Posts tagged BrodieCroyle at FanHouse

Half of NFL Teams Have Used Backup QBs, Where Does Your Team Rank?


Through 10 games of the NFL season, half of the teams in the league have started their backup quarterback for at least one game. A couple of observations:

Most of the Week 1 starters who lost their jobs were sidelined because of injuries. The only Week 1 starters to be benched for ineffectiveness are Tarvaris Jackson of the Vikings, J.T. O'Sullivan of the 49ers, Marc Bulger of the Rams, Derek Anderson of the Browns and Vince Young of the Titans. Bulger has since gotten his starting job back, so there are only four Week 1 starters who are currently holding a clipboard because they weren't playing well.

The Chiefs and Lions are the only teams that have started three different quarterbacks. Amazingly, in both cases, the third-stringer might be the best of the bunch. Tyler Thigpen has injected more life into the Chiefs' offense than either Week 1 starter Brodie Croyle or Weeks 2, 4 and 5 starter Damon Huard did. And in Detroit, although Daunte Culpepper didn't exactly set the world on fire in his debut, once he's up to speed on the offense he may be better than both of his predecessors, Jon Kitna and Dan Orlovsky.

Below is the list of Week 1 backups who have started at least one game, ranked in order of my own opinion of how good they are.

Don't Call JaMarcus Russell a Bust Just Yet

Calling a second-year quarterback a bust after just eight starts would be more than a little short-sighted. But, as sports fans, we demand instant results, and when a No. 1 overall pick is pulling in millions of bills before he's really "earned" it, well, 2-6 records just aren't going to cut it. That's when the four letter B-word tends to get thrown around. Unfair as that may be, that's current sports world we live in.

This of course brings us to Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell, and an article in today's Sacramento Bee by Paul Gutierrez, asking fans to please show a little patience in their 23-year old quarterback.
Since the draft began in 1936, 27 quarterbacks have been taken No. 1 overall and just three are in the Hall of Fame: Terry Bradshaw (1970), John Elway (1983) and Troy Aikman (1989). Russell, who has completed 53.5 percent of his 228 attempts for 1,482 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions in his first eight career starts, has better numbers than them through the same time frame. Bradshaw's passer rating was a miserable 28.8 through his first eight starts. Elway's initial eight-start rating of 48.8 belied his future success, and Aikman was winless in his first eight starts. That holy trinity went on to win a combined nine Super Bowls.

Tyler Thigpen Is the Future in Kansas City

This was supposed to be Brodie Croyle's team. The Chiefs selected him in the third round of the 2006 draft, and between clipboard duty and recovering from various ailments, the former Alabama star never could stay healthy long enough to make a case for why he was the long-term answer at quarterback.

Instead, it's become ... wait, what? Tyler Thigpen's gig?

Yep, that's right, former Chanticleer and Vikings undrafted free agent seventh-round pick is the future in Kansas City. Well, for now, anyway. Which is why head coach Herm Edwards isn't quite ready to crown his ass:
"Let's don't anoint him ... Don't put so much pressure on this poor guy. He went from Atlanta, where everybody was going, 'Whoa, whoa,' and all of a sudden he plays this game, his second start, he plays good. ... He's still learning. He has to keep playing, keep growing."
Two thoughts: it's a good thing Jim Colletto isn't mentoring this guy, and maybe the Vikings shoulda kept him on the roster. I'm not saying he's the next Tony Romo, Pseudo-Savior!, but given how things are playing out in Minnesota, you can never have enough arms around when the current starter is 37 years old, and the franchise quarterback is currently running the scout team.

If Thigpen does work out, it'll allow the Chiefs to focus on shoring up their many other deficiencies, which would be nice. Of course, if he bombs over the final nine weeks then, well, we'll probably be talking about which quarterback the team will take with their top-5 first-round pick next April.

Chiefs In Talks With Daunte Culpepper

If you're wondering why the Kansas City Chiefs would be interested in a "retired" quarterback that hasn't been effective since 2004, let me give you a short list. Brodie Croyle, Damon Huard, Tyler Thigpen, and Ingel Martin. Those are the four quarterbacks on the 1-5 Chiefs roster. Is it starting to make sense?

Just a day after losing Croyle for the season with torn knee ligaments, Kansas City talked with Daunte Culpepper about possibly coming to the rescue at the most uncertain position on the field for the Chiefs.

Culpepper is the type of quarterback that might help a stagnant offense, using his legs (yes, he can still run a little) to make plays when the routes aren't there. The 2004 season, when Cupepper was with the Vikings, was his career best, but even his last season with the Raiders wasn't horrible. Daunte started six games, throwing five touchdowns (and rushing for three) to only two interceptions, more touchdowns than the three Kansas City quarterbacks have tossed combined in the first six games.

If Culpepper came to the Chiefs, he'd be welcomed by a young, athletic reciever in Dwayne Bowe and a veteran tight end in Tony Gonzalez that is smart enough to help out his quarterback.

