It was a slow week for backup quarterbacks in the NFL. Only three quarterbacks were tasked with coming off the bench mid-game to replace a starter. This doesn’t count last week’s replacement in San Francisco, Nick Mullens, who was promoted to starter after Jimmy Garoppolo was unable to play due to injury. It’s likely Mullens will get another start this weekend.
3. Jacoby Brissett, Indianapolis Colts
Brissett is the only one on this week’s list, and this season’s list actually, who was brought in for pleasant reasons. The Colts were leading the New York Jets by so much that head coach Frank Reich allowed starter Philip Rivers to exit the game and have backup Jacoby Brissett take over.
Brissett came into the game in the fourth quarter after Jets starter Sam Darnold threw his second pick 6 of the game putting the Colts up 31-7. Brissett came in and led the team for two drives managing to take them on one drive that ended in a FG and another that ended in a punt. He wasn’t tasked with doing much outside of keeping the clock moving.
Stats: 2/4, 17 yards, 0 tds, 0 ints
Next week’s status: Backup for Philip Rivers.
2. Brett Rypien, Denver Broncos
What a season for the Broncos. 2nd year starter Drew Lock was knocked out of the second game with a shoulder injury and backup Jeff Driskel held it together for an entire game before the cracks seeped in. In last week’s game Driskel struggled to keep the Broncos in the game. Down 28-10 in the fourth quarter head coach Vic Fangio had seen enough and benched Driskel and put in the 3rd string quarterback Brett Rypien, nephew of former Super Bowl winning quarterback Mark Rypien.
Rypien provided the Broncos with a boost of energy and led them on an 11 play, 60 yard drive that nearly ended in points. Rypien threw an interception that ended the game for the Broncos. Rypien only got one drive to show his stuff, but his passes looked crisp and his decision making was solid, outside of the one botched play.
Stats: 8/9, 53 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT
Next week’s status: Rypien has already been named the starter for the Broncos next week. Fangio saw enough on the final drive, and also enough of Driskel after a game and a half, to feel confident in giving Rypien a chance. This is likely to be short lived as the Broncos signed former Jacksonville Jaguars starter Blake Bortles. Bortles is likely to wind up as the primary backup to Lock going forward, so Rypien will need a strong showing to prove why he should get that job.
Driskel’s status: This is the third team in three years where Driskel was a backup, got a starting job due to injury and then lost the starting job due to poor play. Driskel’s opportunities as a backup look like they may be limited in the future.
1. Nick Foles, Chicago Bears
This was simply a matter of time wasn’t it? People had been talking about this possibility for months after Foles signed with Chicago. And it took 2.5 games before the Bears made it official and swapped starter Mitchell Trubisky out for Nick Foles. Perhaps the strangest part is that the Bears are 3-0 and continue to win despite such chaos at the QB position.
Trubisky got off to a sluggish start against Atlanta and head coach Matt Nagy had no choice in the second half but to swap the quarterbacks out and see if Foles could deliver. The third quarter results were not promising as Foles went 7/15 on his third quarter drives with an interception. It looked like neither QB was capable of doing anything against a frankly below average Falcons defense. But in the fourth quarter Foles woke up and went 9/14 and threw 3 TDs to push Chicago past Atlanta 30-26.
Stats: 16/29, 188 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
Next week’s status: Foles has already been named the starter for next week’s game against Indianapolis. It’s likely that Foles will be the starter until he runs into trouble and they swap back to Trubisky. This is important for Foles as he’s struggled to maintain his starting jobs in the past due to injuries and poor play. Overcoming both here would go a long way towards restoring his image in the league.
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