Jimmy Clausen might make (depressing) history Sunday vs. Seahawks
We’re admitted stat wonks here at the Shutdown Corner, so when we saw this statistic from Associated Press’ Tim Booth, we admittedly got a little excited. Baltimore Ravens fans might not share the same zeal, however.
If Ravens quarterback Matt Schaub can’t go this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks because of a chest injury, it almost certainly would mean that Jimmy Clausen would start in his place.
[Yahoo Daily Fantasy: $10 could win you $30K in our $300K contest for Week 14]
This would be Clausen’s second start this season against the Seahawks. For his second team.
The first one, uh, didn’t go so well. The Chicago Bears were without Jay Cutler in Week 3 and went up to Seattle with Clausen taking the snaps, and the Bears were blanked, 26-0. Clausen completed 9 of 17 passes for 63 yards, taking six hits and two sacks. The Bears ran only 46 (CHECK THIS) offensive plays in the game and crossed midfield twice.
The Bears’ drive chart that day:
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
PUNT
If Clausen’s start comes to fruition this weekend, his two-horse exacta would be quite rare — he’d be only the sixth quarterback in league history ever to achieve it (assuming “achieve” is the right word here):
It has been that kind of season for the Ravens, who have lost approximately 263 offensive starters this season. In no way shape or form should any fan base be hoping and praying Schaub to play as the preferred option, and we just think Clausen getting a second chance against the Seahawks — playing their best ball of the season now — is just cruel and unusual punishment for all involved.
Kyle Orton has been in this position twice before (in the same season, no less) because of course he was. He also started against his former team in the same season, naturally. Interestingly, he didn’t play remarkably better or worse in his second start in 2011 against either the Oakland Raiders or Green Bay Packers, which speaks to his amazing penchant to be just good enough to not completely suck.
If Orton was the perfect example of a quarterback who was just passable enough to be one of the NFL’s 32 best quarterbacks but seldom one of the league’s 25 best, Clausen is basically a notch down — good enough to make a roster and be some team’s break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option, but you pray it doesn’t come to that.
And in the same vain, there’s Kerry Collins. He was perpetually the quarterback that teams sought to upgrade from, and yet the man ranks 14th all-time in league history in passing yards, higher than Joe Montana — did you realize that? Collins also accomplished the amazing feat of playing the same opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, three times in a season for two different teams in 1998. Collins — obvi — threw six picks (one in the first, two in the second, three in the third) in the three games and lost all three.
Clausen hopes for a different fate. But are we expecting a vastly different result? No, we most certainly are not.
– – – – – – –
Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
