Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Two games into the preseason and the Atlanta Falcons have yet to win a single game. On one hand, however, another quarterback not named Matt Ryan is putting on a quiet, yet solid preseason for the Dirty Birds.
Now not many people know or have even heard of quarterbacks Dominique Davis or Sean Renfree, but the Falcons are hoping that they can pan out to be dependable backups for their franchise player in 2013. Atop the depth chart as the backup quarterback for Ryan is Davis for the time being, as he has been playing better and getting the majority of the snaps with the second team.
In their upcoming 2013 NFL season, if anything happened to Ryan, lets just be honest and say that the Falcons’ season is completely over.
Now with that being said, if Ryan happened to get injured and miss a couple of games, I believe that Davis would be a capable quarterback in his absence where he would be able to do decent job considering the situation.
Taking a look at both quarterbacks, in their preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Davis was 8-of-19 for 78 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while the rookie Renfree saw limited action going 2-of-4 for 20 yards.
While we can agree that these stats are far from spectacular, Davis has shown growth as he is entering just his second year with the Falcons. While Renfree seems to be more of a pocket passer, Davis has flashed in small chunks his athleticism as a dual-threat quarterback.
In their second game against the Baltimore Ravens, Davis displayed some great moments in both the pocket and his running skills in avoiding the pass rushers. There were times where he looked rusty, but for the most part, Davis was on target, hitting multiple receivers during his time of play.
Davis went on to connect 8-of-10 passes for 98 yards, with a passer rating of 107.5, which is a solid stat line. His counterpart, Renfree, was 8-of-16 for 63 yards. Davis also carried the ball three times for a total of 13 yards, with his longest carry going for eight.
Today in the NFL, with so much relying on the arm of the quarterback, teams who have great backups are truly the ones that have a luxury because of the insurance they fulfill just in case their star quarterback goes down for a couple of games.
In 2013, the Falcons are hoping that Davis can be their insurance guy that should anything happen to Ryan where he has to miss a couple of games, he can fill in and help stabilize the Falcons in his absence.
The greatest strength of a team most of the time is their quarterback, but that is also their greatest weakness. Davis has played an all-around good game in the past two preseason games, and the Falcons are hoping that he continues his development as a quarterback for the foreseeable future.
Daniel Chi is an NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielChi24, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
