Archer: Brandon Weeden has 'most improved' look to Cowboys

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,695
Brandon Weeden has 'most improved' look to Cowboys

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas -- Now entering his fourth year in the NFL, Brandon Weeden is experiencing continuity for the first time.

This marks the first year Weeden has been in the same offense with the same offensive playcaller in back to back seasons. In 2012 with the Cleveland Browns, he ran a West Coast offense. In 2013, he ran a similar timing-based offense to the Cowboys but with different verbiage.

In his second season with the Cowboys, Weeden has gone from trying to learn the offense to understanding the hows and whys of the offense used by Scott Linehan.

“I think he’s probably the most improved player,” quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson said. “He just has a great understanding of the concepts, of the protections, calling the plays, all those things. He’s made a big jump this year.”

And it’s come with him taking few snaps this spring. Last year Tony Romo was a spectator in the offseason program as he recovered from back surgery, giving Weeden all the first-team work. He performed well enough for the Cowboys to cut Kyle Orton, who had been contemplating retirement before joining the Buffalo Bills after his release.

“It’s just a comfort thing,” Weeden said. “Now I can really fine tune what we’re doing because I’m not having to go home to study for three hours just learning plays and calling plays and doing all that. Now I can out and fine tine what I want to do, work on reading defenses, work on understanding everything versus just making sure I don’t screw the first part of it up. I appreciate that from Sticks [Wilson]. That’s a good comment because I busted my ass. I’ve worked so hard this offseason, training wise, throwing wise to put myself in position.”

A backup quarterback’s job is not easy. He is expected to keep an offense running freely if the starter goes down to injury and do it without the benefit of much practice. It helped Weeden that he took the first-team snaps in Wednesday practices with Romo sitting out to rehab his back. He took snaps in five games and completed 24 of 41 passes for 303 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

But a backup’s season is defined by a start, not mop-up duty. With Romo out with two transverse process fractures, Weeden complete 18 of 33 passes for 183 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in a loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Weeden has looked at all of the games he played in 2014 but none more than the Arizona loss.

“I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked against Arizona, but I tell everybody that’s the best defense I ever played against. Since I’ve been in the league, that’s the best defense I played against. Their scheme was good. They’ve got really good corners on the outside, and they have just really good players. I’d like to have that one over ... I just didn’t play well enough to give us a chance to win.”

The Cowboys did not go backup-quarterback shopping in the offseason, but they did browse the market and had some interest in Shaun Hill and Matt Schaub. Weeden said he was unaware of the Cowboys’ interest. The Cowboys worked out several quarterback prospects leading up to the draft but did not select one.

“I’m not stupid, I understand if they bring vet guys like that in they’re probably not as high on me as I need them to be,” Weeden said. “So I knew I needed to do something there. But they didn’t so that shows that they’ve got confidence in me. I think I came off the bench and played well. After my meeting with Coach [Jason] Garrett after the year we were on the same page, that I did do well, but at the same time, we’d like to have a little different result in the Arizona game.”

In a perfect world, the Cowboys hope they don’t need Weeden to start a game or play significant snaps. That’s the wish of every team in the NFL. But the Cowboys feel much better about him in 2015.

“I think he’s had a great offseason,” Linehan said. “We’re in the process so we’ll see, but I think everybody gets more comfortable the more they’re in a system. This is really a little bit similar to what he’s had his last year in Cleveland, but it was his third system in three years. That’s not easy for guys. Now it’s the same system two years in a row. That’s a benefit for him, and you see that on the practice field.”
 

jsmith6919

Honored Member - RIP
Joined
Aug 26, 2013
Messages
28,407
I got a hundred says he'll still stare down his first read if he gets in a game
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,453
I think we can all attribute his amazing development to Wade Wilson...

