What A Day Chip Is Having Ryan Day That Is
By Bret Stuter
Aug 23, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford (8) gets set to run a play against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
It’s the Day of the Quarterback
In the past, the team has relied upon talented quarterbacks to bring superior skills and a mature “just tell me what I need to know to run this offense” attitude. With the exception of a couple painful years, the process worked for what the Eagles ran.
But Matt Barkley has been with the team for two years, and really hasn’t given much hope that he’s close to running this team’s offense. Mark Sanchez was a starter on an NFL team that did make the playoffs, but his results were so-so on an offense that should be virtually idiot proof to run.
GJ Kinne has been at training camp each year, but has not stuck with the team, eventually ending up on the practice squad on each of the past two years.
Finally, the team has gone to great lengths (given up their starting quarterback and next year’s second round draft pick and exchanged a fourth round draft pick in 2015 for a fifth round pick this year) to acquire Sam Bradford. Bradford is rehabbing his second ACL injury quite slowly due to the second such injury in less than a year’s time.
It’s dummied down folks. It’s a one read/two read offense. It’s “if that guy goes right, I do this – but if he goes left, I do the other thing” offense. That’s why it racks up so many yards. That’s why it works. That’s why it gives players career statistics to play on. It’s a game that takes full advantage of “we know what we’re doing and you don’t” chess match. Yes, defenses will stop them occasionally. But the offense is set up to remask what they plan to do to throw defenses off once more. If you look at the college quarterback prospect’s, any spread offense quarterback is tough to project. Instead, most are given the following projection – they will struggle with making pro NFL coverage reads and taking snaps under center, unless they end up in Philadelphia.
There you have it. We have an offense that goes 100 MPH but still has it’s training wheels on it so nobody falls down and goes “BOOM”. Still, in 2014, the team did just that.
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