Collins & Saunders

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

But it's also unusual for a backup to come into a game and play the way he did the other night.

I honestly don't know what to think right now, obviously I'm hoping that last week was not a fluke.

I'm on the fence, but I'm leaning more towards him playing well.

Actually I don't think it's that unusual for a backup to come in and finish the rest of the game with a good performance. Maybe not the standard, but I seem to recall it happening enough that it doesn't seem weird any more.

I think I commented about this in the game thread on Thursday, but it seems almost standard that a backup will come in when the start goes out with an injury, the backup will play a great game, but when he comes back next week he gets torn apart. I think it has something to do with the defense preparing for the starter, and the backup is just someone they don't have a lot of film on, haven't practiced and haven't gameplanned for.

This is all purely conjecture as I have no stats with which to back it up. Just something I've seemed to notice.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mheisig

Actually I don't think it's that unusual for a backup to come in and finish the rest of the game with a good performance. Maybe not the standard, but I seem to recall it happening enough that it doesn't seem weird any more.

I think I commented about this in the game thread on Thursday, but it seems almost standard that a backup will come in when the start goes out with an injury, the backup will play a great game, but when he comes back next week he gets torn apart. I think it has something to do with the defense preparing for the starter, and the backup is just someone they don't have a lot of film on, haven't practiced and haven't gameplanned for.

This is all purely conjecture as I have no stats with which to back it up. Just something I've seemed to notice.

Backup QB Collins gave Redskins great relief performance - The Boston Globe

"Flat-out, what he did is not an easy thing to do, and I can't say enough about that," said St. Pierre, who comes to town today as the Steelers' No. 3 quarterback. "When you're a backup quarterback, you just don't get the reps during the week, so it's up to you to be mentally sharp in the meetings and take it all in visually throughout the week.

"To come in and play great, high-quality football - at a position that in and of itself is extremely hard to play - that is just so difficult to do."

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Backup QB Collins gave Redskins great relief performance - The Boston Globe

"Flat-out, what he did is not an easy thing to do, and I can't say enough about that," said St. Pierre, who comes to town today as the Steelers' No. 3 quarterback. "When you're a backup quarterback, you just don't get the reps during the week, so it's up to you to be mentally sharp in the meetings and take it all in visually throughout the week.

"To come in and play great, high-quality football - at a position that in and of itself is extremely hard to play - that is just so difficult to do."

Good article. Maybe my brain is still reeling from all the Mark Bulger/Tom Brady/Ben Roethlisberger/Trent Green stories, who knows.

[Schneed10]

I posted this in another thread but I'll say it here too. Collins has a noodle arm. An accurate arm, but his passes float. I saw several passes against the Bears that got to their target, but would have been swatted away by better defenses. The Bears can't cover worth a crap right now and they were allowing quite a bit more separation between them and the WRs and Cooley. I'm not counting on that against the Giants, Vikings, or Cowboys.

I'm hopeful that Saunders and Collins can adjust to that. But not holding my breath.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I posted this in another thread but I'll say it here too. Collins has a noodle arm. An accurate arm, but his passes float. I saw several passes against the Bears that got to their target, but would have been swatted away by better defenses. The Bears can't cover worth a crap right now and they were allowing quite a bit more separation between them and the WRs and Cooley. I'm not counting on that against the Giants, Vikings, or Cowboys.

I'm hopeful that Saunders and Collins can adjust to that. But not holding my breath.

I saw the same thing too. If he's the least bit late on his throws the recievers have to be really open or the ball is getting touched by a db. He does throw a nice touch pass & floats the ball nicely, but against an aggressive D he's gonna have to be quicker since he doesn't have arm strength to overcome delays.

to the coaches credit, they kept in ample protection to give him time & I expect to see that from here out.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by freddyg12

I saw the same thing too. If he's the least bit late on his throws the recievers have to be really open or the ball is getting touched by a db. He does throw a nice touch pass & floats the ball nicely, but against an aggressive D he's gonna have to be quicker since he doesn't have arm strength to overcome delays.

to the coaches credit, they kept in ample protection to give him time & I expect to see that from here out.

Of course that becomes a major problem if Cooley can't get out in pass routes and their DBs can cover our WRs. Antoine Winfield and Terence Newman are certainly the two that should concern us.

[BleedBurgundy]

I said "not confident at all." The man is a career backup. I just don't see him, stepping into the light and taking us to the playoffs. I'd love to see it, but I won't believe it until I do...

[SFREDSKIN]

The only way Collins can be successful is, if the O-line gives him time to get rid of the ball. If the opposing D pressures him it could be bad, sacks and INT's are the possibility. From what I've seen is he's slow, I guess will see. Another concern is our DB's are beat up and opposing offenses will be bombing away at us. The good things are that we got a 10 day rest and it's a late game on Sunday.

[BrudLee]

I don't know if Collins could throw a football through a pane of glass. He does seem comfortable knowing where to throw it though.

If I'm NY, I'm watching old Chiefs tape. This could be less about matchups and more about scheme.

[redsk1]

I like the question but let's just try to win a game against the G-men then we can talk a little more. With that being said IF TC wins out i don't think you can put JC in for the playoffs. If we win out it will be b/c of TC's play, so play him.

I do think there is a reason he is a back up and we have NO running game so let's hope they win Sunday.

[airsoftking]

he's been good in preseason already and had the exact same look during the bears game. Everything looks easy with him. I just hope he'll be that efficient when we really need him and his experience.

[hail_2_da_skins]

I am very pleased that Todd Collins had a very good outing after Jason Campbell's injury. I'm on the fence. I'm not overly confident he can repeat, but I want him to succeed. His success should have nothing to do with Jason Campbell being the starter. Collins may be efficient but Campbell is physically more capable and will eventually become more efficient thus becoming much more valuable. If Collins plays lights out these last three games, he may have to be the playoff quarterback.

[JWsleep]

We'll see--the noodle arm has me worried, but he looks comfortable, no doubt. And he's got very nice touch on the ball.

As for JC coming back this year, I don't see the point. Why risk your future, if your backup has taken you to the playoffs? Unless he heals amazingly fast, he's not going to be 100% in the best case scenario.

On opening the playbook for JC, I'd like to have seen them do more, but it's understandable, to be sure. No doubt, Gibbs has serious input there, and they watch tape and try to make it easiest for JC to succeed. And Gibbs so very much hates TOs. (Of course, JC has turned it over anyway, but you see the reasoning.)

Liked Vermeil's comments--hope he's right!

[BleedBurgundy]

I don't think Vermeil has ever said a bad word about anybody. So... being slightly effusive in his praise of Collins doesn't do all that much for me. Still, I hope you guys are right.

[Campbell17]

The Bears hadn't seen much of him, making his style a surprise, they were ready for JC. When a team has scouted him, there will be a big difference, so this will be unlikely to see the same results.