In the Monday Schiano press press conference he addresses a question about his level of concern of Freeman. He gave a pretty clear answer (unless he is intentionally misleading), since Free tries hard in practice and asks a lot of questions and all that good stuff, Schaino is not concerned. In fact, Schiano says if Free played the way he did and was not the teachers pet, then his play would be cause for concern.

We all know Schiano can be stubborn and this may be one of those things that ultimately dooms him. Schiano tries to do the right thing and reward those who follow his demands while punishing those who do not. For instance, I do not believe he is the type of coach that would demote a player after an injury ( a la Harbaugh). It is that college coach mentality, "reward effort, give those players who really want 'it' a chance", that will get you fired. That strategy may work in college because you can at least use the effort as an example to the rest of the team and since no college starter plays for your team for more than a few years it works. However, professional football needs talent, results, and championships. Do not get me wrong effort is definitely a top ingredient in making players great. A great coach can help players maximize their talent through great effort, but effort alone should not be a reason to keep a player starting in the NFL.

Whether you believe Free will turn into a great QB (or at least one that can win a playoff game), or you think he should be a backup somewhere, most would like to see us draft or trade for a QB to develop. I know up until last Sundays game it was blasphemy to say anything other than Freeman was our franchise QB, but I think we would all like a back up plan sooner than later. Year after year the only retort believers of Free have to his critics are "we do not have anyone better", or "you rather have Orvlosky?" If we did have a capable backup it could give Freeman a spark, or the new QB could come in and really click with this offense. However, after Schiano's statement, I do not believe heading into to 2013 season there will be any change at the QB position.

Whether it is Freeman or anyone else, Schiano might have to choose between rewarding effort or his job. If he has another season like this in 2013 and he is too stubborn to make a change that may be it. I really hope Free can turn into a consistent, competent, accurate QB, but in a win now league we need a coach that can at least be "concerned" about the future or his starting QB after another disappointing season.