Unsettled outlook — Ex-Cougar John Beck can expect even more changes

The NFL career of John Beck cannot be defined this winter as the embattled Miami Dolphins will spend much of the offseason in reorganization, acquisition and evaluation with new management and coaches.

In the meantime, Beck, who wasn't expected to do anything this past season for what turned out to be a one-win team, is "working my butt off" and falling back on his obsessive gym-rat existence, driving himself hard.

Beck, his wife, Barbara, and son, Ty, live in upscale Weston, Fla., a suburb of Miami. The home has five bedrooms, a three-car garage and covers 3,800 square feet with a pool and spa. The 210 linear feet of his backyard grass slopes right down into a lake, where he has tied up a 14-foot aluminum boat with an electric outboard used for relaxing excursions spent angling for bass around a development that has two 18-hole, private golf courses.

The weather isn't too shabby either.

The football picture, however, remains more unsettled.

Miami fans are frustrated. They don't know what to make of Beck, who was never in a position to show his wares with a full company of help. Coach Cam Cameron got fired, so did his QB coach and general manager, and now Bill Parcells is in charge of the Dolphins' operation.

"It was a situation totally unexpected," said Beck. "Our team never expected it would go 1 and 15."

It was set up early to have Trent Green be the guy at quarterback, back him up with a veteran (Cleo Lemon) and bring Beck along slowly. Like a stack of cards, though, it all fell down this fall.

"It's been really interesting," said NFL beat writer Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald. "Fans are really impatient because this team hasn't really had a great quarterback here since Dan Marino. So any time someone slips a little bit, they throw their hands up and assume the worst."

Beck began the season No. 3 behind Green and Cleo Lemon. Rarely did he take reps with the first unit. But when Green got injured and Lemon failed to get wins, Cameron nudged Beck onto the field to try and find a spark. But by then, Miami had no fuel to tender a fire.

Beck's Dolphin action came in spot appearances. He completed 56 percent of his passes. He had one touchdown pass in 107 attempts, but had some scoring passes dropped by a makeshift cast of receivers. His best game came against Cincinnati, when in a small chunk of time, he completed 13 of 21 passes for 135 yards. His season passer rating of 62 is nothing to hang his helmet upon, but his field time was not under prime conditions. Beck is lucky he didn't get injured.