Time to shine for backup QB's

[Angel]

It's time to shine for backup QBs
Aug 17, 2006, 2:33:08 AM by Jonathan Rand - FAQ


When you investigate white-collar crime or political scandal, you follow the money. When you try to analyze the outcome of a pre-season game, you follow the quarterbacks. Actually, you follow the backup quarterbacks.



That’s why the key to tonight’s game between the Chiefs and New York Giants won’t be Tiki Barber, who darted over and through the Chiefs’ would-be tacklers for 220 yards last December and ruined their playoff chances. He’s still awaiting his pre-season debut.

The outcome of tonight’s game won’t even be determined by starting quarterbacks Trent Green or Eli Manning. The keys are the Chiefs’ Damon Huard, if his sprained foot is healed enough for him to play, and the Giants’ Tim Hasselbeck.

If there were pre-season fantasy leagues, you’d want to jump all over the veteran backup quarterback who once were starters. They tend to resemble Hall of Famers each summer.

These veteran backups get the lion’s share of playing time because summer may be a coach’s only chance all season to get them work. They usually come in when most starters on both teams are gone and they are left facing vanilla defenses with backups still trying to figure out the playbook.

And while a backup quarterback may be working behind a raw offensive line, his savvy and ability to feel the rush usually allow him time to pick apart a second- and third-team secondary. Todd Collins would light up the night every summer for the Chiefs before returning to his sideline chores for nearly the entire regular season.

If Huard can’t play tonight, he’ll probably feel like a guy with a broken jaw at the best steakhouse in town. A 10th-year player who made six starts for the Miami Dolphins in 1999 and 2000, Huard definitely would make a difference if he can play.

If Huard sits, the Giants would have a big edge because their backup, Tim Hasselbeck, made five starts for the Washington Redskins in 2003. Though the Houston running game primarily did in the Chiefs, backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels was more prominent than starter David Carr. Similarly, Hasselbeck will get a lot more time to battle the Chiefs than will Manning.

If Huard can’t go, the Chiefs again will have to lean on Casey Printers, who looked lost against the Texans. Ideally, Printers wouldn’t go in until the Giants are looking at Jared Lorenzen.

Considering that Printers has played three years in Canada while Lorenzen is just getting his feet wet as a pro, the Chiefs should have the edge there. You couldn’t find a better example why experience is so vital to a quarterback than Printers’ ordeal last week. He simply lacked the comfort he needed to put his skills to work.

If you still have doubts about the value of an experienced backup quarterback, ask yourself this: given the initial excitement about Printers and third-round draft choice Brodie Croyle, did you really expect Huard to have the backup job locked up by now?

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/08/17/rand_its_time_to_shine_for_backup_qbs/


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