The Once-Over: Week 7

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

San Diego (3-3) at Buffalo (4-1): Trent Edwards is back from being concussed (my favorite word), which is probably a good thing, since they absolutely got rolled by the Cardinals two weeks ago after Edwards went down. The bad news is that he has to face a Chargers defense that sacked Matt Cassel four times last week, basically tossing him around like the plastic bag in that video from "American Beauty." Also, always beware of the LaDainian Tomlinson bounce-back game. He's slumped before, but always has that "140-yard, three-touchdown" game when his fantasy owners are about to give up on him that makes us completely forget about what came before. I'm putting this on the table for LDT -- if he doesn't reach double-digit fantasy points this week against a team that gives up 114 rushing yards per game, he cannot appear in any more cool Nike commercials.

Pick: San Diego

Chiefs Make Falcons Look Like Champs

You're never going to be in good shape when you're starting your third different quarterback during the third game of the season, but for the Chiefs it's been a complete disaster.

With Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard hurt, the Chiefs handed the starting job to second-year pro Tyler Thigpen. Thigpen looked OK last week in a Chiefs loss, but apparently he's forgotten anything he ever learned about playing quarterback.

With less than five minutes to go in the first half, Thigpen is 2-for-13 for 12 yards and two interceptions. Until he connected on a 13-yarder midway through the second quarter, he hadn't completed a pass beyond the line of scrimmage, and he's also been sacked once.

The Falcons may be still a long ways from the playoffs, but any Chiefs' fans watching today have to wish they could be in the Falcons' shoes. Atlanta has a promising young quarterback (Matt Ryan is 6-for-12 for 127 yards and a touchdown), the better running back (Michael Turner has 15 carries for 75 yards while the shell of Larry Johnson has seven carries for 19 yards), better receivers and a better defense.

The Falcons were supposed to be the worst team in the NFL coming into the season, but after watching the first half this week, it's clear the Chiefs are truly the NFL's worst.

Rob Ryan Wants You to Know That This Is the National F(reaking) Football League


I applaud Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan for his frankness. In a league full of automatons when it comes to interacting with the media, it's a refreshing change.

But it doesn't alter the fact that Oakland is an embarrassment, which was on full display during Monday night's 41-14 beatdown courtesy of Al Davis' nemesis, Mike Shanahan. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised; I mean, Warren Sapp told us the Raiders were going to suck and that DeAngelo Hall was the "flashiest, burnt-up corner in the history of the game," which is saying something with Fred Smoot still collecting a paycheck.

Not to worry, Raiders faithful: Ryan knows that a season isn't determined in Week 1, and he plans on rectifying the situation if it takes him all g-damn year. He's that m---erf--king committed to excellence.

Injuries To Watch: Week 2

Every week when the dinner bell rings on Friday evening, we'll be here to provide you a comprehensive injury report for the NFL weekend to follow. For those injuries that go right down to the wire, drop by our live Fantasy Fanhouse experts live chat from 10 am to 1 pm every Sunday and we'll take care of you on those bloody game-time decisions. As always, please feel free to chime in with opinions, updates, and rumors in the comments.

The Baltimore Ravens

Todd Heap - Heap left the game last week after coming in as Probable. Now listed as questionable, he is not looking like a great start either way.

Willis McGahee - Looks like Willis should be ready to kick off his 2008 season this week against the Texans. He seems to be improving, but not 100% quite yet though, so keep a close eye on him. After all, he was expected to go last week. The Hurricane Ike related move to Monday night helps McGahee owner's chances.

The Buffalo Bills

The Bills do not have any material injuries to watch, but it bears mentioning that their best lineman, Jason Peters, finally ended his contract holdout and is ready to go this week. Marshawn Lynch owners everywhere are currently doing the worm.

Injuries To Watch: Week 2

Every week when the dinner bell rings on Friday evening, we'll be here to provide you a comprehensive injury report for the NFL weekend to follow. For those injuries that go right down to the wire, drop by our live Fantasy Fanhouse experts live chat from 10 am to 1 pm every Sunday and we'll take care of you on those bloody game-time decisions. As always, please feel free to chime in with opinions, updates, and rumors in the comments.

The Baltimore Ravens

Todd Heap - Heap left the game last week after coming in as Probable. Now listed as questionable, he is not looking like a great start either way.

Willis McGahee - Looks like Willis should be ready to kick off his 2008 season this week against the Texans. He seems to be improving, but not 100% quite yet though, so keep a close eye on him. After all, he was expected to go last week. The Hurricane Ike related move to Monday night helps McGahee owner's chances.

The Buffalo Bills

The Bills do not have any material injuries to watch, but it bears mentioning that their best lineman, Jason Peters, finally ended his contract holdout and is ready to go this week. Marshawn Lynch owners owners everywhere are currently doing the worm.

Chiefs Decide Two Bad Quarterbacks Are Better Than One

So what do you do when your subpar, inexperienced quarterback goes down yet again to injury in week one and your only remaining backups are a scrambling schlub and a 35 year old retread that threw 13 INTs to 11 TDs last year in 11 games?

You combine them, of course!

Following in the grand tradition of NFL coaches trying to adopt a multiple quarterback approach and failing miserably, the Kansas City Chiefs have elected to dabble in dual quarterback systems with Damon Huard and Tyler Thigpen while Brodie Croyle recovers from yet another injury, according to a report from ESPN.

At this point you may be asking yourself, "Who in the name of Steve Bono is Tyler Thigpen?" I'm glad you asked! Thigpen, a second year man out of Coastal Carolina, has thrown six whole passes in the NFL, three of them complete! That's 50% for those of you not keen on math. Sure, one of them was to the other team, but that still counts in my book, buddy!
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