Injured Croyle Calls For Desperate Measures
September 10th, 2008 at 10:14 amBy Chris
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Forgotten in all the Tom Brady eulogizing was the injury to Chiefs quarterback Brody Croyle, who suffered a right shoulder separation after being planted by Adalius Thomas. Such is the luck of being injured in the same game as one of America’s “it” athletes. After his injury — his third in only seven games, not the ratio you want when trying to become a starting QB — back-up Damon Huard came on and was a Dwayne Bowe dropped pass away from giving the Chiefs a shot at overtime.
Apparently, Huard’s close-but-no-cigar performance wasn’t enough to secure him the starting job while Herm Edwards and company decide what to do about the oft-injured Croyle, who Joe Posnanski, among others, doubts has the physical make-up to survive the rigors of a full NFL season. Call me crazy, but I think it was the three-in-seven ratio that caused these doubts to surface.
Nevertheless, it’s obvious coming off the bench to lead your team to a score and put them in a position to draw even with the mighty Patriots in the closing moments isn’t worth what it used to be. Why else would Edwards even consider going to a two-quarterback system; a scheme that doesn’t seem to work in the NFL.
Is Kordell Stewart walking through that door? Did they get Mike Vick out of Leavenworth on a work release permit?
No, the player Edwards envisions splitting time with Huard is Tyler Thigpen, a quarterback who has played in exactly one NFL game, attempting six passes with two completions. So even though the Chiefs moved the ball and scored a touchdown when Huard took over for Croyle, the coaching staff thinks splitting time with a quarterback even more unproven than Matt Cassel is a recipe for success.
Meanwhile, Kansas City’s sports radio entity has been wondering why Huard hasn’t replaced Croyle before the shoulder injury. I can only imagine how they are handling the Thigpen equation. In Thigpen’s defense, the Chiefs like his athleticism and mobility even though the shelf life for running quarterbacks is awfully short in the NFL. Apparently, the above cracks about Kordell and Vick were oddly prophetic.
Does a revisitation of Pittsburgh’s Slash experiment give the Chiefs the best chance to win, or should they simply stick with the effective Huard? If you recall, this isn’t the first time Edwards has jerked Huard around for no apparent reason. Remember the 2006 Colts/Chiefs playoff game?
Maybe one day they’ll get an idea how to correctly handle Damon Huard. Until that time, get ready for the Huard/Thigpen slash attack.
Stumble it!
September 10th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I knew he would not last in the NFL. I am not pulling against him. i just knew it. This has nothing to do with me being a huge Auburn fan.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
No, not at all, Ethan.
The sad thing is he has an arm and makes pretty good decisions. Herm just needs to lock his ass in the weight room so he put some protective muscle on his body. Brody does have a hot wife though:
September 29th, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Ever since the Brody Croyle/Tyler Thigpen carousel began, I’ve been saying the Chiefs needed to start Damon Huard, the [...]