Agreed, he was not brought in to play. I think the whole idea of making him the 2nd string is more of an indictment on how bad Clemens has been.
I never thought I'd say this...but for THIS game...i'd rather see Clemens in there than Brunell. For the mere fact that Clemens is 100x more mobile than Brunell....and mobility out of the pocket will be needed with Peppers and Idonje coming off the edges. Brunell is a sitting duck....he'd lose to Testaverde in a foot race, imo.
I don't understand the aim of the question. Why... do I not think Smith can throw the ball as well as Sanchez or Brunell? This isn't his first year. I've seen him play quarterback. Mangini and Schotty gave him a fair shot to make the team as a QB a few years ago and he couldn't do it. Smith's limited success throwing the ball is predicated on the defense's assumption that Smith is not going to throw the ball. That doesn't work for a full-time quarterback. He doesn't have the NFL-caliber accuracy or field awareness to make it work. I think there's discussion to be had in this thread, but that discussion should be "Should we run the ball 80% of the time against the Bears?"
It appears I misunderstood you. My opinion is that Brad Smith should not be taking a full amount of reps at QB.
Why is everyone under the assumption this is just for one game? The Brad Smith at QB talk has been beaten to death with a corpse while riding a dead horse. If Sanchez can't play in this game it's likely the tear is worse than anyone thought. Sitting him two weeks won't do crap, a tear doesn't just heal up that quick. Brunell should definitely be back there, he may not be mobile but he'll get the ball out quick and much more accurate then Kellen.
Again, it's a mighty fair assumption based on the facts I have laid out that they don't. Allowing them only around 15 pass attempts consisting of no passes longer than 10 yards while running the ball 3 times as much tells me the coaches don't think they can win the game for them...
At least Schotty would be forced to take out half of the bullshit plays from his playbook and just pound the ball.
Yes, the Bears wouldn't be prepared for Brad Smith. In fact, Brad Smith himself wouldn't be prepared for the Bears. Can you imagine how ugly it would get? Did u seriously give this a thought?
I know Brunell has an established career but he hasn't taken a single snap this year plus he's 41, who's to say he would be any more prepared?
Because he's been the 2nd string QB all season? Because he's been in every QB meeting? Because unlike Brad Smith, that's what his job has been this year. To be prepared to play QB if called upon.
Backup QB or not he looked slow and old when he played during the preseason. I know there's a lot more to playing QB then being an athlete with an arm but I just think it's at the very least something to think about
The only QB practice Brad Smith gets is in the WildBrad (or Wildcat) format. And about 98% of the time, all he does is takes the snap and runs with it. Brad will probably become an int machine back there if inserted as a QB. Maybe as an emergency QB at #4. Brunell may not be the best choice, and I think Kellen deserves to play. How bad can he be? We've seen the "trip over yard markers" play before. We still won. I'd like to see us pound our way to victory even if Sanchez does play.
You asked who's to say Brunell would be more prepared than Smith to play QB. There's no question he's more prepared to play QB. Whether his physical skills are good enough are another question. I don't really think he'll be very good at QB, but there's no question he's more prepared than Brad Smith.
