Second-string QBs can become ‘Plan A’ awfully fast
NFL teams are completing their depth charts, but for the most part they know who will be the starting quarterback, the most important slot.
The starter appears in the television ads and dates the supermodel or pop star. Meanwhile, the secondand third-stringers hold clipboards in relative obscurity.
But once the season begins in earnest, real life will start to intrude. Starting quarterbacks will be injured or perform poorly. The big name that was written with such confidence on the team sheet often has to be replaced by someone a trifle less famous.
Last season, only half of the 32 NFL teams used the same starting quarterback in all 16 regular-season games. The others had to scramble. Matt McGloin, Thad Lewis and Connor Shaw started NFL games in the last two years. So did Scott Tolzien and Jeff Tuel — for the same team, the 2013 Buffalo Bills.
And the teams with quarterback problems often seem to have them year after year.
Though injuries might seem a matter of random chance, there are certain quarterbacks who have almost always managed to elude them.
Of the 16 quarterbacks who started every game last year, 14 did the same in 2013. Twelve of them have done so three years in a row, and eight for four straight years. Six teams have had the luxury of the same starting quarterback every game for at least five years: the New Orleans Saints (Drew Brees), the Atlanta Falcons (Matt Ryan), the New England Patriots (Tom Brady, six years), the Baltimore Ravens (Joe Flacco, seven years), the San Diego Chargers (Philip Rivers, nine years) and the New York Giants (Eli Manning, 10 years).
A freakish injury could always change the pattern, but for some teams, the quarterback slot feels safe and strong.
Other teams, however, whether because of repeated injury or ineffectiveness, have failed to lock in a consistent quarterback and found themselves with someone significantly less famous lining up behind centre.
Sam Bradford tore an ACL in 2013, leading the St. Louis Rams to hand nine starts to Kellen Clemens. Bradford tore the same ACL last season, so Shaun Hill and Austin Davis got eight starts each.
In the last 10 years, the Tennessee Titans have rolled out Billy Volek, Matt Mauck and Rusty Smith as starters.
In this century,14 players have lined up for one and only one NFL start. Besides Rusty Smith, they include Brian St. Pierre (2010 Carolina Panthers), Brock Berlin (2007 Rams) and former major league baseball player Drew Henson (2004 Dallas Cowboys).
Some of these one-game wonders even earned a victory. The most recent was Stephen McGee. Drafted by the Cowboys out of Texas A&M University in 2009, McGee was a thirdstringer behind Tony Romo. In his second season, with Romo injured and Dallas 5-10, he was given a shot in the regular-season finale. The Cowboys beat a10-5 Eagles team that was resting all of its starters, 14-13, on a McGee touchdown pass with under a minute left.
He never got another starting shot, eventually being cut and spending time in the Canadian Football League. But his NFL record reads1-0.