Walker-Sports Week 3 Review: There's Always a Second Chance in the NFL

by user BigPPup

They say that the NFL is a league of second chances, and in week 3 we saw several struggling QB’s gain a second chance and a shot at redemption as they led their teams to victory. There has been a trend this season of veteran QB’s struggling in leading their teams to victories this season. On Sunday some of those veteran QB’s found redemption, and are looking to capitalize on their second chance.

The Washington Redskins have struggled coming out of the gate this season. They started the season with a 0-2 start, not exactly what fans expected when they were making those Super Bowl plans in the preseason. The bulk of the blame of this poor start can be placed on the ineptitude of the new look Al Saunders coached offense, and the sub par play of QB Mark Brunell.

Brunell started the NFL season with two consecutive poor performances against Minnesota and Dallas. In week 1 Brunell was 17-28 for 168 yards and no TD’s. Week two saw him go 18 of 33 for 197 yards and again no touchdowns. This was supposed Al Saunders high flying offense. The same scheme that saw Trent Green pass for over 4,000 yards in multiple seasons. Yet, with Brunell at the helm he could not must 200 yards passing, or get one ball into the endzone.

For anyone who saw Brunell play in the opening weeks of the season it was easy to tell he was struggling with the offense. Even for a veteran QB, Al Saunder’s offense can be immense and complex with its 700 page playbook. From his early performances one could tell that Mark Brunell was uncomfortable with the offense. He had a difficulty making his reads, often times choosing to check down and hit the receiver on the short dump off route rather than looking for his down the field options. In the past for the Redskins settling for the short pass was not a bad idea, but with the additions of Randle El, and Lloyd, along with Moss on the other side there are plenty of down the field threats with lots of speed at Brunell’s disposal if he could just set up and find them.

After a crushing defeat to the Dallas Cowboys, the fans, and critics were calling for Mark Brunell’s head, or at least for a fresh start with third year QB Jason Campbell. It was perfecting timing for Mark Brunell and company to make a trip to Houston Texas and play the lowly Texans.

Despite a poor showing the previous week in the Lone star state, in week 3 the Redskins were ready to play and they showed it from the opening drive. Brunell got his day started with a long shuffle pass to Portis that would set up a Betts TD run. From there Mark Brunell would set an NFL record going 22 for 22 to start the game, a record for consecutive completions. He would finish the day going 24-27 for 261 yards and 1 TD. Not a bad day for a QB who’s job was on the line going into the game.

The biggest factor for Mark Brunell on Sunday was not that he gained a new grasp of the offense, but he regains the services of the All Pro tailback Clinton Portis. Portis racked up 147 total yards and 2 TD’s on the day. For as high flying as an Al Saunders offense is, the bulk of the success is centered on the rushing game. In Kansas City he always had Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson both backs who put up massive numbers. This freed up passing lanes for Trent Green to rack up some of the gaudy numbers he had.

After Sunday’s performance there are still some questions about how talented the Redskins are overall. However, many of the questions about the athletic ability of Mark Brunell have been answered. He stepped up to the challenged and proved the game has not passed him by, and he is still capable of leading Washington for at least another season.

The Denver Broncos entered the Sunday night game against the New England Patriots with a 1-1 record. Normally this would have been acceptable especially after beating divisional opponent Kansas City last week. That would have been the case if the Broncos had scored a TD in last weeks victory. Add to that situation that Jake Plummer returned to his pre-2005 form throwing 4 interceptions in the first two games. That makes the perfect storm for a QB controversy with a young gun QB like Jay Cutler sitting in the wings and for his time.

Plummer was definitely on one of the hottest seats in the NFL entering Sunday’s game, and the cards were stacked against him. A shaky start to the season, young QB looking over his shoulder, and now he takes the Broncos on the road to face the New England Patriots, not the easiest place to break out of a slump.

Jake Plummer came out Sunday night and answered any critic he has had. Plummer connected on 15 of 30 passes for 256 yards and two TD’s in what was a dominating 17-7 win over the Patriots. Much like Brunell, Jake Plummer took advantage of a dominate running game to help him as a passer. Tatum Bell carried the ball 27 times for 123 yards those are numbers that look like a vintage Denver Broncos team.

The Denver passing attack is predicated off of the ability of their backs to move the ball on the ground. Jake Plummer is at his best when he can bootleg out and roam to find his receivers. For one it makes the reads easier for him as he only has to focus on one side of the field at a time. Also he is a talented runner and it gives him the chance to leave the pocket if he feels threatened or cannot make the pass.

The power rushing attack also takes pressure off Plummer so he does not feel that he must make every big play with his arm. This keeps him from being the gambling risk taker that he has been for much of his career which also got him in a lot of trouble. The success of Bell carrying the ball controls the clock, and puts the Broncos into manageable second and third and short situations.

Jake Plummer appeared to return to 2005 form on Sunday. He also did it against a defensive unit that is stacked with talent. His performance was enough to quiet the critics which was very important with Denver heading into a buy week. We all know that nothing can stir up a QB controversy more than giving the media plenty of time to plot and think about how poor the last performance of the QB was.

The NFL is a league of second chances, more importantly it is a league with a short term memory. Players who are guilty of having a bad performance only have to weather the storm for a week, then they can come out slinging and performance and the previous week is quickly forgotten. For Mark Brunell and Jake Plummer the abysmal performance of the first two weeks was easily forgotten with a victory coupled by a strong performance. That’s just another reason why you have to love the NFL, redemption is only a few days away.

Date

Mon 09/25/06, 7:28 pm EST