Post by MizzouTiger on Dec 1, 2007 17:26:23 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/story/384734.html
Huard back in a familiar position with Chiefs
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Well, the Chiefs’ season appears headed for a high draft pick, Brodie Croyle is officially out Sunday against the Chargers, and the remaining drama seems to do more with blackouts than playoffs.
Need a pick-me-up? Here’s the best we can do:
The last time Damon Huard became a starting quarterback in the middle of a season, he helped the Chiefs win five of seven games. Remember?
“Hey, you never know,” he said. “You always gotta believe in yourself and believe you’re going to go out there every time and win.”
Another positive: It was Huard (and an opportunistic defense … and Larry Johnson) that sparked Kansas City’s comeback win in San Diego two months ago.
Both of his touchdown passes came in the second half — a 22-yarder to Tony Gonzalez and 51-yarder to Dwayne Bowe.
If that can give the Chiefs any extra confidence this time around, it’s perhaps the only benefit to not having a clear-cut No. 1 starting quarterback. When one guy goes down, there shouldn’t be that much drop-off.
Statistics can be misleading, of course, but here goes anyway: Croyle has completed 58 of 97 passes (59.8 percent) for 614 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a 76.6 quarterback rating.
Huard has completed 163 of 262 passes (62.2 percent) for 1,766 yards, eight touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 74.7 quarterback rating.
“Damon has done this before,” coach Herm Edwards said. “He was a backup before, a starter at the beginning of the season. He’s been in this situation before. That’s what the good veteran quarterback does. That’s why you have them.”
The company line is that there will be no change with Huard, but that’s not entirely true. Croyle can physically make any number of passes that are impossible for Huard, which is part of why he replaced Huard in the first place.
Huard, for all the things he does well, just doesn’t have the arm strength of Croyle. There’s a reason Huard went undrafted.
But, again, the company line says the switch is no big deal for the rest of the offense.
“We’ve all been here long enough,” said receiver Eddie Kennison. “We understand each other, what it’s supposed to be. The quarterbacks understand us as receivers, we understand them. They know the difference, we know the difference. It’s not that big of a transition for us at all.”
From rookie receiver Dwayne Bowe: “It’s no different. My job is to catch the ball. It all depends on the line of scrimmage. It’s not the quarterback, it’s if he’s gotta rush the pass or have time.”
So there’s no difference at all?
“Not unless you’re real close running a short route,” Bowe said. “Brodie throws it real hard. Once you get downfield, all the balls drop in the same.”
The other issue here is that some will view this as affirmation of the popular knock against Croyle that he’s not durable enough to be a starting NFL quarterback. His college career was filled with injuries, and, now, he only made it two starts before having to miss one.
Most of his college injuries were not contact related (two knee ligament tears, for instance) and this particular injury has nothing to do with Croyle’s frame (officially listed at 6 feet 2 and 206 pounds).
He took a knee to the lower back — the only part of his body, he joked to Edwards, that wasn’t protected by some sort of pad. He played virtually the entire game with it, a testament to his toughness, but it’s been tight all week and Croyle doesn’t have the flexibility and mobility he’d need to play.
On Thursday, when the Chiefs were still holding out hope that Croyle could start this weekend, he admitted the “injury-prone” label bothered him some, but wrote it off to the increased attention given to quarterbacks.
On Friday, Edwards stood up for Croyle.
“Anytime you get hurt once or twice in your career, first thing people say is, ‘He’s injury prone,’ ” Edwards said. “I don’t buy into that. It was a freak accident what happened to him. One of those deals where he got hit in the wrong spot.
“I don’t know if he’s sensitive to it, but people are going to say that. You look at the guy, ‘He’s not a big guy, is he going to hold up?’ There’s a lot of guys his size who play quarterback in the league.
“In this league, at the quarterback position, there’s not too many of them that don’t miss games.”
In the short term, none of that really matters. Huard or Croyle, either way, the Chiefs need to beat the Chargers on Sunday to maintain any (slightly) realistic hope of making the playoffs.
A win puts them just one game behind the Chargers with the tie breaker, and a loss makes the Chiefs three back with four to go.
“There’s always pressure, especially when your back’s to the wall,” Huard said. “We’ve lost four games in a row as a team. It’s tough. There’s a lot of pressure right now, on all of us.”
