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Dare we call it an omen?
Tell me why, exactly, is everyone so surprised and downright giddy that Colt Brennan created fireworks in his first pro game, completing nine of 10 passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns – and a whopping 157.5 passer rating, just points shy of 158.3, the highest possible?
Or that he brought his team back to win, 30-16, in Jim Zorn’s coaching debut?
Alas, the internet was all abuzz Sunday night – and cellphones were burping text messages like John Madden after a taco dinner. My cellphone was dinging every 10 seconds during the third quarter. The topic was Redskins’ quarterback Colt Brennan, and for a moment, it felt like 2007 all over again.
Granted, Colt was ripping apart a second-string defense in a meaningless game – Canton’s Hall of Fame game – to kickoff the NFL preseason. Sure, he was a sixth-round pick after a miserable showing in the Sugar Bowl, in which it was rumored that Colt didn’t pay too much mind to the game and much more attention to the fun in which he was surrounded.
But when Colt trotted out to the huddle to take his first pro snap, there was no denying the electricity in the air. When the NCAA’s all-time leading passer ducked into the huddle, even the most revered Redskins’ veterans – newly acquired Jason Taylor, Antwaan Randel-El – waved towels and stared in expectation.
“This kid is electrifying,” gushed Madden, “and you can feel it all the way up here, in the booth. He’s exciting even the veterans.”
The jaws of Redskins’ fans hit the floor on only Colt’s second snap from scrimmage, as the gun-slinging rookie flipped a perfect 34-yard toss into the lights that arced its way right into the hands of a surprised Billy McMullen. It was a pass seen all too many times during his tenure at Hawaii, in which Colt repeatedly delivered beautiful, soft deep throws that looked like he was throwing donuts down a chimney from 30 yards.
“Taking my first snap, I went to the line, took a deep breath and thought to myself, 'Just have fun out here tonight,'” Brennan said. “And I had a lot of fun.”
He had a little more fun when he finished off the drive with another perfect 37-yard toss to Maurice Mann for a touchdown.
More than his throws, said Zorn, “I was pleased with how he was looking to the right guy when he was backpedaling. He knew the plays, knew the routes. He should feel very good about his performance.”
For the past three years, former Hawaii head coach June Jones would tell anyone who would listen that Brennan “is the most accurate quarterback I’ve ever been around.”
The great fans of Hawaii witnessed this again and again, and know it all too well.
How fun it must have been Sunday night for Warrior fans to welcome Washington, and the rest of the NFL, to the dance.
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Haha … I don’t know about TD record, but this just goes to show all that draft crap and projecting players as a bust and that combine stuff is stupid. At the end of the day it is how they play game and you can't measure some things when it comes to football. I think my ‘Skins got a steal in Brennan. But I think Zorn has a lot to do with this too.” – Post by ATLRedskin on NFL blog
It will be a while before neophyte Washington head coach Jim Zorn will give Colt the reigns of the Redskins offense, but starter Jason Campbell might want to remind himself to stay healthy and not give the kid the opportunity.
Though Colt had been less-than-spectacular in recent practices, he wowed Zorn with his game presence and ability to change a game when he gets, as coaches call it, ‘under the lights.’
“I was really impressed with Colt,” said Zorn, clearly dazzled by his youngster’s performance, and with good reason. Lest we forget, Zorn himself was an undrafted free agent out with an odd throwing motion who played at a tiny school – Cal Poly-Pomona. He allowed none of this to stand in his way en route to earning a spot in the Seattle Seahawks’ all-time Ring of Honor for his gambling, scrambling style of play.
Sound familiar?
When Zorn looks at Brennan, he must feel as if he’s looking in the mirror. How could he not? Zorn was the underdog of underdogs when he became the starting quarterback of the expansion Seahawks in 1976. He was forced to scramble behind a non-existent line. He overcame every stereotype you could give a young quarterback. Yet he had a feel for the game that under different circumstances, might have produced even greater results than just being among Seattle’s all-time bests.
Lest we forget, Joe Montana – ahem, yes, the Thor of all-time quarterback greats himself – was a third-round pick, considered too small (6-1, 180), and with too weak of an arm to make it in the pros.
We all know how that deal worked out.
“Colt really had a grasp of what we’re trying to do offensively,” Zorn said. “He really stepped it up. What more could you ask?”
We could’ve asked for one more completion, which would have made Colt literally perfect in his NFL debut, which oddly enough, occurred on the sacred grounds of the NFL Hall of Fame.
Could Colt’s career both begin, and end in Canton, Ohio?
That remains to be seen. The NFL can be cruel, and has spit out better and bigger names than Brennan.
But give Brennan props. In his first nationally televised NFL appearance, Colt let his right arm do the talking; and sent the naysayers – once again – walking.
“I can’t wait to see more of this kid,” roared Madden.
For once, I think John Madden actually speaks for all of us.
J. David Miller is the best-selling author of Hawaii Warrior Football: A Story of Faith, Hope and Redemption, with former UH Head Coach June Jones. He is currently writing his 11th book, Pressure Makes Diamonds, with South Carolina Gamecock head baseball coach Ray Tanner. That book is due in stores next spring. For more details, check out www.myhawaiifootball.com and www.mycarolinabaseball.com.
