Stop overreacting with the QB benching! (Mark Brunell this week)

[Assani Fisher]

After week 1, everyone was clamoring for Drew Bledsoe to be benched. Then this past week everyone was saying how bad Mark Brunell is and how he should be benched. I told everyone what idiots they were in this thread and this thread. Basically I said that Mark Brunell is a veteran QB who is coming off one of his best seasons of his career. Two bad games in which the entire offense struggled is not a good reason to bench him.

Mark Brunell completed his first 22 passes today, breaking the NFL record.

For the love of God can we please stop overreacting to a few weeks about the various QBs around the league. Guys like Brunell, Bledose, Collins, etc.- theres a reason that these guys have been starters in this league for years and years. Its because they are solid players. One or two games does not change that.

I'm not sure if any of you guys read Chris Landy or not, but imo he is far and away the best NFL columnist right now. A quote from his latest column sums up my thoughts very well:

[ QUOTE ]
When evaluating a player, you must ask yourself why he is struggling or having success. Asking the "whys" accurately and astutely will ultimately bring you to the answer.

A number of other quarterbacks are playing poorly, but there are other issues that are contributing to that. Changing the quarterback is not always the answer, unless he's beaten down physically or mentally and not processing information accurately.

Making a change at a position without addressing the other problems is just cosmetic. If you had transmission problems on your automobile, would changing the tires help? Or would it simply make one situation better without addressing the more significant issue?


[/ QUOTE ]

[Nick B.]

Daunte Culpepper should definitely get benched.

[Schwartzy61]

[ QUOTE ]
After week 1, everyone was clamoring for Drew Bledsoe to be benched. Then this past week everyone was saying how bad Mark Brunell is and how he should be benched. I told everyone what idiots they were in this thread and this thread. Basically I said that Mark Brunell is a veteran QB who is coming off one of his best seasons of his career. Two bad games in which the entire offense struggled is not a good reason to bench him.

Mark Brunell completed his first 22 passes today, breaking the NFL record.

For the love of God can we please stop overreacting to a few weeks about the various QBs around the league. Guys like Brunell, Bledose, Collins, etc.- theres a reason that these guys have been starters in this league for years and years. Its because they are solid players. One or two games does not change that.

I'm not sure if any of you guys read Chris Landy or not, but imo he is far and away the best NFL columnist right now. A quote from his latest column sums up my thoughts very well:

[ QUOTE ]
When evaluating a player, you must ask yourself why he is struggling or having success. Asking the "whys" accurately and astutely will ultimately bring you to the answer.

A number of other quarterbacks are playing poorly, but there are other issues that are contributing to that. Changing the quarterback is not always the answer, unless he's beaten down physically or mentally and not processing information accurately.

Making a change at a position without addressing the other problems is just cosmetic. If you had transmission problems on your automobile, would changing the tires help? Or would it simply make one situation better without addressing the more significant issue?


[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

I responded in the other thread but...Did you even watch the Friggin game?

A. It was the Texans
B. He threw 3 passes that traveled more than 8 yards down field, two were called back on penalties (one of which was directly at a defender who didn't catch it) and the last was horribly overthrown and it took a miraculous catch by David Patten to bring it in. His other 24 passes on the day were screens/swing passes/shovel passes/quick outs/and flat routes that took no skills whatsoever. It was a brilliant gameplan to take advantage of a horrible defense. Brunell did nothing to redeem himself for previous performances and did nothing to say he won't get absolutely destroyed next week against the Jaguars...

[oneeye13]

brag post from brunell homer

[Needle77]

[ QUOTE ]

A. It was the Texans
B. He threw 3 passes that traveled more than 8 yards down field, two were called back on penalties (one of which was directly at a defender who didn't catch it) and the last was horribly overthrown and it took a miraculous catch by David Patten to bring it in. His other 24 passes on the day were screens/swing passes/shovel passes/quick outs/and flat routes that took no skills whatsoever. It was a brilliant gameplan to take advantage of a horrible defense. Brunell did nothing to redeem himself for previous performances and did nothing to say he won't get absolutely destroyed next week against the Jaguars...

[/ QUOTE ]

I do agree with your last sentence, and yeah you are right for the most part. But also realize that you still have to complete those passes, and many of which are timing routes. You miss by a little and a DB takes it back for a TD. Completeing that many passes in a row is an accomplishment no matter what patterns were run. To take anything away from him today, I'm sorry, is ignorant.

[PokerFink]

I agree that, in general, fans/columnists overreact WAY too much to one or two games and jump to conclusions. I also agree that, in general, benching the QB accomplishes very little. Fans/columnists call for the QB's head way too often. I don't read Chris Landy, but he is absolutely correct in that quote.

What's ironic about this is that you are commiting the EXACT SAME ERROR with your thinking, just in the opposite direction. Just as we should not jump to conclusions when a player has a bad game, we shoulden't jump to conclusions when a player has a good game, ESPECIALLY against a defense as poor as Houston. Their defense is flat out terrible. Brunell looked awful last week against Dallas, and he had a great game today. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

[Schwartzy61]

Giving him too much is far worse than trying to take something away from him.

Kudos to Brunell for leading the Redskins to a win against possibly the worst defensive team in the NFL. He did an excellent job completing the passes he was asked to complete.

But that still does nothing to prove he'll be able to lead the Redskins to a win when the running game isn't racking up 200+ yards...

[holeplug]

Have to remember to bump this thread next week

[MacGuyV]

In Bledsoe's case, it's not an overeaction to week 1. It's a reaction to 11 years of mediocre at best play and ill-timed picks/sacks.

[Schwartzy61]

Go ahead. I hope I'm wrong. In this case I WANT to be wrong. I'm a Redskins fan and it is painful and in this game literally hilarious watching Mark Brunell operate an NFL offense on a regular basis. I've seen nothing to inspire any confidence in this team doing anything meaningful in the playoffs this year...

I called it. As soon as Brunell had tied the record I said, "He's going to break the record with a pass to the left flat." Turns out it was a WR screen to Moss on the left side of the field.

The worst part is the fact that the Redskins CAN'T bench Brunell. Todd Collins can't handle the load and it seems that Jason Campbell just isn't ready yet. So basically, yet another piss poor offseason roster decision is going to haunt this team. Coming in to this season with a decrepid Mark Brunell, a career backup who hasn't thrown a regular season pass in quite some time, and a rookie who probably needs one more season before he can help this team win was just another offseason decision that was botched on Dan Snyder's watch. The only reason this one won't be criticized as much was the fact that HOF Coach Joe Gibbs was the one with the ultimate decision.