Never Have I Heard Such Hype Based On Pre-Season

What was Michael Jordan remembered for? Larry Bird? Magic Johnson? Terry Bradshaw? Joe Montana? Troy Aikman? Curt Schilling? Derek Jeter? John Smoltz? Tony LaRussa? Phil Jackson? Bill Walsh? Winning. Their post-season achievements. Does anybody remember what Schilling, Jeter, and Smoltz did in their pre-season games? Even regular season? What are they remembered more for? Smoltz's Cy Young award or his exceptional post-season record and leading the Braves to a World Series ring? Same with Schilling. Is he remembered more for his solid regular season performances or for his MVP showing in the Diamondbacks' World Series win over the Yankees? Regular season excellence is noticed, but post-season excellence is forever remembered. Since when was pre-season excellence ever noticed or remembered?

Why do I bring all of this up? Atlanta Falcons back-up quarterback Matt Schaub. He received buzz a couple pre-seasons ago, because of his numbers. Some were even saying that he should start in front of Michael Vick. There's been talk this off-season of teams interested in trading for the back-up quarterback. I still hear some claim that he'd be a better starting quarterback for Atlanta than Vick. Where do they base these claims? Schaub's pre-season performance. While Vick has lead the Falcons to two playoff appearances in his three full years of starting, has been selected to three pro bowls in this three full years of starting, and has lead Atlanta to a 2-2 record in those two playoff appearance, taking them as far as the NFC Title Game two seasons ago, Schaub has yet to win an NFL football game.

While many give Vick flack for not being the most precise passer in the NFL. Schaub's completion percentage is worse than Vick's. Let's check out the numbers, from the regular season, shall we? Schaub has completed 66 of 134 passes for 825 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. That's a remarkable completion percentage of 49.3. He averages 6.16 yards per pass attempt, has been sacked 10 times, and has a quarterback rating of 68.8, which is good for a back-up, but would be below average for a starter.

Matt Schaub is a solid back-up quarterback. He may even be a decent temporary starter for some teams, depending on their situation at the position. But, he's no Brett Favre. He's no Peyton Manning. He's no Michael Vick. Schaub is tall, has average speed, and is decently suited for a west coast-type offense. He can't flick the ball as deep as Vick, but is fairly precise with the short and mid-range passes. He has a slow wind-up and delivery, which gets him into trouble at times.

So, why did he have such gaudy numbers in the pre-season? Look at the level of competition he's playing against. While he's running an offense that is similar to the one he ran in college, so he's quite familiar with the system, the defense is lining up youngsters they drafted to see who can make it on their team. It's not like he was playing top-of-the-line pro bowlers. Notice the difference in numbers between the pre-season and the regular season. There's a huge difference. In the regular season, he has to face veterans who've been around, studied film, and been in their respective systems for years. In pre-season, he faces newcomers who haven't the slightest idea what's going on and are just trying to knock balls down, make tackles, and receive some kind of praise from the coaches.

Schaub is a very formidable back-up quarterback, but let's not blow things out of proportion or make a case of anything that isn't to begin with. If Vick goes down, then Schaub is a good guy to sub in for him, but unless that happens, then there's no way that Schaub should replace him. I'll pull for the guy if another team gives him an opportunity to start, but I honestly wouldn't expect anything more than an average starter, a Chad Pennington-type, maybe.

Link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=6849