Colt Brennan: Possibly not just a product of the spread offense?

     I'm making a list.  The list contains the name of all the sixth round rookie quarterbacks who could have played at Colt Brennan's level from the Sunday night Hall of Fame game in their NFL debut.  It's not long.  Tom Brady comes to mind....after that, I don't know.  It's not just that Brennan threw two touchdowns and completed all of his passes.  It's that he did it in style.

     Nearly every one of Brennan's completions relied, first, on an adept read of the defense, and second, on his incredible touch.  I don't know how many times I saw one of Brennan's throws sail perfectly just over the linebacker to drop over the shoulder of the receiver.  Or hit the receiver in a tiny available space in traffic that he could have thrown a completion.  Or--god help me--even creating on a broken play by scrambling out of the pocket to find a passing lane to throw his second touchdown.  All of these moves required deep understanding of the placing of the defense, receivers, and even blocking lanes.  He made plays that I think other rookies in the NFL will struggle to live up to throughout preseason--even if they are playing against the opposing team's third defensive unit.

      Brennan's performance on Sunday night proves doubters wrong, who said from the combine to the draft that he was too small (not necessarily disproven, since he didn't take many hits Sunday night), and that his apparent skill at the quarterback position in college was a product of Hawaii's spread offense and weak schedule.  If anything, his consistency in Hawaii's passing game has translated into a beautiful touch pass.  As for his ability to read defenses (something college quarterbacks in the spread offense often struggle with), that seems to be coming along just fine.

      All-in-all, it seems like Brennan is poised to surprise a few people in Washington.  He gives the skins a solid number 3 quarterback, and if I were Todd Collins, I'd be watching my back at the number two spot.