Billy Volek
 

Last week his loudmouth agent (name withheld to protect our stomachs) came out saying that he deserves to be traded so he can be a starter. There are even some Titan fans who think the McNair is done and Volek should be the starter.

Backup QB has always been one of the most popular positions. I would say that Volek ranks up there with such great QB's as Cody Carlson, Frank Reich, Jeff Hostetler, and Dave Krieg. He is good enough to get by on as a backup to a fragile starter, but once he becomes a starter he will show why he was a backup.

I hope he doesn't end up like Todd Bouman. He was a great backup.

So was Scott Mitchell.

I wish he had stayed in Miami...

Dave Krieg shouldn't be on that list. He had a great starter career (still top 10 in a lot of categories, very underrated)

that said, I agree, Volek just seems like a good back up, very Frank Reich type..which is someone who never got dillusions of grandeur for a starting spot. Bide your time, replace McNair when he retires.

Steve Buerlien.

Riding on the metro?

Jason Garrett rocked my world...

I'd agree, except for the time he threw for 4,436 yards while connecting on 44 TD passes.

Why isn't anyone mentioning Babe Laufenberg? I had the pleasure of being at a 1990 game where he filled in for an injured Aikman against Atlanta. All he had to do was win a game for the 'Boys to make the playoffs, but Atlanta fielded 11 men and that just confused the hell out of him.

The difference is that McNair is much creaker than most other starters. Volek has looked good so far in the Titans system, and I think he can be fine in the starting role.

Agreed. I think Volek will be a good starting QB when he gets his shot.

Though not if it is with Chicago ;).

That's the problem with the other backups. They went to other systems, usually with crappy teams, and couldn't deal. If Volek stays in Tennessee, he'll be fine.

Was he the third stringer who won on Thanksgiving a few years ago? Beating the Lions?

I'd say Hostetler was a pretty good starter on some mediocre Raider teams, when he was the starter for a good Giants team he kinda won the Super Bowl.

It was against the Packers. Lobbing those beautiful passes to Harper all day long...

Dola-

I don't think it's possible for the Cowboys and Lions to play each other on Thanksgiving...

Mike Tomczak and Tommy Maddox were good backups until they got to play

the giants had a great stretch in the 90s where decent backups became awful qbs. they just kept replacing each other.

dave brown, kent graham, danny kannel...tommy maddox, depending how you look at it...

could also add flutie, frerotte, batch, maybe griese, miller..

I like Flutie as a starter... :( Although yeah, he is an awesome backup.

I'm a firm fan of backup QBs as well. I love Jon Kitna.

Except when the backups were like Scott Mitchell or Gus Frerotte, I wasn't happy.

I almost didn't include Hos or Krieg, but looking back Hos was a QB who some people started talking about as being better than Simms, but hindsight shows that Simms was indeed the better QB. Krieg was a decent starter that was a great backup. I wanted #17 to be the Lions starter in '95.

His stats:

1980 sea | 1 | 0 2 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 | 0 0 0 |
1981 sea | 7 | 64 112 57.1 843 7.5 7 5 | 11 56 1 |
1982 sea | 3 | 49 78 62.8 501 6.4 2 2 | 6 -3 0 |
1983 sea | 9 | 147 243 60.5 2139 8.8 18 11 | 16 55 2 |
1984 sea | 16 | 276 480 57.5 3671 7.6 32 24 | 46 186 3 |
1985 sea | 16 | 285 532 53.6 3602 6.8 27 20 | 35 121 1 |
1986 sea | 15 | 225 375 60.0 2921 7.8 21 11 | 35 122 1 |
1987 sea | 12 | 178 294 60.5 2131 7.2 23 15 | 36 155 2 |
1988 sea | 9 | 134 228 58.8 1741 7.6 18 8 | 24 64 0 |
1989 sea | 15 | 286 499 57.3 3309 6.6 21 20 | 40 160 0 |
1990 sea | 16 | 265 448 59.2 3194 7.1 15 20 | 32 115 0 |
1991 sea | 10 | 187 285 65.6 2080 7.3 11 12 | 13 59 0 |
1992 kan | 16 | 230 413 55.7 3115 7.5 15 12 | 37 74 2 |
1993 kan | 12 | 105 189 55.6 1238 6.6 7 3 | 21 24 0 |
1994 det | 14 | 131 212 61.8 1629 7.7 14 3 | 23 35 0 |
1995 ari | 16 | 304 521 58.3 3554 6.8 16 21 | 19 29 0 |
1996 chi | 13 | 226 377 59.9 2278 6.0 14 12 | 16 12 1 |
1997 ten | 8 | 1 2 50.0 2 1.0 0 0 | 4 -2 0 |
1998 ten | 5 | 12 21 57.1 199 9.5 0 0 | 3 -1 0 |
+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+
TOTAL | 213 | 3105 5311 58.5 38147 7.2 261 199 | 417 1261 13

1984 was his best season with 32 td's but he still only threw for 57.5%. If you notice, most of his career he seemed to have better stats when he has fewer passes. The season he was with Detroit is a perfect example. He only had 212 attempts, but he was over 60% and threw 14 TD's with only 3 picks.

