With the signing of Jeff Garcia, an interesting discussion started in our comment section about the value of analyzing Kevin Kolb's professional experience, which to date has merely been a series of mop-up appearances almost entirely in games that were already decided. Even against the Ravens, who were out for blood that day, how much stock can we place in his performance when he spent the majority of the previous weeks watching practice? How much can we really evaluate that?
It's such an inexact science, it's really hard to say, so we looked at how some of our "favorite" quarterbacks around the league fared coming off the bench in a pinch, and some numbers from their experiences tying up the starter's loose ends in the final minutes of games.
Tony Romo
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Week 7 (2006): 14/25, 227 yds, 2 TD, 3 INT, 2 sacks
Romo had been biding his time on the Cowboys bench for years, and this was the game that finally elevated him to starter. He went 2/2 with a touchdown the previous week against the Texans, but the Giants defense gave him all he could handle that night. He was great the rest of the season, until December that is, when he made the first of his now typical late season meltdowns.
Tom Brady
Week 2 (2001): 5/10, 46 yds
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Like Romo, Brady followed Drew Bledsoe as well, except when he went down, most assumed the Patriots season was over. (Most people might have thought that anyway.) The second year player was unspectacular in this 10-3 loss, and to be polite, he wasn't very good the next two weeks either (25/47, 254 yds, 5 sacks), but he played mistake-free football and grew into the job. He went 1/3 in an appearance in 2000.
Matt Cassel
Week 1 (2008): 13/18, 152 yds, 1 TD, 2 sacks
This is actually far better than it will be remembered for. Cassel had been ripped for his play in preseason, and despite managing the game well, the Pats only beat the lowly Chiefs 17-10 that Sunday. It took until his fourth game to break the 200 yard barrier, so while New England got off to a 2-1 start, it wasn't due to quarterback production.
Cassel was 22/39 in previous mop-up stints, with 253 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 4 sacks and 4 fumbles. In the final game of his rookie season in '05 though, he went 11/20 against Miami, notching both of his scores.
Jake Delhomme
Week 1 (2003): 12/20, 122 yds, 3 TD, 2 INT, 2 sacks, 2 fum
Nobody wants to draw comparisons to Delhomme anymore, but he was at one time (and may still be) a serviceable QB who played well enough to go to a Super Bowl. The Panthers had seen enough of Rodney Peete, and in came a little known free agent signed from the Saints. Delhomme played just well enough to lose, but they defeated the Jaguars anyway, and he sort of became the starter by default. He followed up by going 9/23 for 96 yards, 2 INT, with a sack and a fumble against the Bucs.
Matt Schaub
2004-2006: 84/161 (52.2%), 1033 yds, 6 TD, 6 INT, 12 sacks, 3 fum
Schaub of course made a name for himself relieving Mike Vick, racking up 14 appearances and two starts over a three year period. There were some abysmal showings, like 5/14 for 39 yards cleaning up against the Vikings in '05, followed by impressive outings the very next week, going 18/34 for 298, 3 TD, and 3 sacks in a start against the Pats.
The big question about Schaub was basically whether he was consistent enough to start in the NFL. Most of his more accurate games came in Week 17, mostly in meaningless action, yet he still managed to rack up 2 INTs and 5 sacks even in those. Really weird, but a good example of how difficult it is for a backup quarterback to mostly step in when the results don't really matter.
Aaron Rodgers
Week 13 (2007): 18/26, 201 yds, 1 TD, 3 sacks
This is an example of a positive relief appearance, though it didn't appear it would go down that way. Rodgers started the game slowly in the second quarter, going 2/5 for 2 yards and scrambling once, with the Packers already down 17 at this point. Then things clicked, the timing came, and he brought them back into position to win the game. He had been 17/33 for 118 yards, 1 INT, 6 sacks and 3 fumbles in previous trips to the field.
Eli Manning
Week 1 (2004): 3/9, 66 yds, 1 INT, 1 sack, 1 fum
Okay, so he was a rookie and it was Week 1. It just gave us a reason to use this photo photo.
