[Kansas City.com] The Chiefs will have plenty of time to get quarterback Damon Huard ready to start on Sunday. Although they haven’t declared starter Trent Green out of the Denver game because of a concussion, the Chiefs are preparing to be without him.
Huard replaced Green in the third quarter of Sunday’s 23-10 loss to Cincinnati. He fumbled twice but threw for 140 yards and a touchdown.
In theory, he should be better off against the Broncos. He not only will get almost all the practice snaps this week, but the Chiefs also will base their game plan around his abilities and not necessarily Green’s.
“He’ll be fine because he knows the offense,” coach Herm Edwards said. “This is the same offense we’ve had for the last six years. This offense hasn’t changed a whole lot, though it didn’t look like it (Sunday).”
The problem for Huard isn’t a lack of familiarity with the offense. This is his third season with the Chiefs.
The problem is that until Green’s injury, he hadn’t played in it, or any other offensive system, in a regular-season game since 2000. Six years, in the NFL, is a lifetime. Some of Huard’s younger teammates were in high school when he last started a game.
“The speed of the game is what backup quarterbacks and other players who don’t play a lot have to get used to,” Edwards said. “The quarterback has to feel the speed of the game and the presence in the pocket. That’s something you can’t get in practice.”
“I’ll just keep plugging away,” Huard said. “I need to protect the ball in the pocket a little better. I’ll just try to move the chains and make first downs and all of that good stuff.”
