eyes, probably yes. I think I did that. But not to the city. In the city’s eyes I have to win a championship.’’