Gretz: Why Thigpen Is Starting
 

Why Thigpen Is Starting
September 17, 2008 - Bob Gretz |

The whole quarterback situation around the Chiefs has been pretty wacky and hard to understand.

And that’s if you are Herm Edwards.

His decision to start his third different quarterback in the season’s first three games speaks to more wackiness in the eyes of some fans and I’m sure the pundits.

Tyler Thigpen will replace Damon Huard who replaced Brodie Croyle as the starter against Atlanta. Huard’s start came because of Croyle’s injury. Thigpen’s start came because … it’s the right thing for Edwards and his coaching staff to do at this time.

Let’s break this down three ways and with three different views of the decision: this Sunday, short-term (the rest of the ‘08 season) and long-term (the future).

THIS SUNDAY

Doesn’t Huard give the Chiefs a better chance of winning in Atlanta than Thigpen? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Certainly his experience is a factor that can’t be ignored and he’s got that all over Thigpen.

But take a look at the Falcons and their defense. Atlanta has the NFL’s leading sacker after two games: defensive end John Abraham, who has four and now has 71.5 career sacks. That ranks him among the top seven sacks over the last eight seasons and two games. Plus, he’s playing at home and indoors on artificial turf. It’s a pass rusher’s dream situation.

Let’s be honest, if they move Abraham over to the left side and have him rush against RT Damion McIntosh, then whoever is playing quarterback for the Chiefs is in trouble. Better to have somebody with some mobility, who can get away from that kind of pressure. Huard can’t do that. Thigpen can.

Plus, that mobility allows the Chiefs to do more with their offensive game plan, especially with the bootlegs and nakeds that they’ve worked on all through the off-season and in training camp. Those are not things that Huard can do very well. Thigpen has a better chance to make them work.

THIS SEASON

In what Edwards hopes is the best case scenario, Croyle will return in two weeks, maybe three, and then start the remaining games in the ‘08 season.

The odds of that happening aren’t very good based on history, but a coach can dream, can’t he?

So this might be the only time Thigpen gets the chance to start and play. Edwards is determined to allow every player to get on the field and show what he has, so the coaching and personnel staffs can fairly evaluate what talent is in house.

If all goes well, this will be Thigpen’s only shot. Everyone knows what Huard can do. Some outside the team’s offices may have already made their decisions on Thigpen, but the decision makers want to see more. This is his chance.

THE FUTURE

The Chiefs will face a big decision, maybe the most important of this rebuilding project, when the ‘08 season is completed. That revolves around quarterback.

The team must make decisions at the end of this season on whether their quarterback is in house, or they need to go find him. When Croyle comes back, he’ll have 11 or 12 games to prove himself. To be fair, he probably needs more, but right now, that’s what he’s going to get. If he’s injured again, then his chances of sticking are pretty much gone.

If Thigpen can be any kind of factor or competition, he must play and show those skills.

His time is now.

Based on the track record of starting quarterbacks for Herm Edwards, Ingle Martin better make sure he’s ready to go.

Ok this made me laugh way to hard.

as we enter yet another extended PS game, sure why not.

McIntosh may get them all killed. Then we will have Marques "direct snap" Hagans, baby.

Hopefully it'll take a while for this OL to get all the QBs hurt. I was kinda wondering who this Ingle Martin fellow is. Me, I was on the Terrell bandwagon last summer.

Id rather have Casey Printers instead of Thigpen starting... Printers was doing decent last preseason.

I agree with this. Thigpen did a decent job with the 2 minute offense last week and scored. If he could get some experience perhaps he can learn to correct his mistakes. He made some pretty awful throws last week.

The Raiders went into their prevent look....this may be really bad seeing as the Falcons are going to prepare for him.

Michael Turner against the Chiefs = no brainer fantasy start!

Noted. But that also means they weren't stacking the box and blitzing like crazy. I think with time to throw he can lear to make good decisions and pass well. I guess we'll have to see.

Call me crazy, but shouldn't the talent evaluation have been done before the season started?

Crazy.

Starting Thiggy is the right thing to do. There's nothing to learn from Huard.

I don't know how you keep going with Thigpen when Woodson is on the Giants practice squad.

Might as well tank as many games as possible. We might win with Huard in there.

We've given up 8 sacks no matter who we've lined up behind center. 9 if you want to include Hagans getting TFL'ed. Thats a pace of 64 sacks this year.