All QB projections   •  Current QB rankings   •   All KC projections   •  KC team report   •  KC Stats

QB Damon Huard, Kansas City Chiefs

HT: 6-3, WT: 220, Born: 7-9-1973, College: Washington, Drafted: ---

2008 Projections

2007 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Huard came into this contest following injuries during a preseason where he only made nine pass attempts. He did not win the quarterback job this year as much as Brodie Croyle lost it. At least he finally had his first chance to be the season starting quarterback for a team after ten years in the league. His final statistics were not impressive completing 22 of 33 passes for 168 yards. He did not complete any touchdowns but did throw two interceptions. There is some hope for the future if his receivers can become a little more sure handed. There were far too many dropped passes. Repeated performances like this and there will be no reason not to bring in Brodie Croyle to allow Croyle to learn under fire.

Week 2 - Huard was accurate on the day, completing most of his passes on swing passes to his running backs or throwing quick strikes to his receivers. He looked good on the Chief scoring drive close to the end of the first half when the team went 83 yards in four plays against a soft Bears defense. His lone interception came in the fourth quarter and was the result of an excellent defensive play by Charles Tillman in the end zone to knock away a sure touchdown pass to Sammie Parker. Huard also had a long touchdown pass to Bowe called back due to an illegal shift penalty.

Week 3 - Huard started slowly, but played much better in the second half. He did take care of the ball, not turning the ball over. He missed a few deep passes badly to Kris Wilson up the sideline, leading Wilson out of bounds. In the second half, those deep passes were more often to Tony Gonzalez, and he started having more success. Huard also just missed a touchdown to Gonzalez in the end zone with the ball just out of reach, and Gonzalez looking for a pass interference call. His lone touchdown pass was a jump ball thrown to Dwayne Bowe in the corner of the end zone which Bowe was able to outreach the defensive back for.

Week 4 - Huard didn't look great early on. He was nearly intercepted on a batted ball at the line midway through the first quarter, and wasn't making very many plays to help put his team in a position to score. But he really settled in nicely after halftime. He didn't get rattled despite his team falling behind by ten points, all the while amidst speculation that the team would like to see Brodie Croyle get some game action. So all Huard did was calmly sit back and pick the San Diego secondary apart, much like Tom Brady and Brett Favre did in each of the past two weeks. Huard was given plenty of time to throw, and he beat the Chargers with pinpoint precision and perfect execution. Granted, both of his touchdown passes may have been more a result of superb athleticism by the receiver rather than anything spectacular Huard did, but at least he didn't make many mistakes.

His first half interception was the result of a pass that he threw right off the helmet of LB Shawn Merriman and into the waiting arms of S Marlon McCree. And the one poor play he made in the second half was trying to force a pass into tight space to Dwayne Bowe on a slant. The ball was batted away by CB Quentin Jammer right into the hands of S Clinton Hart for the interception. Of course, one must remember that the Chiefs had just connected on a 51 yard touchdown pass on that very same play on the previous possession, so one can't fault him too much for trying it again. Two potential injury notes regarding Huard: late in the first quarter, he was sacked by Shaun Phillips and fumbled the football. Kansas City recovered, but Huard came up holding his right (throwing) shoulder a bit. It didn't seem to bother him after that, however. In the second half, Huard was knocked to the turf on a pass completion to Dwayne Bowe. Huard banged his head off the ground and looked a bit dazed for a moment, but he stayed in the game without any problems.

Week 5 - Huard was under pressure throughout the game and as such was unable to get into a rhythm. The lack of a running game contributed to his difficulties, but he did have good touch on intermediate passes when given some time to throw. He keyed in on Gonzalez most of the time, but had problems connecting with other receivers, overthrowing several on multiple occasions. Huard left the game in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a right arm problem, as he was seen receiving treatment on that arm on the sideline. He remained on the sideline but was replaced by Croyle.

Week 6 - Huard played a very efficient game against the Bengals pass defense. He did a good job of reading where he was supposed to throw the ball. Huard did get sacked nearly every time he was pressured, failing to show any mobility.

Week 7 - Huard has this game on his record as a win. He played conservatively and did enough to keep close while not making too many mistakes. He did throw one interception, while completing 16 of 31 passes for 177 yards. It was not an inspiring effort from him. It sometimes seems like he plays as well as he is allowed to. He needs to open up more than he did in this contest.

Week 9 - Damon Huard had an average game, which should be considered good considering the lack of a consistent rushing attack that was not able to keep pressure off the passing game. Huard had a hard time getting comfortable in the pocket and appeared to try and move at the first sign of trouble. When he did find time to throw, he heavily relied on Tony Gonzalez to gain the yards needed to either get a first down or to be placed in favorable second and third down situations. As an example of the type of day that Huard had, his two interceptions directly led to 14 points, including the game clinching interception that was returned for a touchdown.

Week 10 - Huard may have seen the end of his days as the number one quarterback in Kansas City. He has struggled most of this year leading the offense and has heard the repeated calls that he step aside to make room for Croyle. Prior to being knocked out of the contest by the Broncos, he had completed only six of fifteen passes for a mere 83 yards while being intercepted twice and fumbling once.

Week 13 - In fairness to Huard, there aren't many quarterbacks in the league that could have withstood the pounding he took from the San Diego pass rush and live to tell about it. That being said, he didn't help his case much by failing to do much of anything to help his team win. Huard's statistics look decent enough, but most of the time he was simply dumping passes off on short routes to Dwayne Bowe and/or heaving a prayer downfield time and again (prayers that were answered more often than not by TE Tony Gonzalez). Gonzalez was by far his favorite target, as he saw twelve of Huard's passes on the day. Huard caught a bit of bad luck early in the game when WR Eddie Kennison dropped what would've been a sure touchdown in the end zone, a play that left Huard visibly frustrated and angry while walking off the field. But he can't complain, because he also had the good fortune to have Jared Allen, typically a defensive end, line up at tight end for a two yard touchdown pass into the back corner. The pass by Huard was very well thrown, but the sliding grab by Huard was fantastic -- so again, it's tough for Huard to complain about the hands of his receivers considering he had a DE make the best catch of the day for him. As noted above, Huard was sacked repeatedly by San Diego defenders, and HC Herm Edwards had no answers to stop or even slow the Chargers pass rush. Additionally, if there is an all time world record for most passes batted down at the line of scrimmage by the opposition, Huard may be getting close to it. During one stretch, he had more passes sent back in his own direction than made it downfield. Late in the game, Huard appeared to injure his hand and he was replaced by Tyler Thigpen.

Week 16 - Huard came on in relief and looked fantastic for the remainder of the first half. He mounted two strong touchdown drives before halftime. He finished the game completing 24 of 36 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns, but his success was in the first half with wide open play calling. In the second half, it seemed the Chiefs went back to conservative short passing calls and except for one drive, they were unable to mount anything complete. With little to lose, it seems that perhaps whoever the Chiefs start at quarterback, he should be allowed to open it up for all four quarters.