One old saw is that it is one thing to enter a sailboat into a race, but it is a totally different venture to campaign a boat over a series. The latter requires pieces and parts to be on-hand at the ready to insert when something breaks. Races don’t re-schedule to await your readiness. Professional football is no different. It is the curious reality of the sport that it takes an elite Quarterback to enter the “Contender” portal, but it more often than not takes a competent backup QB to stay there. In a 32-team league there were 59 different QBs who started games last season. It’s close enough to two-per-team to assume that the QB2 on every roster had best be competent. But, many are not. The ideal is to have a QB2 with starting experience who is able to watch practice all week then come off of the bench with no warning and win a game. Last season Marcus Mariota did that very thing twice. Ideal, indeed.
Supply and Demand
In all the talk about the uber importance of the starting Quarterback lost is the reality that they tend to get hurt. This week there are at least 4 QB1s sitting with injuries, including Washington’s Daniels. Additionally Brock Purdy in San Francisco is Questionable. Here the season is only 2-weeks old yet 15% of the League is tossing their QB2 out onto the field. Despite the ideal criteria listed above a fair number of teams do not have such an athlete on-hand. Just a quick trip through the rest of the NFC East is a fairly representative sampling of the state of QB2s in the League:
-The New York Football Giants have three QBs on the roster: Behind Russell Wilson is 31-year old Jameis Winston. He fits the prototypical QB2 profile except for his tendency to throw interceptions in abundance. For the first two games he was inactive. This means this year’s Draft pick Jaxson Dart would take the field in the event of a Wilson injury to take his first ever NFL snap in a real game. This only works for the Giants because they are not contenders.
-The Philadelphia Eagles are one of the top two rosters in the League. They won a Super Bowl with a second-tier QB. That makes their situation a bit different from nearly every other team. Backing up Jalen Hurts is Tanner McKee. He started all of one game last year and won it. With him dinged earlier this year the team went and traded for old friend Sam Howell. He has started 18-games, all here in Washington. He’s tough as nails. But, there’s a reason he’s on his fourth team in four years; 22 career TDs with 23 career interceptions will do that to a player.
-As with everything else in Dallas their QB situation is interesting, to say the least. Dak Prescott is the highest paid player in the League. Period. When he steps on the field today he will make ~$2,600,000…for one game. Dak’s biggest problem has been staying on the field. Over the past 5-seasons he has missed 24-games (29%). Dallas is a de facto contender. Jerry Jones and the League would not have it any other way. This team, more than most needs the prototypical QB2. They had him in the person of Cooper Rush. In 5-seasons at Dallas he started 14-games going 9-5 while throwing twice as many TDs as interceptions. Jerry Jones, being who he is let Rush go to the Free Agent market. The football-smart crew in Baltimore snatched him up to back up Lamar Jackson. Dallas has Joe Milton, a 2024 6th-round pick by a different team. Joe has played in one game that he did not start. If your starter misses nearly 30% of the games don’t you want a proven commodity to take over and keep the wagon train moving? And, you already had the answer, but didn’t attempt to keep him! From the outside this is simply baffling.
A complete tour around the League would find some really interesting QB2 situations. But, it would take much too long. Suffice it to say that a peek at Miami would be fascinating. Washington has a good thing here with Mariota. Arguably it’s the best QB2 situation in the Division. Today it gets put to the test.
Narratives in the Queue
This game has the potential to unleash a listing of narratives…should Washington lose. The football media universe is saturated with pundits and athletes married to narratives. It’s like a crowded school room full of kids all trying to get the teacher’s attention. Whoever is loudest and jumps the highest often wins. Two data points don’t make a trend. That’s true every where but the NFL. Two games is more than enough to unleash the deafening NFL media. So, let’s quickly go through a short, non-exhaustive list of the narratives that are locked-and-loaded:
-“Former NFL star says that the Packers showed the rest of the League the blueprint to beat the Commanders.” We still use the term “blueprint” generically to refer to building plans. The old cyanotype process on light-sensitive paper resulted in a blue background with white lines. Around since 1842 it’s long gone by the stern. Still, we all know what he meant. There are multiple problems with this old bromide. First, just because one has a plan doesn’t mean one can execute it. Green Bay’s Tight End room was fantastic in that game. Few teams have that capability. Second, this assumes the Washington team can’t or won’t adjust. We’ll have to wait on that.
