QBs face prospect of being benched earlier than ever
Under pressure
QBs face prospect of being benched earlier than ever
Posted: Friday September 22, 2006 1:50PM; Updated: Friday September 22, 2006 3:04PM
The media and fans in Dallas are already calling for the Cowboys to bench quarterback Drew Bledsoe.
Bill Frakes/SI
A quick check of my scorecard at home reveals that the Redskins are sticking with Mark Brunell, the Bucs with Chris Simms, the Titans with Kerry Collins, the Broncos with Jake Plummer, the Packers with Brett Favre, the Dolphins with Daunte Culpepper, and the Raiders with Aaron Brooks (once he's healthy again). Oh, and let's not forget that way back last week Bill Parcells felt compelled to unequivocally state that he's sticking with Drew Bledsoe. For now, at least. Until he decides exactly when to get Tony Romo into the action.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Things are getting pretty sticky in the NFL these days when it comes to the quarterback position.
Two weeks into the regular season and already seven teams have had to listen to the most oft-played tune in the NFL: Are you going to make a quarterback change? That only stands to reason, I suppose, since the predominant story line of the offseason was the many quarterback questions that dotted the league's landscape.
We had rehabbing quarterbacks (Culpepper, Carson Palmer, Drew Brees, Chad Pennington, Donovan McNabb and Ben Roethlisberger, twice). Thrown-into-the-deep-end quarterbacks (Philip Rivers, J.P. Losman, Charlie Frye, Billy Volek and Rex Grossman). Relocated quarterbacks (Brooks and Jon Kitna). Renaissance quarterbacks (Steve McNair and Brad Johnson). Rookie quarterbacks (Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler). And at least one rather well-known close-to-retiring quarterback (Favre).
All of it made for a great cauldron of debate, which has spilled over into September. The end result is you get a rash of coaches feeling the early need to publicly stand by their man, with everything but strains of Tammy Wynette playing in the background.
"It's ridiculous, really,'' said former Cincinnati star quarterback Boomer Esiason, now an NFL analyst with CBS. "When you've got a quarterback controversy going on, it's definitely crisis mode central in those cities."
Nothing in the NFL drives the conversational engine like a quarterback controversy. But has the chatter level about the quarterback position ever been higher? It probably hasn't helped that there are QB questions to bandy about in such traditional NFL hotbeds such as Washington, Dallas, Green Bay, Denver and Miami. Discussion about Favre's status alone -- Will he or won't he retire? Should he still be starting? -- threatens to consume nearly 50 percent of the oxygen in Wisconsin and only slightly less than that in the other 47 contiguous states.
"What it points out is that right now, those guys in those markets aren't perceived as the guy,'' said Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who played in Dallas, where some still debate the Roger Staubach-Craig Morton competition. "Ben Roethlisberger struggled Monday night, but I don't think Bill Cowher has to come out and say, 'Hey, Ben's my guy.' They won a Super Bowl with him last year. When Peyton Manning has a poor game, if he ever has a poor game, Tony Dungy won't have to come out and say 'We're sticking with him.'
"I think Bledsoe had a good season last year," added Aikman. "But there's a love affair right now with Romo. Everybody from the first game on was clamoring for Tony Romo. He played well in the preseason, but Bledsoe still outplayed him. I've said several times, 'What actually has Tony Romo done for everybody to say he should be the guy?' But in Dallas, when the team struggles, they look at the quarterback and want change for the sake of change.''
Perhaps the biggest surprise so far? There haven't been any quarterback changes for the sake of change, just plenty of speculation, conjecture and debate. Three teams already have used two quarterbacks for significant amounts of time, but in each case it was due to injury: Pittsburgh, with Charlie Batch and Roethlisberger; Kansas City with Trent Green and Damon Huard; and Oakland with Brooks and Andrew Walter. A fourth team, Tennessee, has alternated starter Collins and backup Young during games, and this week traded the quarterback (Volek) who was expected to be the Titans' No. 1.
