Tom Brady and Peyton Manning must be listening to Jim McMahon. The former Bears quarterback recently said he hadn’t watched an NFL game in seven years, partly because the quarterbacks are “a bunch of robots” who neither have nor want the freedom to call audibles at the line of scrimmage.
So both the Patriots’ Brady and the Colts’ Manning opened the season Thursday night with no-huddle offenses in an exciting 27-24 New England victory.
Two-time Super Bowl MVP Brady said: “My first year, they didn’t let me do hardly any of it–you call the play and you run it. And then my second year it was, `OK, we’ll do some check-with-me and stuff; we’ll go to the line with two plays.’
“And then my [fourth] year, last year, it was, `OK, you got a couple plays, and if you want to audible, you can do that.’ Now it’s like, `Let’s see what the best play is we can do, and let’s figure out how to get to it.'”
Don’t expect to see a similar show Sunday between second-year Bears quarterback Rex Grossman and third-year Lions QB Joey Harrington, who still are relative novices.
Packers quarterback Brett Favre said when he played with McMahon in 1995-96 at the end of McMahon’s career, “what defined him was his toughness, extremely smart, almost too smart for his own good.”
“Back then, we called a lot more audibles,” Favre said. “I’m not making excuses, the defenses we face today are not near as vanilla as they were. Disguises have become more prominent. Zone blitzes and variations of those have become more prominent.
“When you start [audibling], defenses check. Now your bad play might have been a good play.
“The best play of my career was an audible in the Super Bowl when I checked and hit Andre Rison for a touchdown. But aside from that, I’m willing to bet more than 50 percent of the time, my audibles have turned out maybe not a negative play but a wasted play.”
Favre said he doesn’t feel like a robot.
“I think there’s some truth to what Jim says. But from my standpoint, there’s a lot put on me in running this offense,” Favre said. “I have to make run checks. I think for a young guy you don’t want to put too much on him.”
QB carousel
Grossman becomes the fifth quarterback to start a Bears season in the last five years, following Kordell Stewart, Jim Miller, Shane Matthews and Cade McNown. Matthews also started in 1999. They haven’t started the same quarterback two years in a row since Erik Kramer started from 1994-98.
The Cincinnati Bengals have a similar history. Carson Palmer follows Jon Kitna, Gus Frerotte, Kitna, Akili Smith, Jeff Blake and Neil O’Donnell since 1998.
Top guns
Six quarterbacks who were the first overall pick in the draft are starting openers, the most in history. They are Vinny Testaverde (1987), Drew Bledsoe (1993), Peyton Manning (1998), Michael Vick (2001), David Carr (2002) and Carson Palmer (2003).
Good for Indy
Because Peyton Manning became the NFL’s highest-paid player with a $98 million deal and the contracts of Colts running back Edgerrin James and receiver Marvin Harrison are due, it is widely assumed this is the last season together for “The Triplets.”
Not necessarily so, Colts owner Jim Irsay said last week.
“I definitely think we can bring them both back next year,” Irsay said. “Sometimes what is not viewed as the wisest short-term investment because it’s an enormous amount of cash, you view as an owner as a long-term investment that’s wise. We will continue to move forward with that type of idea in mind.”
Another record
There are a record five African-American head coaches in the NFL on opening day–the Bears’ Lovie Smith, the Bengals’ Marvin Lewis, the Jets’ Herman Edwards, the Colts’ Tony Dungy and the Cardinals’ Dennis Green.
Randle El QB
The Steelers’ Antwaan Randle El always believed he could play quarterback in the NFL, and he may get his chance. Because the Steelers kept only Tommy Maddox and rookie Ben Roethlisberger, Randle El is the third option.
Randle El played quarterback at Indiana and Thornton High School and converted to receiver with Pittsburgh. He has completed 10 of 12 passes in two years with the Steelers.
“You have to love it,” Randle El said. “You’re in control. Something about that, you get a charge being in control, running and leading a team.”
The last time a non-quarterback was forced to play the position for the Steelers came in 1977 in Houston when both Terry Bradshaw and Mike Kruczek were hurt and Dungy, a Steelers safety who played quarterback at the University of Minnesota, played the position. In the same game, he intercepted a pass on defense and threw an interception on offense. The then-Houston Oilers won 27-10.
Nice matchup
Sunday’s matchup between the Saints and Seahawks pits the two teams with the worst opening-day records in the NFL. The Saints are 11-26 all time; the Seahawks are 8-20.
Fleeting fame
Kurt Warner will start for the Giants on Sunday against the Eagles. The last time he won a game he started was the NFC championship game after the 2001 season, also against the Eagles. He started only six games with the Rams in 2002 and one in 2003.
When Warner last won, he was the NFL’s MVP for the second time, still basking in his 1999 rise from obscurity. Now amid injuries and his release from the Rams, he is trying to halt an equally baffling slide back into obscurity.
“It’s something that’s in the back of your mind,” Warner said. “It doesn’t motivate me, it doesn’t drive me, and it’s not why I’m playing the game or what the goal is. But to say it’s not there, that there aren’t people doubting me, I know there are. I know people think, `Can he still play? Can he still do what he has done in this league?’
“I know that’s out there and I know that is going to be something that has to be proved throughout the season.”
Preseason perspective
Vick, Atlanta’s quarterback, took only 29 snaps during exhibition games this year. The Falcons gained only 108 yards and scored three points with him playing. Meanwhile, rookie quarterback Matt Schaub threw six touchdown passes, had a sterling 99.7 passer rating, completed 62.8 percent of his passes and generally looked more suited to run coach Jim Mora’s version of the West Coast offense than Vick.
So what are the chances Mora paid any attention to what he saw in those games and would entertain pulling Vick for Schaub if Vick falters?
“There is zero percent chance of that happening. Zero,” Mora said. “Let me ask you this: Would you pull Michael Jordan? Well, I won’t pull Mike Vick. I absolutely will not pull Mike Vick. He could be 0 of 100, and he’s going to throw pass No. 101.”
