At NFL Buddha, we strive to present to you, the reader, an unbiased view of what is truly happening in the NFL from our perspective projecting future results based on past performances. The situation in Denver is eerily similar to what happen in Houston the last time Kubiak and Phillips were employed by an owner to run his football team. At that time, the pair wanted to replace young gun Case Keenum with the previous starter, Matt Schaub, a move that was very likely at odds with what the owner wanted. So after three pretty nice outings by Keenum, one against Indianapolis where the Texans would have won had it not been for improper calls by the officials, the play calling subtly changed.
Suddenly rumors circulated that Keenum could not pick up a blitz and other such nonsense. They did call an honest game Week 12, a highly entertaining narrow loss to the Patriots 34-31, however dismal outing against Jacksonville got Kubiak fired. Phillips took over and inserted Schaub in at quarterback for the final two games, all the while knowing that he too would get his walking papers the second the season ended. Schaub threw 4 interceptions over those last two outings while Keenum was written off as a failure. Anyone who saw the New England game cannot deny that the kid looked good out there.
In a peculiar twist of fate, Keenum was literally in a tree hunting, having just been released from the Rams practice squad, when he got the call to come in and help the Texans finish out the year last season. Keenum won both games, one of which was over a Baltimore Ravens team in a fight for a Wild Card that would go on and give the ultimate Super Bowl winners, New England, all they wanted in the Divisional Round.; Those two wins bought Keenum a spot on the Rams roster for this season for a cool $585,000 while the Texans were forced to go out and re-sign T.J. Yates to replace Ryan Mallet at back-up after they cut him.
It has been pretty obvious since John Elway brought the Kubiak/Phillips unholy alliance to Colorado that Manning’s days were numbered. It is hard to imagine them getting to put their boy in any earlier without it causing some sort of uproar. None of this will be any surprise to Elway and since majority owner Pat Bowlen has become so ill, Elway calls the shots. So, now that Kubiak and Elway have their boy in there, how will he fare? Not very well it would seem, judging from his debut on Sunday and the general trend in the NFL, Let us take a look at how “Mobile Quarterbacks” have been faring shall we?
In 2013, the NFL’s roster of “Mobile Quarterbacks” was made up of EJ Manuel, Geno Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Terrelle Pryor, Rob Griffin, Cam Newton, Russ Wilson and Colin Kaepernick. Out of that entire lot, only Ryan Tannehill, who has rushed for 16 yards more than Tom Brady this season (mostly due to the -1 yards Brady is charged with each time he kneels in the victory formation) and yes, you read that right, Wilson and Newton remain on the field, and Newton is the only one out of the three that sports a winning record. Speaking of records, Kubiak/Phillips came into Denver 3-21 collectively in their most recent gigs.
In hypothesizing as to what is truly going on in Denver, we recall Elway’s draft year when he refused to report to the Colts. A legend is his own mind, it was truly enjoyable when, year after year, we were treated to watching him get knocked out of the playoffs. In hiring Kubiak/Phillips, Elway has no doubt installed a coaching tandem that will do exactly what he tells them to do. Perhaps all they wish to do with Osweiler is use him to determine what their needs are at the other positions before bringing in the guy Elway wants. Doubtless Kaepernick, Griffin, Pryor, Manuel and even Smith will be available on top of the plethora coming out of college, bu8t whoever it that they want, they are doomed to failure.
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