Brunell Under Fire in DC
November 03, 2004
You’d have to excuse Mark Brunell if he feels like a noose is tightening around his neck.
Such is the time in Washington, D.C., right now. The former Pro Bowl quarterback has seemingly regressed to the point that some members of the local media are resorting to calling for the appearance of not only backup Patrick Ramsey, but third-string quarterback Tim Hasselback as well.
In short, the biggest question hovering over the nation’s capital isn’t anything to do with the Presidential election. It’s what happened to Mark Brunell? After all, this is the same quarterback Redskins’ owner Daniel Synder gave a $8.6 million signing bonus to after trading a 3rd round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars in April.
For that investment, Skins fans have watched Brunell post a quarterback rating of 69.1, the second lowest in the NFL among starting quarterbacks. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the 11-year NFL veteran has had to weather several enthusiastic chants of ‘Ram-sey! Ram-sey!’ in Sunday’s home loss to Green Bay.
To date, head coach Joe Gibbs has maintained his support for his quarterback, further enflaming the situation to some. In defending Brunell, Gibbs, along with other supporters, have insisted that other problems are causing the offense’s lack of production (14 ppg, 31st in the NFL) – offensive line problems and inconsistent receivers chief among them.
But in the loss Sunday, those problems were not evident; the offensive line held up for the most part and Rob Gardner led a receiving corps to easily their best game of the season, helping Brunell to two touchdown passes (only his second two score game of the year). What WAS evident were two more killer interceptions and hideous passes on third down after third down that never came close to connecting to wide-open receivers.
Every week it’s becoming more apparent that Brunell is the biggest question on the Redskins. He has the lowest completion percentage than any full-time quarterback in the NFL, and more to the heart of fantasy owners (if there are any left), he’s thrown for a pitiful seven touchdowns on the year.
Despite those numbers, however, the question for fantasy owners isn’t “What happened to Mark Brunell?” It needs to be “What were they thinking?”
Fact is, when the Redskins signed the quarterback, and when fantasy owners drafted him over the summer, they were settling for a player that has been little more than average for his position. Can anyone tell me how many seasons Mark Brunell has survived to play in all 16 games? Twice (1996, 2000) in his 11 years in the NFL. Only twice has he managed to toss 20 touchdowns in a season (1998, 2000).
Someone tell me where the fantasy excellence is here. I see little more than an average fantasy starter. Anyone who figured on a 25-plus touchdown season just wasn’t paying attention.
Not that any of this matters in the real-life NFL, where more goes into consideration for NFL starting QBs than statistics. As a coach with a known like for veteran quarterbacks (remember Joe Theismann and Mark Rypien), no one can really blame Gibbs for immediately naming Brunell his starter after acquiring him in April. After all, Brunell is a former Pro Bowler with a reputation of willing his teams to victories.
That said, eventually the Skins will pass a point where it becomes obvious that the playoffs are not an option. When that comes, don’t be surprised to see Patrick Ramsey under center in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument.
For those in need of late-season quarterback help, you could do worse than the former Tulane star. I mean, even in Steve Spurrier ill-fated offensive system, he managed to throw for more six more touchdowns than interceptions (23-17).
Just something to keep in mind…
Posted by Chuck Ludwig: Nov 3 at 8:19 AM
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