-“The League has Kliff Kingsbury figured out.” This bounced around for a while last year. When Kliff was in Arizona the team had a nasty habit of starting fast and hobbling home. Last year the WFT ended up 5th in Offense for points scored. This narrative is always within an angstrom of the surface with Kliff because of the Arizona days. A loss today and it will come right to the surface.
-“Daniels is having a Sophomore Slump.” His first game was sloppy. The second game was not good. The media throng simply cannot wait to pull out this toy and play with it. With Daniels out today it will have to wait at least a week.
-“Washington was simply overrated.” In some circles that may well be true. Not here. What we saw last year was magical. It was helped immensely by a schedule with only five games against playoff teams. The WFT went 1-4 against them. Then, incredibly the team won two playoff games. This year the team has 10-games against playoff teams. That leaves only 7-games against non-playoff teams with one of them being today. Two of those games are against the Cowboys and one is against a good-looking Atlanta squad. The formula to get into the playoffs is win 5 of the 7 games against non-playoff teams while going 5-5 against the “good” teams. After two weeks the team is 1-0 versus non-playoff teams and 0-1 versus playoff teams. A win here is needed.
There are any number of other narratives awaiting with a loss. With a win it’s time for the media horde to shrug shoulders and bide time.
Pollyanna Pete
The opponent today comes helmed by one Pete Carroll. He being the 74-year old with the 17-year old energy. This is his fourth coaching gig in the NFL with a career record 50-wins north of .500. Pete can coach. His practices are high tempo, high intensity, and of course high energy. The team he is bringing is not particularly good on paper. But, there are elements there that are good. Pete will bring out the best of what’s there. For as much as the schedule makers made life miserable for Washington having to play Green Bay on Thursday they did the WFT a solid with this game. The Raiders have to travel from the Pacific Time Zone. And, later in the year look for this Las Vegas squad to gel into a real pest. They will ruin some team’s playoff plans.
Their QB is yet another New York franchise draftee that blossomed after escaping Gotham. Geno Smith looked really good against the New England Patriots on opening day. Against the Chargers, not so much. He threw 3-picks in that game. Washington has yet to record a Defensive Turnover. Today would be a good time to get one or more on the stat sheet.
When Pete Carroll looks across the field he’ll see Dan Quinn, his former protégé. If Dan had hair and lost some weight he could be Pete’s Mini Me. The energy output is on the same level. Where they differ is that Pete spells optimism in all caps, bold, and italics. Dr. David Chao, a media go-to for injury updates calls Carroll, “Pollyanna Pete” due to his always upbeat appraisals of injuries. Quinn is closer to the vest and grounded in reality. One narrative that never got a shot of developing was that the Daniels’ injury was “RG3 Version 2.0.” There the Staff at the time allowed Griffin to damage his career for short term gain by letting him play with an injured knee. Quinn wanted no parts of that scene.
Hello, Rookie
There’s a transition with infants from milk or formula to solid food. It starts with that nasty jarred fruit stuff that ends up largely on the cheeks, chin, and bib. But, the idea is to give something slightly more viscous than fluid. Young Josh Conerly Jr is going through that transition in a football sense as he tries to settle into his first NFL season, his first at Right Tackle. Only his initial foray into solid food was an inch-thick Sirloin steak in the form of Brian Burns. He’s one of the top five players at that position. Next came Micah Parsons. He’s one of the top two players at the position. Now comes “Mad” Maxx Crosby. He’s right up there also. Conerly has been drinking knowledge from a fire hose. The key is whether these turn into learning experiences or confidence killers. The team is showing trust in his development while absorbing the consequences of his forced learning. The thinking is that he’ll handle his steaks just fine after a while.
Game Information
Raiders vs Washington
1:00 pm @ Northwest Stadium
TV: Fox
Announcers: Chris Myers, Mark Schlereth, Jen Hale
Radio: Commanders Radio Network (BIG 100 (WBIG-FM) in the DMV)
• Raiders Radio Network (KOMP 92.3FM and KRLV “Raider Nation Radio 920AM” in Vegas)
• SiriusXM NFL Radio (nationwide)
