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Tipsheet: Shedding positive light on Austin Davis
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_59dfd541-74bf-5dcc-b3cc-47ed20b4ca3d.html
The NFL is no place for young quarterbacks. The league chews up most of them and spits them to the curb.
Within that context, the progress of Rams quarterback Austin Davis is heartening.
Each year fans fall in love with the Next New Thing at the position. They see fresh talent. Better yet, they see the absence of failure — the most precious quality for any quarterback.
And then, almost inevitably, the prospect fails to meet his outsized expectations. The Washington You-Know-Whos might be the most glaring example of this.
That team sent a giant package of draft picks to the Rams for the opportunity to draft Robert Griffin III, who flashed tremendous potential before hobbling down the Sam Bradford Injury Trail.
Then Kirk Cousins became Washington's Quarterback of the Future . . . until he fell apart and became a turnover machine. Now the team has turned to Colt McCoy, the Cleveland Browns washout who is still a relative baby face.
ESPN.com's John Clayton updates us on what else is happening at the position:
Frustrated with Jake Locker's injuries and Charlie Whitehurst's underwhelming play, Tennessee Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt will start sixth-round pick Zach Mettenberger against the Houston Texans on Sunday. He becomes the third rookie quarterback to take over during the season, joining (Teddy) Bridgewater and Jacksonville's Blake Bortles. Second-rounder Derek Carr has been the starter all season for winless Oakland.
The demotion of Locker pretty much ends the tenures of three 2011 first-rounders (Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert and Locker) with their original teams. But going young hasn't necessarily worked this season. Bortles is 1-3 and has thrown 10 interceptions, and Bridgewater is 1-2 with five picks against one touchdown. For what it's worth, teams that have resorted to backups (regardless of NFL experience) are just 12-20 this season.
This reminds us of the magnitude of Davis' challenge. So the fact he bounced back from a rough outing against the 49ers with a mistake-free game against Seattle was notable.
It is way, way early to start making Kurt Warner/Tom Brady comparisons -- as Bernie Miklasz emphasized earlier this week -- but Davis certainly makes the rest of this season more interesting.