Up there as one of the most memorable games I've seen. Garrett sucked during the first half. Went to the locker room, sold his soul, and the Cowboys score a TD on 5 consecutive drives in the 2nd half.

Don't forget that Hostetler was in his 8th or 9th year in the league before he actually got to start in Oakland. It was largely before free agency, so he was stuck on the bench. I'm not saying he was better than Simms, I just don't think that hindsight can show that he wasn't as good as Simms. I assume that when you say hindsight you're talking about 4 decent years starting for a mediocre to bad raider team plus some action as a Redskin when he was 36 years old. I don't think it's fair to compare those years to Phil Simms in his prime.

Probably not, but it's all we got.

Tom Tupa baby! He was multi-faceted... he could punt AND throw 3 INT's in the same game!

Griese doesn't belong on the list (either one ;)). This year in Tampa he is going to put up some big numbers (he had a 97+ passer rating last year as the starter after week 5 and he wasn't horrible in Denver).

my all time favorite, and the soon to be winner of survivor:guatemala...gary hogeboom...i thought the guy sucked, i just liked saying hogeboom.

Don't forget Bubby Brister

That's one hell of a game. :)

Yeah, and can you believe they still lost? ;)

I any event the Titans won't let Volek go since this is the last year of McNair's contract and past history says they won't be resigning him. He'll be just to pricey. I think Billy will be an excellent starter for Tennessee especially now that Norm Chow has installed his USC-proven West coast stle offense where the QB does quick 3 step dropbacks and fire. This offense really plays to a guy like Volek and McNair's strengths.

And then the question will be: Will McNair be worth the money he is going to pull? There is no doubt he is a great QB and leader, but does his age and constant injuries make him too big a risk?

I know McNair was banged up last season but he has only been injured since he refused to slide and scrambled a lot. I think his natural toughness and durability is a reason has had the confidence to take on tacles thus resulting in some damage. He has missed 16 games in his 9 year career since starting in 1996.That is less than 2 games a year. Steve young 46 games missed 13 years, McNabb 11 games in 5 years, Culpepper 7 games in four years, Kurt Warner 26 games missed 5 years,Jeff Gracia 11 games missed 5 years just some starst to show that he isn't that "creaky" as some have said.

But he constantly plays hurt. I can't remember watching a game he was playing that he didn't have a broken bone, sprain, or something else he was nursing and still on the field. You keep doing that, and eventually it will catch up with you. I can't see him as anything but a risk, and a big risk if he is wanting "Peyton money" (which I'm not saying he is, but is possible).

people also forget simms didnt get to start until about 5 years into his career. i cant remember the name of the guy he was stuck behind, but simms was often injured and/or benched for his first few years.

Michael Bishop would have been a fabulous backup had he actually won a #2 job.

Sorry,
I will take McNair and his leadership/hardnosed brand of football over ANY of the Mannings, their egos or clutch game choking especially Peyton.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I like McNair. I've always been a big fan. I'd agree that two years ago I'd take McNair over Peyton, and I'd still take him over Eli. I'm just thinking like a GM here. You are going to have a bunch of money (much of it guarenteed) in a guy who is has a lot of milage on him.

I think you'd have to be nuts if today you took McNair over Peyton Manning for the same amount of money.

I never said I would pay that money that manning is getting. Manning doesn't deserve it. Manning has never really produced in abig game as of yet just tons of stats and who's to say it wasn't his system and recievers that were a large part of it. I think McNair will have a big year and manning I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't come close to last seasons numbers. I guess we will just have to see.

Yeah, that Dan Marino guy really sucked too ;). He always choaked in the big game...

It couldn't have been Peyton's defense that shares some of the blame, could it?

Dan Marino sucks.



Man that feels good.

Seems like I have heard this arguement before.

LOL........................... :rolleyes:

Volek should go to Baltimore. Boeller plays like a retard. Volek and Mason would have instant chemistry from their Titans days.

I'm hoping you're right. I'm just not certain. I've always felt Volek was under rated as a QB. I watched him at Fresno State, and his strength was definately his sense of the game, and his ability to avoid mistakes. I'm not sure how well he will function in a quick fire West Coast system, where he is hauling most of the water for the offense.

I think he is a good NFL QB. I'm not sure he is ready to be THE guy for someone, unless he has the kind of support he has seen in Tennessee.

What about the Niners? They had the greatest backup QB's ever! Steve Young, Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac, Bill Musgrave, Jeff Garcia

Where's all the Billy Volek fans at????

So many AFC QBs bailed on the pro bowl, they had volek on ready 5 in case they needed him to start the game.