QBs face prospect of being benched earlier than ever
Posted: Friday September 22, 2006 1:50PM; Updated: Friday September 22, 2006 3:04PM
The media and fans in Dallas are already calling for the Cowboys to bench quarterback Drew Bledsoe.
Bill Frakes/SI
A quick check of my scorecard at home reveals that the Redskins are sticking with Mark Brunell, the Bucs with Chris Simms, the Titans with Kerry Collins, the Broncos with Jake Plummer, the Packers with Brett Favre, the Dolphins with Daunte Culpepper, and the Raiders with Aaron Brooks (once he's healthy again). Oh, and let's not forget that way back last week Bill Parcells felt compelled to unequivocally state that he's sticking with Drew Bledsoe. For now, at least. Until he decides exactly when to get Tony Romo into the action.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Things are getting pretty sticky in the NFL these days when it comes to the quarterback position.
Two weeks into the regular season and already seven teams have had to listen to the most oft-played tune in the NFL: Are you going to make a quarterback change? That only stands to reason, I suppose, since the predominant story line of the offseason was the many quarterback questions that dotted the league's landscape.
We had rehabbing quarterbacks (Culpepper, Carson Palmer, Drew Brees, Chad Pennington, Donovan McNabb and Ben Roethlisberger, twice). Thrown-into-the-deep-end quarterbacks (Philip Rivers, J.P. Losman, Charlie Frye, Billy Volek and Rex Grossman). Relocated quarterbacks (Brooks and Jon Kitna). Renaissance quarterbacks (Steve McNair and Brad Johnson). Rookie quarterbacks (Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler). And at least one rather well-known close-to-retiring quarterback (Favre).
All of it made for a great cauldron of debate, which has spilled over into September. The end result is you get a rash of coaches feeling the early need to publicly stand by their man, with everything but strains of Tammy Wynette playing in the background.
"It's ridiculous, really,'' said former Cincinnati star quarterback Boomer Esiason, now an NFL analyst with CBS. "When you've got a quarterback controversy going on, it's definitely crisis mode central in those cities."
Nothing in the NFL drives the conversational engine like a quarterback controversy. But has the chatter level about the quarterback position ever been higher? It probably hasn't helped that there are QB questions to bandy about in such traditional NFL hotbeds such as Washington, Dallas, Green Bay, Denver and Miami. Discussion about Favre's status alone -- Will he or won't he retire? Should he still be starting? -- threatens to consume nearly 50 percent of the oxygen in Wisconsin and only slightly less than that in the other 47 contiguous states.
"What it points out is that right now, those guys in those markets aren't perceived as the guy,'' said Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who played in Dallas, where some still debate the Roger Staubach-Craig Morton competition. "Ben Roethlisberger struggled Monday night, but I don't think Bill Cowher has to come out and say, 'Hey, Ben's my guy.' They won a Super Bowl with him last year. When Peyton Manning has a poor game, if he ever has a poor game, Tony Dungy won't have to come out and say 'We're sticking with him.'
"I think Bledsoe had a good season last year," added Aikman. "But there's a love affair right now with Romo. Everybody from the first game on was clamoring for Tony Romo. He played well in the preseason, but Bledsoe still outplayed him. I've said several times, 'What actually has Tony Romo done for everybody to say he should be the guy?' But in Dallas, when the team struggles, they look at the quarterback and want change for the sake of change.''
Perhaps the biggest surprise so far? There haven't been any quarterback changes for the sake of change, just plenty of speculation, conjecture and debate. Three teams already have used two quarterbacks for significant amounts of time, but in each case it was due to injury: Pittsburgh, with Charlie Batch and Roethlisberger; Kansas City with Trent Green and Damon Huard; and Oakland with Brooks and Andrew Walter. A fourth team, Tennessee, has alternated starter Collins and backup Young during games, and this week traded the quarterback (Volek) who was expected to be the Titans' No. 1.
posted by The Gryphon at 5:58 PM
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