To be fair he looked good in all of his games except the Cardinals game last year :unsure
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,695


:unsure
 

bbgun

please don't "dur" me
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
23,228
Most improved? Did he go from shitty to merely awful?
 

ravidubey

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
20,162
Weeden got backlash disproportionate to his performance. He was decent in relief vs. Washington and should have finished that game. He was bad vs Arizona, but that defense made a lot of QB's look bad. They also had Carson Palmer which gave them balance despite his pick-six.
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,453
Weeden got backlash disproportionate to his performance. He was decent in relief vs. Washington and should have finished that game. He was bad vs Arizona, but that defense made a lot of QB's look bad. They also had Carson Palmer which gave them balance despite his pick-six.
Yeah I don't know that you can hang the dude for struggling against one of the NFL's best defenses. I think we are bit spoiled by the way Romo plays against every defense.
 

L.T. Fan

I'm Easy If You Are
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
21,689
Right now the only observation I have on Weeden is that he has gotten further down the road than the last crop of baseball babies.
 

townsend

Banned
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
5,377
Yeah I don't know that you can hang the dude for struggling against one of the NFL's best defenses. I think we are bit spoiled by the way Romo plays against every defense.
He looked so bad against the Cardinals though. Any QB worth suiting up should be able to toss a short pass to an open Bryant. His accuracy was Tebow level terrible in that game.
 

Genghis Khan

The worst version of myself
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
37,468
Weeden got backlash disproportionate to his performance. He was decent in relief vs. Washington and should have finished that game. He was bad vs Arizona, but that defense made a lot of QB's look bad. They also had Carson Palmer which gave them balance despite his pick-six.
I think the backlash was warranted. True Arizona had a very good defense. But you also have to factor in that Weeden was sucking his whole career in Cleveland too. A guy isn't going to get much benefit of the doubt when it is part of a pattern of bad performances.
 

ravidubey

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
20,162
I think the backlash was warranted. True Arizona had a very good defense. But you also have to factor in that Weeden was sucking his whole career in Cleveland too. A guy isn't going to get much benefit of the doubt when it is part of a pattern of bad performances.
We could have said that of Romo based upon the season opener and many of his past performances... and we'd have been proven dead wrong.

I felt Weeden played well vs Washington in a game where ironically Romo struggled again.

Vs. Arizona the offense wasn't prepared to face a four man front and that affected everything from the run game to constant pressure on Weeden. Garrett and Callahan were clearly out-coached there. So basically Weeden's one shot to prove himself came against a buzzsaw of a matchup. Normally you'd expect a playoff team to rally around a backup QB, but in this case it was somewhat of the reverse with no one making any plays while waiting for the backup to somehow be a stud.

So I don't know enough to decisively judge based on 1.2 games. Hopefully we don't get to see any more!
 

Genghis Khan

The worst version of myself
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
37,468
We could have said that of Romo based upon the season opener and many of his past performances... and we'd have been proven dead wrong.

I felt Weeden played well vs Washington in a game where ironically Romo struggled again.

Vs. Arizona the offense wasn't prepared to face a four man front and that affected everything from the run game to constant pressure on Weeden. Garrett and Callahan were clearly out-coached there. So basically Weeden's one shot to prove himself came against a buzzsaw of a matchup. Normally you'd expect a playoff team to rally around a backup QB, but in this case it was somewhat of the reverse with no one making any plays while waiting for the backup to somehow be a stud.

So I don't know enough to decisively judge based on 1.2 games. Hopefully we don't get to see any more!
You couldn't remotely say the same about Romo.

It's been more than 1.2 games for Weeden when you count Cleveland, which you have to because he's the same guy. He didn't magically turn into a different player by virtue of signing with us.
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,453
You couldn't remotely say the same about Romo.

It's been more than 1.2 games for Weeden when you count Cleveland, which you have to because he's the same guy. He didn't magically turn into a different player by virtue of signing with us.
Every QB who plays in Cleveland looks like a full on retard.
 

Cowboysrock55

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
52,453
That's true but he looked the same with us against Arizona too.
Yeah he looked terrible against the Cardinals. I have no real long term hope for Weeden. Hell even if he developed a little the dude is already in his 30s. Statistically last year was by far his best in the NFL. Of course it's boosted by a couple of beautiful bombs during garbage time.
 
Top Bottom