Healthy debate
Vikings, Bills should stick with starting quarterbacks
Posted: Friday October 30, 1998 08:45 AM
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Randall Cunningham and Doug
Flutie, two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now, may soon
fall victim to a ridiculous "unwritten rule" that says starters don't lose
their jobs because of injuries.
As I see it, starters shouldn't lose their jobs because somebody else got
healthy, either. All things the same, your starter has to be the best
person on the field -- the one who can most help you win.
Until Cunningham and Flutie fall off the hot streaks they're on right now,
they should stay the starters. Sure, you sympathize with injured
quarterbacks like Minnesota's Brad Johnson and Buffalo's
Rob Johnson -- but to
return to the starting lineup, they need to be more than healthy. They need
to be awesome. Their replacements certainly have been.
Who cares if the Johnsons are younger and getting paid more? Don't you
think the thousands of fans Flutie's bringing to the stadium every week are
helping pay for Rob Johnson's $25 million deal? Are Vikings fans
complaining about what Cunningham's done to Brad Johnson's team while he's
been hurt?
Cunningham threw 14 touchdowns this season before his first interception
(in Week 8!) -- nobody since Don Meredith has opened a year with that many
scores without a pick. Brad Johnson? He was intercepted back in Week 1.
Flutie has been the best story of 1998, rallying the Bills and resurrecting
his NFL career when everyone had written him off years ago. He's completing
64 percent of his passes, and most importantly, he's finding ways to win.
All Johnson did was find ways to get knocked out of games.
Before you think there's a double standard, let me point out why John Elway and Troy Aikman are stepping
back in as starters as soon as they're healthy: they are bona fide Hall of
Famers. They've won Super Bowls. A blind man could see the difference
between them and their backups.
The sky's the limit: Cunningham has thrown 14 touchdown passes and just two interceptions this season AP | |
But Rob Johnson? He had one NFL start before this season. Brad Johnson has
had two strong seasons, but he's not Elway or Aikman. These two just
haven't done enough to get their jobs back. Both teams and their fans have
rallied around their current starters -- why break up the party when it's
not over yet?
Regardless of who's injured, if your starting quarterback is winning, you
should stick with him. Bill Parcells showed his loyalty to Jets quarterback
Glenn Foley and gave
him his starting job back, only to see him get beaten like a drum. All Vinny Testaverde's done is
go 4-0 as starter. Sounds healthy to me.
Truthfully, I never had to confront this as a head coach. I guess I never
had a quarterback good enough to justify such a debate. The closest I came
was when I took over the Colts midseason in 1986 -- they were 0-13 behind
rookie Jack Trudeau, who had thrown 18 interceptions and wasn't completing
even half his passes.
Gary Hogeboom was coming off a broken collarbone, but I made him the
starter and we won the last three games to finish 3-13. The next year,
Hogeboom helped lead us to an AFC East title.
OK, so I benched a quarterback in favor of an injured quarterback,
but Trudeau was unproven and had been struggling horribly -- it was an easy
decision.
Cunningham and Flutie are having career years and deserve a shot to ride
this wave in. The sad part of it is that both are such class, team-first
guys that they'd take a demotion without a word. That shouldn't be held
against them.
Buffalo and Minnesota have good things going, with their quarterbacks
leading the way -- pulling the starter only screws up the team's chemistry.
It's like when a baseball player has a killer hitting streak going -- he
doesn't want to change anything, not his swing, not his pregame routine,
not even his socks.
So don't change a thing. Don't look at who had the job first. Don't look at
paychecks. Don't look at their ages and talk about the future -- in the
NFL, the future is now. Look at the scoreboard and the standings. You
wouldn't want to change anything there, would you?
Start your NFL Sunday by watching Ron Meyer, James Lofton, Sports
Illustrated's Peter King and host Bob Lorenz on CNN NFL Preview. At 10 a.m.
ET, it's the day's first look at all the NFL action.
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