Saints Prove Hundley Isn’t The Answer At Quarterback
NFL Week 8 is going to have just as many questions at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers as last week. Third year quarterback Brett Hundley made his first career start for the Green Bay Packers against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, filling in for an injured Aaron Rodgers, who isn’t expected back until the end of the season.
Judging by his performance against the Saints, the former UCLA signal caller is not the answer Mike McCarthy and the Packers were hoping he would be.
The New Orleans Saints are renowned for their offense, thanks to Drew Brees, who continued his assault on the record books. However, their defense has been one of the worst in the NFL for the past few seasons, and quarterbacks like Sam Bradford, Luke McCown, and even Blake Bortles have looked like All-Pros against the Saints’ defense. After the win the Saints will look to keep things moving in the right direction in Week 8 as -9 point betting odds favorites at home against the visiting Chicago Bears.
While Hundley wasn’t expected to throw for 400 yards against the Saints, he was expected to be able to move the ball and finish with at least 200 yards against their secondary.
However, Hundley finished the game completing 12 of 25 passes for 87 yards and 1 interception. Hundley managed an average of 3.5 yards per completion, in what had to be one of the worst quarterback performances in recent years.
The Saints’ defense deserves some credit for their performance, but Hundley also has to shoulder a lot of the blame because the Packers finally got their running game going, with Aaron Jones gaining 131 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground, which opened up a lot of play action opportunities Hundley couldn’t take advantage of.
To put this in another context, rookie quarterbacks Deshaun Watson, Mitchell Trubisky, and DeShone Kizer, each threw for over 100 yards in their first career starts, and each faced a much tougher defense than the Saints have.
Hundley has been in the league for three years, and should know Green Bay’s offense better than any of the rookie quarterbacks mentioned, which makes his performance on Sunday more baffling.
During the week, Mike McCarthy said the team would move forward with Hundley and practice squad member Joe Callahan in Rodgers’ absence, and snapped at a reporter who asked if the team would give Colin Kaepernick a tryout after Tony Romo said he had no interest in coming out of retirement.
At this point, even 48-year-old Brett Favre gives the team a better chance of winning than Hundley. If McCarthy wants to make the playoffs this year, he will need to rethink his stance on the quarterback position.