Sneak peek at
Pro Football Weekly’s Preview 2000

Analysis of Arizona's quarterbacks

May 9, 2000

Editor's note: What follows is an excerpt from Pro Football Weekly’s Preview 2000 magazine, which hits the newsstands July 5. This is PFW personnel analyst Joel Buchsbaum’s breakdown of the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterbacks. Buchsbaum analyzes all 31 teams in Preview 2000. Once a week, we'll showcase a different excerpt from the magazine on ProFootballWeekly.com.

Jake Plummer closed his rookie season on a high note. He seemed to regress early in ’98 under the constraints of Marc Trestman’s offense, then played at a Pro Bowl level down the stretch, after Trestman loosened the reins, leading the Cardinals into the playoffs with six late-season wins that were all nailbiters and in most cases required dramatic fourth-quarter, game-winning drives by Plummer. He then led Arizona to its first playoff win in ages.

In the ’99 opener vs. the Eagles, despite a bad thumb and a horrible first part of the game, when it looked as though he could not even grip the ball, Plummer led the Cardinals back from a 21-point deficit to win 25-24. But after that, the season seemed to go south on Plummer. He had trouble gripping the ball and was all over the place with his passes. He held on to the ball way too long, leading to needless sacks and causing him to take more of a pounding than he should have, and he kept making poor decisions instead of playing within himself. Then Plummer broke a finger on his throwing hand and had to sit out five games.

With journeyman Dave Brown at the controls, the Cardinals went 3-2. Brown did not throw particularly well or show any special skills, but unlike Plummer, he played within himself. Although Brown failed to complete half his passes and had a very negative 2-6 TD-interception ratio, he seemed to turn the Cardinals’ season around, getting a 2-4 team back to 5-6. When Plummer returned, Arizona beat the Eagles to get back into the playoff race but then lost its last four games badly.

Plummer can improvise with the best, and he plays his best football when the game is on the line and his team is behind because that allows him to gamble and ad-lib at will. He is a leader who is very tough and mobile and has very good vision. But he is not an overly accurate passer, even when all his digits are healthy, and he makes too many poor decisions in his zeal to make big plays. He also holds on to the ball way too long, causing him to take a needless beating and get sacked a lot more than he should. Unlike Joe Montana (to whom he has been compared by some), Plummer lacks pinpoint control, a sixth sense about how long to hold on to the ball, great timing and near-perfect footwork and techniques.

Brown’s strengths are that he knows the division and the offense, and he gets along well with Plummer and can help him on the field. Brown is no improvisor, and his passing accuracy is just average.

Quarterbacks' grade: C-plus

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