Feature story on the appeal of Colt Brennan to Washington fans

WP = Washington Post

About how Babe Laufenberg was a popular #3 QB with Washington fans from 1983 to 1985 but never played in regular season games, Mark Rypien said:
"Babe was that guy who never became the backup, but he had such a great personality and was such a fan favorite, people would still be calling for him — even when he was dressed like a coach on the sideline." (WP)

About how he was a backup QB with Washington, Mark Rypien (who was the QB for Washington's last Super Bowl) said:
"I was Doug's backup. Jay was Theismann's backup. Doug was Jay's. Stan (Humphries) was my backup — boy, they loved Stan for a while. Every one of us sounded like a starter when the main guy was having a tough go of things. What happened with Colt last year and now, especially if he puts up numbers again in the preseason, is just the code of the fan. When things aren't going well with the main guy, you call for the other one no matter what logic says." (WP)

WP Note: "Indeed, it matters little that a recent Sports Illustrated poll rated Collins, not Brennan, the sixth-best backup quarterback in the NFL, a year after he was ranked No. 1. (Michael Vick was No. 2, poor Sage Rosenfels is No. 4 and, yes, Mark Brunell checks in at No. 28). Or that Brennan has never been activated for a regular season game. Or, a year after he put up numbers and highlights in his rookie preseason, he was running for cover while throwing incomplete passes and an interception last week against Baltimore."

WP Note: "He wants to prove Mel Kiper Jr. and the draftniks wrong, just as other quarterbacks who fell to the draft's sixth round (Marc Bulger, Matt Hasselbeck, Tom Brady and, yes, Rypien) proved them wrong. He wants to be what Trent Green was behind Gus Frerotte and Heath Shuler in Washington, a pro bowler waiting to blossom. Or what Tony Romo was behind Drew Bledsoe: the guy Bill Parcells kept on the roster because he saw something in him."

About being drafted 5 rounds behind Joe Flacco, Colt said last year during the preseason:
"This isn't a dis' on Joe Flacco, but he went to a (division I-AA) school, played weaker competition, didn't have as successful a year as I did, yet he still went in the first round because he's 6-5 and can throw the ball 70 yards. You always used to hear Bill Walsh say accuracy and toughness are what makes a quarterback great, and that's like what I am, accurate and tough. To see me fall, to see so many people say, `He'll never make it in the NFL; he's a worthless pick,' I couldn't believe it." (WP)

WP Note: "A year later, as Flacco sprinted onto the M&T Bank Stadium field to a throaty ovation after guiding the Ravens into the AFC championship game last January, Brennan trotted out the way he did a year ago: as the entrenched backup behind a backup."

Praising both QBs that were drafted in the first round last year (Flacco and Ryan), Colt said:
"I give major props to Joe — and for that matter Matt Ryan. Those are two guys who proved right away they could lead and win. I'd love to be in a position to do that, to show that I belong in that way. I also understand whose team this is at that position and that I'm going to have to wait. That's just the way it is." (WP)

WP Note: "Here's hoping he gets his deserved opportunity at some point to see game action when it matters. But it's Campbell's job this season. Unless he goes down to injury or things go so abysmally south Jim Zorn has to make a change, Campbell is not going to relinquish the position. And Collins is the unquestioned No. 2 quarterback."

About how Colt could earn a chance at the #2 QB position if he does really well in the preseason, Rypien said:
"If Colt lights it up, you'll have all these people saying it's the preseason and it means nothing. Publicly they will say that, but in their heads, Colt's play can make them change their minds. Of course that leads to more speculation and more controversy. But that's what the preseason is for, right?" (WP)

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