It looked like week 5 until it became Week 4. What happened? Week 3 happened. Wilson’s QB play became a liability, summed up by Bruce R’s observation which we shared in the postgame wrap up:
“If my quarterback is going to have jittery feet in the pocket, force deep throws that are easy interceptions, and not have the pocket presence to avoid intentional grounding on the 3 yard line, I’d assume it was a rookie not a 14 year veteran. So, play the rookie.”
We thought it was going to be Week 5 vs a weaker Saints team. But they didn’t wait and went Week 4 vs LAC.
Two things changed the calculus. Wilson’s play was so limiting, and Andrew Thomas looked very good in his first game back. Marcus Mbow played the second half and got bull-rushed for a sack. We knew that was the liability. Between these two Tackles, they’ll be good enough to protect Dart’s blind side and let Dart play football.
Dart has shown pocket presence. Will his timing need to be refined some more vs 1st string vs 2nd string? Yes. Nonetheless, you can’t buy that ability. He feels the pressure back there and makes the small moves that you need to be successful. Yes, it was only preseason, but there was a play where Dart took two steps back and then took off. South, then north. It was an ad lib adjustment in the pocket that was impressive. If you package this together with his blind side being protected, I would like to think he’ll be ok back there. It’s at moments like these where I quote and requote the great Joe Gibbs (paraphrased): “We’re not going to put our QB back there to pass the ball unless we are able to block it up.” This is fundamental. We as a franchise cannot turn a rookie QB into a David Carr punching bag. Daboll has been a coaching disappointment but at least he tried up until this point to protect his rookie.
If Dart were not ready, I believe Winston would have been started.