Sure his stats weren't terrible, but he struggles to avoid rushers and had trouble holding onto the football. He did lead the team to a couple of scores and played into the 4th quarter by completing 14 of 19 passes for 139 yards.
With youngsters like Tyler Palko and Matt Baker being brought in this offseason, its becoming obvious that the Saints want to groom someone younger to be the #2 QB. Martin's contract is up after this season, and he likely won't be brought back. He appears safe to make the team this year because Coach Payton seems to have confidence in him and he holds on field goals.
However, if something unfortunate happens to Drew Brees, then I would be more comfortable having rookie Tyler Palko running the show than Martin. But are there other options that would be better? Maybe asking Drew Bledsoe to consider a comeback, trading for someone like Mark Brunell or Andrew Walter or scanning the waver wire to see if someone like Tim Hasselbeck, Tim Rattay or Tim Couch (they can only consider QBs named Tim, I guess) would be a better option.
But honestly, bringing a veteran QB in now to learn the playbook won't be a better option than Martin. For all his shortcomings, Martin has been in the system for two years, and Coach Payton sees something in practice that gives him the confidence that he's a #2 QB in this league. And as all Saints fans have learned, we have to trust Coach Payton's judgement because he hasn't made too many decisions that have backfired since he arrived in the Big Easy.
1 comment:
Great points. I think you have pretty much nailed the current QB situation.
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