Huard back in a familiar position with Chiefs
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Well, the Chiefs’ season appears headed for a high draft pick, Brodie Croyle is officially out Sunday against the Chargers, and the remaining drama seems to do more with blackouts than playoffs.
Need a pick-me-up? Here’s the best we can do:
The last time Damon Huard became a starting quarterback in the middle of a season, he helped the Chiefs win five of seven games. Remember?
“Hey, you never know,” he said. “You always gotta believe in yourself and believe you’re going to go out there every time and win.”
Another positive: It was Huard (and an opportunistic defense … and Larry Johnson) that sparked Kansas City’s comeback win in San Diego two months ago.
Both of his touchdown passes came in the second half — a 22-yarder to Tony Gonzalez and 51-yarder to Dwayne Bowe.
If that can give the Chiefs any extra confidence this time around, it’s perhaps the only benefit to not having a clear-cut No. 1 starting quarterback. When one guy goes down, there shouldn’t be that much drop-off.
Statistics can be misleading, of course, but here goes anyway: Croyle has completed 58 of 97 passes (59.8 percent) for 614 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a 76.6 quarterback rating.
Huard has completed 163 of 262 passes (62.2 percent) for 1,766 yards, eight touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 74.7 quarterback rating.
“Damon has done this before,” coach Herm Edwards said. “He was a backup before, a starter at the beginning of the season. He’s been in this situation before. That’s what the good veteran quarterback does. That’s why you have them.”
The company line is that there will be no change with Huard, but that’s not entirely true. Croyle can physically make any number of passes that are impossible for Huard, which is part of why he replaced Huard in the first place.
Huard, for all the things he does well, just doesn’t have the arm strength of Croyle. There’s a reason Huard went undrafted.
But, again, the company line says the switch is no big deal for the rest of the offense.
“We’ve all been here long enough,” said receiver Eddie Kennison. “We understand each other, what it’s supposed to be. The quarterbacks understand us as receivers, we understand them. They know the difference, we know the difference. It’s not that big of a transition for us at all.”
From rookie receiver Dwayne Bowe: “It’s no different. My job is to catch the ball. It all depends on the line of scrimmage. It’s not the quarterback, it’s if he’s gotta rush the pass or have time.”
So there’s no difference at all?
“Not unless you’re real close running a short route,” Bowe said. “Brodie throws it real hard. Once you get downfield, all the balls drop in the same.”
The other issue here is that some will view this as affirmation of the popular knock against Croyle that he’s not durable enough to be a starting NFL quarterback. His college career was filled with injuries, and, now, he only made it two starts before having to miss one.
Most of his college injuries were not contact related (two knee ligament tears, for instance) and this particular injury has nothing to do with Croyle’s frame (officially listed at 6 feet 2 and 206 pounds).
He took a knee to the lower back — the only part of his body, he joked to Edwards, that wasn’t protected by some sort of pad. He played virtually the entire game with it, a testament to his toughness, but it’s been tight all week and Croyle doesn’t have the flexibility and mobility he’d need to play.
On Thursday, when the Chiefs were still holding out hope that Croyle could start this weekend, he admitted the “injury-prone” label bothered him some, but wrote it off to the increased attention given to quarterbacks.
On Friday, Edwards stood up for Croyle.
“Anytime you get hurt once or twice in your career, first thing people say is, ‘He’s injury prone,’ ” Edwards said. “I don’t buy into that. It was a freak accident what happened to him. One of those deals where he got hit in the wrong spot.
“I don’t know if he’s sensitive to it, but people are going to say that. You look at the guy, ‘He’s not a big guy, is he going to hold up?’ There’s a lot of guys his size who play quarterback in the league.
“In this league, at the quarterback position, there’s not too many of them that don’t miss games.”
In the short term, none of that really matters. Huard or Croyle, either way, the Chiefs need to beat the Chargers on Sunday to maintain any (slightly) realistic hope of making the playoffs.
A win puts them just one game behind the Chargers with the tie breaker, and a loss makes the Chiefs three back with four to go.
“There’s always pressure, especially when your back’s to the wall,” Huard said. “We’ve lost four games in a row as a team. It’s tough. There’s a lot of pressure right now, on all of us.”