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Best Backup QB Ever (1 Viewer)

I

Iron Mike Tomczak

Footballguy
Of course I pick myself. I was the picture of capability for the Steelers for most of the 1990s. If it wasnt for an unfortunate scramble in Detroit, I'd be at it today. The stats are compelling but don't mean anything. The fact was I was able to go in and get the job done when it needed to be. I took the Steelers to the playoffs in 1996 when O Donnell went down, and played well in his stead I might add.

Honorable mentions:

Jeff Garcia (well done old chap)

Charlie Batch (follower of my footsteps, a few Tomczakian performances in 2006)

Jeff George (youve done it so long)

Bubby Brister (you were never as good as me)

The Detmers (brotherly backup battalion)

 
Earl Morrall, and is 2nd place even close? Going by memory alone, I think Steve Young would be 2nd.

Morrall: back-up for most of his career, but was often outstanding whenever he started...including winning the '68 MVP when Unitas was injured (with significantly better numbers than Unitas). Not only that, but he was also the fill-in starter for most of the season for the undefeated '72 Dolphins when Griese was injured (with significantly more impressive numbers than Griese). Who has a better resume' than that? Earl Morrall was the practically perfect back-up QB. You can't draw it up any better than that.

Did Frank Reich have the best game ever for a back-up?

 
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Ill have to go with Jeff Hostetler for the same reason as Warner. Simms goes down and Hoss takes it home to the Superbowl

 
I'm inclined to nominate Earl Morrall for taking over for Bob Griese and leading the Dolphins to an undefeated season.

But neither he nor Griese really lit it up in the post-season beacuse the defense was so strong. Although QBs played in the postseason, neither one had a game with over 100 passing yards.

But you can't beat the outcome (only undfeated team in the SB era).

 
bicycle_seat_sniffer said:
I think Doug Williams was actually the backup for the skins superbowl team
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Depends on how you look at it. He was backup through the regular season to Schroeder, but Gibbs (pretty amazingly in hindsight) made him a starter at the beginning of the playoffs. In other words, he outright replaced Schroeder as the starter rather than starting because Schroeder was injured.
 
David Yudkin said:
I'm inclined to nominate Earl Morrall for taking over for Bob Griese and leading the Dolphins to an undefeated season.But neither he nor Griese really lit it up in the post-season beacuse the defense was so strong. Although QBs played in the postseason, neither one had a game with over 100 passing yards.But you can't beat the outcome (only undfeated team in the SB era).
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Now you start getting into Jeff Hostetler territory, and nobody wants to go there. :bye:How 'bout Frank Reich?
 
Do you mean backup that came into an already played season and finished it; or a guy that was supposed to be a backup but started the whole season; or a guy that at one point was a backup?

Hostetler came in after week 11 and went on to win the Super Bowl.

Warner started the whole year.

Young was a backup who took over the team after Montana left and won on his own.

There are differences, no?

 
What's the definition of a backup QB? Someone who was a backup at any point in time? That would be a pretty lame discussion, as most all QBs were backups at some point.

If the definition is a guy who never really had a starting job, I'd say Frank Reich.

 
If ew're talking best NFL pure backup QB and how they fared for fantasy purposes, I'm guessing Volek was a gift from god for people with QB issues in the weeks he played.

 
I thought of Steve Young but to keep the thread "pure" in Back Up QB discussion, lets keep it to guys who never started, or perhaps started briefly and then went back to their role as a backup for , eh, 90% or more of a career. This way we wont be wrongfully nominating Bradys and Youngs. Garcia can be called a backup still, hes been in that role for long enough.

 
Mr. Peterson said:
where's the love for the comeback kid himself, frank riech
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This was my vote. I think you have to go with guys who were career backups and who never got a shot at starting gigs or whose career was defined by being a backup. Steve Young? That's not a backup QB., that's a Hall of Fame QB.BTW, my favorite backup QB of all time was the emergency QB for the Oakland Raiders. Ray Guy. Backup QB AND HOF punter? Awesome. But, I guess this negates what I just said. Still, that Ray was awesome enough to be considered as some sort of QB, well, that makes him...... awesome!
 
Iron Mike Tomczak said:
I thought of Steve Young but to keep the thread "pure" in Back Up QB discussion, lets keep it to guys who never started, or perhaps started briefly and then went back to their role as a backup for , eh, 90% or more of a career. This way we wont be wrongfully nominating Bradys and Youngs. Garcia can be called a backup still, hes been in that role for long enough.
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Garcia = Pro Bowl QB as starter.He started all those years in the CFL though so you might call him a backup from WAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY back. Like out of the league backup.When I think of Garcia though, I think "starter". He started for SF for many years. AND started in Cleveland. Now he's just old so..... Still, he very well could be the starter next year for Philly if Chunky Soup can't come back right off or he's traded/released.
 
True, come off the bench and lead your team backup?

Jeff Hoestetler in a landslide, he played very weel to finish the Giants 90' season and excellent during the playoffs. Then went on to be pretty good with the Raiders. It wasn't his fault the D' couldn't stop Buffalo...

Best backup in terms of taking over? Steve Young again in a landslide. He's a Hall of Famer.

 
softball said:
True, come off the bench and lead your team backup?Jeff Hoestetler in a landslide, he played very weel to finish the Giants 90' season and excellent during the playoffs. Then went on to be pretty good with the Raiders. It wasn't his fault the D' couldn't stop Buffalo...
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No, no, no. Earl Morrall in a landslide. 1968: Starts the season as the back-up to Hall-of-Famer Johnny Unitas. Unitas gets injured, Morrall comes off the bench, plays better than Unitas, and wins the NFL MVP while leading the Colts to the Super Bowl.1972: Back-up to Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese. Griese gets injured, Morrall comes off the bench, plays better than Griese, and helps the Dolphins to the only undefeated season in history. Both seasons Morrall outplayed the Hall-of-Fame starter and averaged over 9.0 yards per pass attempt while helping his team's march to the Super Bowl. One season he even came off the bench to win the friggin' MVP. Nobody has come close to naming a long-time back-up QB with better accomplishments than Earl Morrall.
 
Limiting it to true backups - guys who never really were or became starters later on - it has to be the afore mentioned Frank Reich.

 
softball said:
Jeff Hoestetler in a landslide... It wasn't his fault the D' couldn't stop Buffalo...
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Whose fault was it that they only scored 3 points?Also, I consider Hostetler to be in the same category as a Steve Young. Backup for a while, but he definitely got a solid shot at being a starter for a while.
 
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Kelly Holcomb was pretty good for Cleveland as Tim Couch's backup.

Bubby Brister did a nice job for the Broncos in 1998.

 
Gr00vus said:
Limiting it to true backups - guys who never really were or became starters later on - it has to be the afore mentioned Frank Reich.
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1992 hou W,41-38 | 21 34 289 4 1 | 1 -1 0
 
Just wanted to add a couple of names. Probably not quite the caliber of Frank Reich or Earl Morrall, but I think Gary Kubiak and Gus Frerrotte deserve mention.

 
DPRugby said:
Gr00vus said:
I know this for certain....it sure wasn't Craig "Wheels" Weilahan. :ph34r:
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Who was the hick who played for the Boltz after Stan the man Humphries suffered his last concussion?
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I think that was Wheels. Did Casey Weldon see time?Did you know in 1961 the Chargers had a QB on the roster named **** Wood? (Another name for Richard is what belongs in the language filter area).
 
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