Thursday, January 3, 2008

Todd Collins is Living the Dream

The dream run of Todd Collins. You have to feel good for a guy who puts in the work for so long and finally gets rewarded with a shot at fulfilling his dream. Collins is in his 13th NFL season. Drafted by the Bills in ’95, as the Bills "dynasty" (cheap shot Candyman - i know) was winding down, he played in 7 games in each of his first two years, starting a total of 4 games. In ’97, he started 13 games. Candyman could perhaps expand on the Bills team that year but I vaguely remember a porous offensive line and Collins took a beating that year. The Bills gave up on him after that one season as a starter and he went to KC to back up fellow Wolverine Elvis Grbac. In 8 seasons with the Chiefs, he got in a total of 12 games, going 18-27 in that time. He learned under longtime NFL assistant Al Saunders and followed Saunders to Washington in ’06 - where he never saw the field. Look at this guy's career profile:

http://www.nfl.com/players/toddcollins/careerstats?id=COL694708

Fastforward to December 6th where he comes in for an injured Jason Campbell and leads the Skins to victory over da Bears. (That was in a "nationally" televised game on the NFL network that about 25 people outside of Chicago and Washington saw). He starts and wins 3 more games and leads the ‘skins to the playoffs after the emotional rollercoaster involving the Sean Taylor murder. Leaving out the Giants game, played in severe weather and 50 MPH winds, Collins has completed 59 of 80 passes (73.8 percent) for 722 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer ratings in those three games have been 144.6, 124.8 and 104.8. He hasn’t thrown a pick in 10 years!

Feelgood story in the Washington Post today - otherwise, I haven't heard or seen much about this story and i'm surprised.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/02/AR2008010203273_2.html


Collins has had a great job and a great professional life - 13 years of collecting NFL checks and not taking a physical beating like so many of these guys do. So there's no reason to feel too bad for his professional career - I would love to have had that job coming out of school. But he’s a competitor and he has to be relishing every minute of this. You have to feel great for him - he’s enjoying the ride and I for one am on the bandwagon. Let’s hope we see him battling Tom Brady on Super Sunday.

4 comments:

Assman said...

The NFL playoffs feature the two hottest QBs in the league, and they're both from Michigan - Brady and Collins. Go Blue!

Brandman said...

Great post, but let's not get carried away about Washington making the Super Bowl! I'm thinking Dallas over Green Bay for the NFC Championship. Regardless, Brady and the Pats will crush either.

Taxman said...

not getting carried away. I will say this - they are on an emotional roll. Pittsburgh did the same thing as a 6 seed a couple years ago where they won a bunch of games to get into the playoffs and won 3 road games plus the SB. This Skins team is not as good as the Steelers were but the NFC is not a strong conference either.

I think we are looking at Pats over Pack in the SB. Woodson vs Brady is the more likely UM alum matchup.

Anonymous said...

The Bills of the early 90's WERE a dynasty. Yeah, yeah...we all know wide right and 4 Bowl losses in a row, but show me 4 straight conference champs anywhere else.
Collins got run out of Buffalo after one year as a starter, and I will say unfairly run out of town - but that is the world of instant gratification sports. The Bills O-line not only stunk and got Collins creamed all year, but that 1997 season there was a new head coach (Marv retired) and offensive coordinator Dan Henning disastrously tried to insert his offense with an entirely wrong offensive roster. The old square peg in a round hole. So in the carousel of change, the QB is first to go (Collins was booted), only to continue with the O Coord going soon after, then of course to the head coach was next. Not sure when the GM change took place, but that is what completed the carousel. The Bills have been in flux ever since. Funny how lack of success breeds constant change, which in turn, many times results in further poor results and yet more change. Please see Detroit Lions.
I hope Collins has a great three year run as a starter to end his career.