2005 - Regular Season
The opening game is a stinker - a 31-20 loss at San Francisco. Brees throws 5 INTs. It's a disaster.
Brees is now on a short leash - one more start for him to redeem himself, and then it's back to McCown, or on to Delhomme.
Week two is just as bad - 34-14 loss at Indy. Brees has a better game, but still isn't getting it done. And the Scorpions leading rusher in the game is Marcel Shipp with 37 yards. Changes are made - Brees is benched, McCown is named starter. Shipp has outrushed Fargas in backup duty both games, and is named starter.
Arizona responds with a 27-23 home opener win against the hapless Lions, although McCown throws three picks. The optimism is cautious, at best.
Week four produces a 16-13 loss to the Giants. Week 5, it's down 24-10 to Dallas. It's getting ugly. The Scorpions are 1-4, have no rushing game, and can't trade for one anymore (not that they could - they're only tradeable player is their starting QB, and the backup sucks right now.) Looks like a rebuilding year unless things turn around soon...
Week 6 - 33-25 loss to Philly. Now things are officially ugly. McCown is benched in favor of Delhomme. The Scorpions respond with a 22-3 loss to Seattle. Somewhere, Dennis Green is smiling.
Week 8 - 20-16 loss to Washington. That's it. Season over. Time to see if the scrubs can play.
Week 9 - Kenyon Hughes is named starting QB. Undrafted free agent RB Marcus McIntyre gets the call at RB. Arizona loses to St. Louis 20-6. Hughes throws for 305 yards, and two picks. He does better against SF the following week - 2TDs, one INT, but the Scorpions still lose, 30-26.
Week 12 - Philip Houston is your new Scorpions starting QB. Arizona loses at Jacksonville, 35-7.
Week 14 - Hughes gets the job back. Arizona wins its second game of the year, beating Tennessee 26-24.
Ugh.
Arizona finishes the season 2-14, locking up the worst record in football. The team is a veritable laughing stock. Owner Franklin Brown is crucified in the press.
Just for posterity, here's the statistics on all five QB's that played this season:
Code:
Front Office Football 2004
Passing Statistics
Player Pos Team GP GS Att Cmp Pct Yards Avg Lg TD Int
McCown, Josh QB ARI 5 4 131 76 58.0 880 6.71 45 2 4
Hughes, Kenyon QB ARI 6 6 222 127 57.2 1534 6.90 74 10 14
Houston, Philip QB ARI 2 2 71 34 47.8 356 5.01 35 4 4
Delhomme, Jake QB ARI 2 2 58 32 55.1 325 5.60 23 0 2
Brees, Drew QB ARI 2 2 88 47 53.4 497 5.64 40 3 6
Player Pos Team Sck Yards Rating
McCown, Josh QB ARI 8 53 70.7
Hughes, Kenyon QB ARI 10 59 67.2
Houston, Philip QB ARI 7 47 58.1
Delhomme, Jake QB ARI 3 21 57.0
Brees, Drew QB ARI 3 19 53.0
Att - Attempts, Cmp - Completions, Pct - Completion Percentage,
Yards - Passing Yards, Avg - Yards per Passing Attempt, Lg - Longest
Completion, TD - Passing Touchdowns, Int - Passes Intercepted,
Sck - Times Sacked, Yards - Sack Yards Lost, Rate - Quarterback Rating.
Here's the rushing statistics:
Code:
Front Office Football 2004
Rushing Statistics
Player Pos Team GP GS Att Yards Avg Lg TD
Shipp, Marcel RB ARI 16 12 224 885 3.95 52 10
McIntyre, Marcus RB ARI 6 4 38 154 4.05 18 0
Fargas, Justin RB ARI 8 2 22 95 4.31 20 0
McCown, Josh QB ARI 5 4 11 63 5.72 23 0
Ayanbadejo, Obafemi FB ARI 16 0 10 55 5.50 9 0
Barnes, Darian FB ARI 16 8 12 52 4.33 8 0
Suggs, Lee RB ARI 8 0 14 52 3.71 12 0
Wade, Bobby WR ARI 16 5 3 16 5.33 8 0
Delhomme, Jake QB ARI 2 2 5 15 3.00 5 0
Hughes, Kenyon QB ARI 6 6 6 12 2.00 5 0
Houston, Philip QB ARI 2 2 2 6 3.00 4 0
Brees, Drew QB ARI 2 2 1 4 4.00 4 0
Fitzgerald, Larry WR ARI 9 9 1 1 1.00 1 0
Att - Rushes, Yards - Rushing Yards, Avg - Yards per Carry, Lg - Longest
Run, TD - Rushing Touchdowns.
What a damned mess.