Thigpen, The QB hope for the future?
Thigpen is now the Chiefs’ QB hope for the future
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
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DAVID EULITT
Tyler Thigpen struggled against the Raiders early in the season and then made a dramatic improvement last week.
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The thought of getting a well-quarterbacked game like the one provided last week by Tyler Thigpen helped sustain the Chiefs through a long, tumultuous offseason.
They of course believed such a game would be delivered instead by Brodie Croyle and not Thigpen, who made his second career start last week against the Jets in New York.
But in a season already full of unexpected turns, Thigpen is suddenly a little more than the Chiefs’ quarterback of the moment. He, and no longer Croyle, is also their hope for the future.
“In a perfect world, you’d like to see him develop into somebody you could really trust as a solid football player,” veteran guard Brian Waters said. “If there were three games left in the season, I wouldn’t say that’s enough time to qualify him as that. With nine games left, if he can continue to grow and have solid performances like last week, you have to respect that and think he could be our quarterback.
“In my mind, I’m not hoping all of a sudden he’s a great performer. I just want him to be consistent. If he can do that, you have to take that into the evaluation of whether he’s a guy you can stick with.”
The Chiefs have a considerable amount invested in this Thigpen experiment, in Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay and beyond. If he can use the last nine games to secure the quarterback spot for next year, that frees the Chiefs to concentrate on repairing their numerous other deficiencies.
That, in turn, would speed the rebuilding process.
The notion of Thigpen as the Chiefs’ permanent starting quarterback seemed ridiculous early in the season given his sloppy play. Even now, it’s just one game, but the Chiefs haven’t had a well-quarterbacked game like Thigpen’s against the Jets for quite some time.
Expectations for Thigpen are soaring, something coach Herm Edwards didn’t want to see. The last thing he wants is an overburdened Thigpen, so he spent most of the week trying to downplay them.
“Let’s don’t anoint him,” Edwards said. “Don’t put so much pressure on this poor guy. He went from Atlanta, where everybody was going, ‘Whoa, whoa,’ and all of a sudden he plays this game, his second start, he plays good.
“He’s still learning. He has to keep playing, keep growing.”
But there is no denying Edwards and the Chiefs are eager to see whether Thigpen can play so well again. The Bucs have a stronger and quicker defensive team than the Jets.
Passing lanes, if they exist at all, will close much faster.
“He’s got to be careful of these guys, be careful where he throws the ball, Edwards said. “These guys react very well and get after the quarterback. They play very, very fast. That’s the thing he’s going to have to realize. They can close on the football. You’d better be dead-on perfect. If you’re not, it’s going the other way.
“What he has to do is not press. It’s like anything. When you have a decent game, the next game you want to do better and you end up pressing. He doesn’t need to press. He needs to play like he did. What I liked about him last week is he played … under control with his nerves. He was very calm.”
The Chiefs tried to make things easier for Thigpen against the Jets by frequently going without a huddle and spreading the field with receivers. He played in a spread offense in college.
Whatever the reason, Thigpen played much better than he did earlier in the season. The Chiefs are hopeful but not certain it’s genuine improvement and not just one of those unexplainable, out of character games.
“Maybe the light went on for him,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said. “All it takes sometimes is confidence. You watch him snap some of those outside breaking routes, like the touchdown he threw at the end of the first half, those are big-time throws. Sometimes all it takes is success. Success can be such a great teacher.”
At the least, Thigpen got the attention of Ronde Barber, the veteran Tampa Bay cornerback. Barber said he’d never even heard of Thigpen until he arrived for work on Wednesday, when the Bucs began preparing for Sunday’s game.
“He’s impressive for a guy nobody knows about,” Barber said. “He obviously got better when he knew he was going to be the guy. You could tell he had a week of practice under his belt against New York. He played with some confidence. He definitely has control of the offense.
“To me, he looks like an option. He looks like somebody they could use long-term there.”
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