You Play to Not Lose the Game

That's a little play on Herm Edwards' famous quote: "You play to win the game." But it's a very applicable quote, when we talk about how the Chiefs have used Damon Huard. Perhaps we should spin that quote a little bit, because right now, the Chiefs are playing to NOT LOSE the game.

Those of you that gripe about the Chiefs' conservative gameplan on Sunday should take a long look at the quarterback.
Some of you were expecting Huard to become the next Kurt Warner. Huard is what he is. He is a backup quarterback. As we discovered on Sunday, he is a solid backup; a veteran backup. But he is a backup for a reason. He is a good quarterback to plug in--he won't make mistakes, but he is not one that you can rely on to win games for you.

The #1 priority for a backup quarterback is to win half of the games for you, should your starting quarterback miss a few games. Every once in a while, you luck out. You find a Jeff Hostetler or a Kurt Warner and they do the unthinkable: they prove to everyone that they deserve to start in this league. Sometimes, they prove they can carry their team the distance. So many people are so infatuated with the exception that they don't pay attention to the rule.

The majority of backups in this league are backups for a reason. Most of them are backups because they couldn't earn a starting job elsewhere. It's a position where failed starting quarterbacks like Joey Harrington and Charlie Batch can find new life. Sometimes, it's a position where you can stash your future-bright, young quarterback, like Jay Cutler. It really depends on your philosophy. I like to think that the Chiefs are taking a very mechanical approach. Would you trust Brodie Croyle to come in and play quarterback with the season on the line? I know many of you are furiously nodding your head, but suppose you're wrong. Suppose he becomes the second-coming of Joey Harrington. Do you really want his first NFL jitters to be shaken off with the season on the line? The trend has quickly become to let quarterbacks absorb the NFL before they're thrown to the wolves. It seemed to work wonderfully for Carson Palmer and Eli Manning.

With Green only out a few games, do you risk losing all your games to play a quarterback who might not be ready? Huard doesn't have upside, but he can win games for the team. This Sunday's game was a perfect example of that: the Chiefs almost upstaged Denver not because Huard almost led them to victory; rather, they almost won because Huard did not lose the game for them. It's about minimizing mistakes, even if that means not making big plays.

Damon Huard was playing not to lose and he did his job magnificently. By making relatively few mistakes and operating like a veteran backup, he gave the Chiefs a very good chance to win against a Denver team that was supposed to destroy the Chiefs. The Chiefs have to feel pretty comfortable now with their decision to keep Huard on their roster. Hopefully Chiefs fans will see the same. If Huard wins half of his starts, he has done his job well, and will have put the Chiefs in a good position to still threaten for a playoff spot.