Friday, 4 a.m.
You've seen this movie before. Wide-eyed kid comes off the bench. He has no resume and few reviews. He is a late-round draft pick who has never started a game, and across the sideline is the guy with the most accomplishments in history.
If you remember, that was the story of Brock Purdy.
Now, it's the story of Trace McSorley, who is trying to spread a little more misery into the nightmarish season of the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Content beyond this point is for members only.
Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo). Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.
Coming in, McSorley sounds a lot like Purdy, who led the 49ers to a thorough 35-7 thumping of the Bucs on Dec. 11. Purdy was a wonder, piling up a 134.0 rating in an easy win.
Now comes McSorley, hoping to double down. He's been in the league for four years, but he's played in just four games. The Bucs need to exploit that.
"The downside for us is the offensive scheme (of the Cardinals), to start with," said defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers. "They have so much quarterback run-game, we were researching him all week. Well, he came from Baltimore, so that’s a quarterback run scheme we’ve seen. He’s very familiar with what they do, so there’s no changes.
"Then, you throw in the four wide receivers they’ve got out there. So, we look at it as the concept as they spread you out to run the ball, so when they put in all those wideouts, we’ve got to match them up. It isn’t like we’re going to have to face a schematic change – they’re going to do what they do. You know, (McSorley) might not be as fast as [Kyler] Murray, but they can run the same play.”
The reality is that McSorley has precious little experience. He's thrown all of 29 passes, and he's never started a game. Of course, Purdy never had, either.
That's the thing about the Bucs. They can play star-maker with opposing quarterbacks, whether they are beginners, vagabonds or castaways. This year, they've lost to P.J. Walker, Jacoby Brissett, Mitch Trubisky and Purdy. Has Tom Brady ever lost to such mediocrity?
Of course. they'e also lost to Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow.
The thing to remember is this: McSorley was a pretty good college quarterback at Penn State. He threw for 9,899 yards and 77 touchdowns in his career. He also ran for 1,697 yards.
Coming into the draft, he went in the sixth round, the 197th pick. If that doesn't sound like much, consider that Tom Brady went in the sixth round, the 199th pick.
“Having a few years under my belt, knowing how the NFL operates, how a week of practice goes, it’ll be my first start but being in my fourth year,” McSorley said this week. “There are things that come with my first start, but (experience) helps me a little bit.”
The experience of the Bucs against pedestrian quarterbacks should leave them nervous. In past games, the Bucs have not gotten to the passer enough with their blitzes and have had soft coverages as a result.
Still, you'd think that the Bucs would be favored, wouldn't you? Of course, you thought that against the Browns and the Panthers and Steelers, didn't you?
If the Bucs are going to make a push for the post-season, it has to start on Christmas Day.
And it has to start by making McSorley look bad.