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Above, folks, is a picture of Ryan Lindley. He is the current starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. He also is somehow playing worse than Christian Ponder; a quarterback readers probably have heard of. Ponder is somehow playing worse than Mark Sanchez; a quarterback everyone has heard of. I think he must have had a cameo on one of those "Housewives" shows because even my wife knows he stinks. These three quarterbacks are trying to make the world reminisce about the good old days of 40% completion rates.
Sanchez has had a special aura around his stink this season. After getting slightly better the last two seasons, The Sanchise has six games this season in which he has had a completion percentage of 50% or less. He had five such games during his rookie season. He may get a reprieve this week because Tim Tebow's ribs were not healthy enough to have him play. Had Tebow played, Mark Sanchez may have never played quarterback for the Jets again. Just how did Tebow's ribs get hurt again? Did Sanchise attempt to smite the chosen one?
Greg McElroy, a guy who once backed up John Parker Wilson, came in and threw the game-winning touchdown pass while averaging a robust 4.3 yards per attempt. By the way, did you know that John Parker Wilson is employed in the NFL, too?
The Jets probably do not have a quarterback at all, but there is one guy who is definitely the #1 guy that is playing worse than Mark Sanchez. Esteemed colleagues, I give you Christian Ponder. Now, Leslie Frazier may have not taken much time to mull over his decision for the coming week, but it is possible that he should have.
Ponder, after declaring a goal of completing 75% of his first and second down throws, actually started the season well and was close to that number. Since about week three, though, he is not only having a tough time completing passes. He also is having a tough time out-pacing his running back in yards. Adrian Peterson has 937 yards rushing in the last six games while scoring six touchdowns. Meanwhile, Ponder has thrown for 871 gross yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions. Who said that 1974 was dead and buried? With numbers like that, I have to wonder what Joe Webb did to make Frazier not like him.
Finally, we come to the epic failure known as Ryan Lindley. This is not Lindley's fault, mind you, but his Iliad and Odyssey-esque tale must be told. Lindley was thrown into the fire after Kevin Kolb got injured for the 11th time in his last 11 games (or something close to that) and after John Skelton could not stop the Cardinals losing streak once the offensive line suffered injuries and went from terrible to five Doug Free clones. Still, Lindley has thrown 103 passes while completing 55 of them. Fifty of those completions are to his team and the other five were wearing either green or blue jerseys. He has not found his own guy in the end zone yet but has given Janoris Jenkins two free trips to six points. Ken Whisenhunt now is unsure of his starter in week 14.
I wonder how the Vikings, Jets and Cardinals feel about the situation in San Francisco. Will Harbaugh makes these teams kiss his ring before giving them Alex Smith?
