Modern sport is faster and more physically demanding and its participant are more susceptible to injury, fatigue or lose of form. Not to mention the possibility of missing matches due to racial abuse, deliberately bowling no balls or concealing a blood capsule in your mouth! Luckily, there is a lot more money in sport, so it's easier to build a squad and have strength in depth.
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| This probably doesn't end well |
In the 2011 season, 13 teams finished the season with a different QB to the one they started it with. Of these teams, only Denver & Jacksonville didn't suffer a serious injury at the position. In addition Pittsburgh, Philidelphia, Tampa Bay and Seattle had injury problems at QB. That's over half of the NFL teams that required their back up Quarterback to play during the season. Some teams manged to absorb the injury - TJ Yates at Houston (who was actually the 3rd choice!) proved to be a capable game manager and even helped the team to a play off victory, John Skelton had a better record at Arizona than 1st choice Kevin Kolb, whilst Matt Moore did an excellent job replacing Chad Henne in Miami.
It was a very different story at a lot of other franchises. Chicago collapsed in a heap after Caleb Hanie had to replace Jay Cutler halfway through the season, Kansas fans had to witness some bloke called Tyler Palko throw the ball wildly for a few weeks and far too many column inches have been devoted to the problems in Indianapolis for me to be able to add anything new.
Back up quarterbacks are usually either veterans who can use their experience to handle game time at short notice or inexperienced young players learning their trade. Some players make great back ups, some are terrible and some are still unknown quantities. Whoever your team has in the position, one thing is certain, if you haven't got a capable replacement QB, your team's season is a torn muscle away from an early ending. That's why I don't want to support a team with a sub standard Quarterback.
So for this elimination, I'm going to look at the ten back up QBs at the remaining teams and eliminate the one with the lowest career QB rating. Again, it might not be entirely fair - some QBs are improving, some are regressing, some teams will have different players in place before the 2012 season kicks off. That's not to mention the previously documented flaws with the QB rating system. However, seeing as my crystal ball still hasn't been delivered I'm going to have to go with what we know.
For the purposes of this elimination, I will be using the player ranked at Number 2 in their Teams depth chart prior to Free Agency and their QB rating as per nfl.com. Here are the results...
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| Jake Locker - Thrilled to be in the NFL |
Atlanta Falcons : Chris Redman 79.4
Buffalo Bills: Tyler Thigpen 72.5
Carolina Panthers: Derek Anderson 68.8
Cincinnati Bengals: Bruce Gradkowski 65.8
Detroit Lions: Shaun Hill 84.7
Houston Texans: Matt Leinart 71.6
Minnesota Vikings Joe Webb 66.6
New York Jets Mark Brunell 84.0
Philadelphia Eagles Vince Young 74.4
Tennessee Titans Jake Locker 99.4
So by a whisker, I'm going to eliminate the Cincinnati Bengals. Which comes as a bit of a surprise. Before going through the teams my money was firmly on either Redman, Anderson or Webb coming bottom. Shows what I know! Jake Locker came out on top, giving the Titans their first category victory and showing that they could be a bit of a QB controversy between him and Matt Hasselbeck this season. Locker showed plenty of promise in his rookie season and may prove to be a great example of how being a back up can be beneficial to your career development.
Every team I lose now is a bit of a disappointment as I'd be happy to support any of them, but the Bengals were a team I expected to last the distance. Upwardly mobile with a bright young team. On the plus side, we won't have to see this monstrosity again....
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| Fenton.......FENTON!!! |
Nest time will be the first of 2 Geography based eliminations. Only 8 more teams to go.......
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