Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE
After a horrible start by incumbent starter Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs fans started clamoring for backup Brady Quinn to be named the new starter.
For better or worse, they’re about to get their wish.
In actuality, the Quinn era started with a thud two weeks ago in yet another embarrassing loss, this time to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The difference between that game and Sunday’s game against the Raiders is that Quinn will have had a lot more time to prepare, thanks to the Chiefs having their bye last week.
“I think you’ve got to try to prepare yourself like every rep is a game-type scenario,” said Quinn via KC Chiefs.com. “You want to do the best you can to prepare yourself for the same circumstances that you’re seeing out there in practice as far as what you do, how you read, how you drop, if you change something, and that’s how you have to go with that approach.”
Quinn realizes the importance of Sunday’s game, not just for his own career, but also because of the Chiefs/Raiders rivalry.
“It’s big time. Getting the opportunity to start, having it be the Raiders, a divisional opponent, an opponent that goes back a long ways in history, being a rival of this club, it means a lot. So, we’re doing our best to prepare right now, put in a good game plan. We feel confident going into the game, and we’re trying to get a win.”
The Chiefs have come off a lot more positive this week in their quotes. In past weeks, it seemed they were always talking about how to fix what was wrong. Now they seem to be focusing on projecting positive vibes heading into the weekend.
Sometimes a win can spark a momentum swing. Quinn is right. Sunday’s game is big time.