Backup QB’s May Save a Season
Foles was all smiles after winning Super Bowl LII and being named MVP
One of the more important positions in football that no one really puts a lot of emphasis on is backup quarterback particularly because they aren’t starting. The reason why it is so important though is because if a team’s starting QB is lost for the season or misses an extended period of time then it will be the backup’s show the rest of the year.
The most prime example of this happening was last season in December when Philadelphia Eagles starting QB Carson Wentz was lost for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL against the Los Angeles Rams. Veteran backup Nick Foles relieved him in the game and the Eagles ended up winning it.
It turned out that this injury didn’t ruin the Eagles season like many analysts and fans thought it would.
The whole team took on the underdog role by wearing dog masks after each victory for the rest of the season. The Eagles ended up getting the #1 seed in the NFC and there were still relegated as underdogs but that didn’t stop them from beating the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Round and the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship.
When it came to Super Bowl Sunday Foles shined the brightest as he outplayed Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots en route to a 41-33 victory which gave the Eagles their first Super Bowl victory in three tries.
Foles joined Roger Staubach (who replaced Craig Morton in 1971), Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady (who replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe early in the 2001 season) as the only backup QB’s to win a Super Bowl.
I wanted to take a look at the five best backup QB situations in case that team’s starter happens to miss time for whatever reason.
Here are the top 5:
5. Chad Henne – Kansas City Chiefs
Henne has been the starter in both Miami and Jacksonville and while he hasn’t had much success (18-35 career record) he’s shown to be a stable veteran presence. There is a lot of young talent in Kansas City so if the young Patrick Mahomes II were to go down Henne should be able to step right in and the production shouldn’t be that much a drop-off even if it’s Henne’s first year with the Chiefs.
4. Colt McCoy – Washington Redskins
McCoy has even less experience as a starter than Henne, but this will be his fourth season with the Redskins so he knows the system and should be serviceable if former Chiefs QB Alex Smith gets hurt. The Redskins also have young talent on the offensive side of the ball which would make the sting of losing Smith less painful.
3. Matt Schaub – Atlanta Falcons
Schaub started for the Texans for seven straight seasons and led them to a 2012 postseason victory. He actually got his start in the league back in 2004 with the Falcons as their primary backup QB. It has all come full circle for him. He wasn’t the flashiest of QB’s when he started, but he knew how to manage the game. If Matt Ryan goes down Schaub would have go-to receiver in Julio Jones like he did with Andre Johnson back in Houston.
2. Landry Jones – Pittsburgh Steelers
This may come as a bit of a surprise but this is already Jones’s 6th season with the Steelers and over the last three years he’s started five games either because of Ben Roethlisberger being hurt or playing the last week of the regular season so the starters can rest before the playoffs. Jones showed he can handle himself against tough opponents when in 2015 he played well in beating a good Arizona Cardinals team and in 2016 even though the Steelers lost he fared well against the Patriots. Don’t get me wrong, Jones is not the same QB as Roethlisberger, but he has been there long enough where he should know the playbook and having Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown to give the ball to really helps.
1. Nick Foles – Philadelphia Eagles
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Foles is #1 on the list. He was the MVP of Super Bowl LII and had success in the past when he started for the Eagles and took them to the playoffs back in 2013. It’s possible that Wentz still hasn’t recovered fully from that torn ACL so Foles could be in line to start the Week 1 opening game against the Falcons.











