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Despite backup role, Giants’ Carr is ‘blessed’
Tim Ellsworth, Baptist Press
February 06, 2012
4 MIN READ TIME

Despite backup role, Giants’ Carr is ‘blessed’

Despite backup role, Giants’ Carr is ‘blessed’
Tim Ellsworth, Baptist Press
February 06, 2012
INDIANAPOLIS – You could forgive David Carr if he happened to be bitter about football.

The first overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft by the Houston Texans, Carr seemed headed for NFL success after starring at Fresno State University. He spent five years with the team – much of it on his back, thanks to a woeful offensive line – when the Texans decided they were no longer interested in his services.

Since then, Carr has mainly been relegated to a backup role with the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, the San Francisco 49ers and now the Giants again behind Eli Manning. Sports Illustrated included Carr in a list of “top draft busts of the modern era.” What looked like a promising career has turned into something that Carr wouldn’t have chosen.

But talk to him, and “bitter” as a description isn’t even on the radar. He’s positive, happy, motivated – and thrilled to be at his first Super Bowl, even if it’s unlikely that he’ll take a single snap.

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Photo by Tim Ellsworth

New York Giants backup quarterback David Carr, speaking to a reporter at Super Bowl media day Jan. 31, has persevered through a bumpy NFL career, rooted in his faith in Christ.

“For me to be in this position, it’s truly blessed,” Carr said during the Jan. 31 media day at Lucas Oil Stadium, site of the Feb. 5 matchup between the Giants and the New England Patriots.

“There are so many players that either never made it to this game or never won this game. You’ve got to understand the situation you’re in and take advantage of it. It’s a very exciting time.”

For Carr, it’s his faith in Jesus Christ that defines him and gives him the positive attitude about his role with the team, however big or small it may be.

“The most important thing for me is my relationship with Jesus Christ and how it’s carried me through my entire football career,” Carr said. “You look at a lot of people that I grew up playing with, a lot of people that I played against – a lot of those guys aren’t playing football anymore. A lot of those guys are doing other things, or they’ve been hurt, or the game passed them by.”

Carr, now playing in his 10th season in the NFL, says he’s still in the game not because he’s so much more talented or fortunate than others. It’s because he knows God has a reason for the position he’s in – a position for which he is immensely grateful.

“That’s what drives me – take advantage of every moment, because you never know when the last one’s going to be,” he said.

Growing up in California, Carr was the grandson of a pastor. Church was a regular part of his life – so much a part of it, in fact, that he says he regularly did his homework in the pews. His conversion came at age 12 during a church camp when he gave his heart to the Lord.

“From then on it became my relationship, not just my grandfather’s relationship with the Lord,” Carr said. “That was an important time in my life.”

His walk with the Lord carried him through success in high school and college and into the NFL. And though his role now is different from what Carr may have envisioned, he works hard in practice helping the Giants’ defense get ready to play each week. He may not be starting, but he knows he has an important job with the team.

And however long that job may last, Carr will continue trusting in God through the ups and downs of football and of life.

“Tomorrow we don’t know what’s going to happen, but God does,” he said. “He’s already ordained our life and set it before us. We have an opportunity to go out and be the best that we can be for Him.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Tim Ellsworth is editor of BPSports and director of news and media relations at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.)

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