Manning and Favre Move Over, Theres Some New Kids Ready to Play
| 9
|
by user BigPPup
I know it’s just beyond the mid-point of the NFL season. Despite that, I think the overall trend of from the 2006/07 season has been; this is a year of transition. We are watching the passing of the torch in regards to the QB’s in the NFL. This is the year, where we have seen more first time QB’s take the respective helms of their teams than any previous season. Some of the emerging QB’s are rookies and second year players, while others have become veterans while riding the bench for their team. The 2006/07 season is the audition season for these budding stars. Let’s take a look around the league to see exactly what I’m talking about.
The obvious first choice for this new class of starting QB’s is Tony Romo down in Dallas. Bill Parcells knew from the start of training camp, that he was looking to groom a new starting QB that he may use at some point this year. That time came during the Monday Nigh Football game against his old team the New York Giants. After a rocky second half against NYC Tony Romo, and the entire Cowboy team have caught lightning in a bottle, going 4-1 since becoming the signal caller. Romo has gone on to lead the NFL is passer rating, and is on his way to becoming the next Tom Brady story. Since Romo has become the starter, Drew Bledsoe has become an afterthought, and his NFL career may soon follow.
The Washington Redskins are another team that has made the transition from old to new this season. Out is Mark Brunell in Jason Campbell. Campbell is the second year player who the Skins move up to draft in the first round. Campbell has gone 1-1, and led a fourth quarter comeback against the Carolina Panthers last weekend. Under Brunell, the Skins offense was anemic. Maybe it was injury, maybe it was age, the verdict on what was wrong with Brunell is still out. However, there is no denying the instant spark that Campbell brought to the offense from the time he made his first start. It is safe to say that Campbell’s position as a starter in Washington is secure, while I would not call him Doug Williams just yet in that 17 jersey, he is on the fast tract to leave a similar legacy on the nation’s capital.
Jake Plummer took the Denver Broncos to the AFC Championship game , the thanks for that from the Broncos was drafting gunslinger Jay Cutler in the first round. The thought was another top QB in camp would push Jake to get better, and play hard for the season. That was not the case, maybe it was the pressure of living up to the expectations he set with his breakout year last year, maybe it was the pressure of running Mike Shanahan's offense, and maybe it was the pressure of having someone looking over his shoulder itching to take his spot. Whatever, it was Jake Plummer was not able to handle it, and after a poor performance on Thanksgiving Day he was pulled for the rookie. It has yet to be seen what Cutler can do as a pro, but it is hard to believe that he can do a worse job than Plummer did for this season. The silver lining to this cloud for Plummer, is he is still young enough, and unlike the two QB’s mentioned above who lost their starting jobs, Plummer has the chance to live to play another day in another NFL city.
Down in Arizona Matt Leinart has chased Kurt Warner out of a starting job. This is the second time in his NFL career that Warner has been replaced for a young gun rookie. Leinart was the darling of USC taking his Trojans to three BCS title games and winning two of them. Arriving in the desert of Arizona, Leinart has an arsenal of receiving weapons that will remind him of any stable of talent he enjoyed while at USC. Add in Edgerian James in the backfield and Matt Leinart has all the necessary weapons to be a great NFL QB. Now if he can just weather the tail end of the Denny Green era, Leinart will be just fine. Just think what Mike Martz could do with all that talent on the Cardinals roster.
A surprising team that has reached a QB switch is the Jacksonville Jaguars. It appears that Bryon Leftwich is out in Jacksonville. Not because of an inability to play but because of conflicts with head coach Jack Del Rio. Anyone who watch Leftwich play during his career knows he is a warrior and is willing and capable of playing at a high level even when in tremendous amounts of pain. Apparently Del Rio has seen enough of that, benching Leftwich till he gets healthy. To say the least this was not pleasing news to the strong armed QB, who has openly disagreed with his coach over the decision. Perhaps Del Rio would not have been so quick to make the switch at QB if not for the fact that he has a proven signal caller in David Garrard. David Garrard stepped in for an injured Leftwich at the end of last season and took the Jags to the playoffs where he was replaced in the first round by a returning Leftwich. Garrard is now back at the helm of the Jags and while they are a spastic team, there is a good chance that the starting job his now his to lose. Leftwich feels like he is being forced out in Jacksonville, and is likely to look for friendlier playing conditions come the off season.
Out in San Diego, a third year QB has done the unthinkable, and that’s redefine Marty Ball. Phillip Rivers was a top pick in the NFL draft two seasons ago, but for his entire career he held the clipboard while Drew Brees guided the Chargers attack. Now Brees has left San Diego for New Orleans and Rivers is calling the plays in San Diego. In taking over the helms, River has transformed the normally pedestrian Marty Shcottenheimer offense into a high powered aerial attack. In just half a season Rivers has erased any speculation, that he may have been the Ryan Leaf of the 2004 draft. Of course a large amount of Philip Rivers’s success can be credited to the help of his backfield mate LaDainian Tomlinson. However, if Rivers continues to grow and progress as he currently is, then the Chargers will have a unit to work with and build off of for years to come.
There are a lot of new faces circulating around the NFL especially at the QB position. Some have compared this new influx of talent to what we saw in the 1983 draft, I’m not sure that three or four of these youngsters will become Hall of Famers, but you never know what path a player will take over the course of their career. What we do know, is these young players are ready and hungry to prove that they belong in the NFL, and that are the next wave of great QB’s. Favre, Manning, McNabb, move aside there’s some new competition on the block.
