Who was the Best Saints Backup Quarterback in Team History?

No, he was just a completely ineffective NFL QB outside of the 1978 and 1979 seasons. Same reason I don’t call Chuck Muncie the greatest RB we ever had outside of Deuce, or Wes Chandler the best WR outside of Eric Martin. I mean, I suppose I COULD use all the same excuses for those guys … and probably SHOULD, considering they both went on to do pretty well for the Chargers. That’s more than I can say for Manning with the Oilers and Vikings. I think I’ll do that from now on. Every time we have a discussion about the best all-time Saints players, I’ll be sure to issue all those Stram-Nolan-Phillips era guys a sympathy pass to the medal round, being that they were on the same crappy teams Manning was.

My dislike for the Manning kids stems indirectly from the inexplicable adulation of Archie. In my mind, it’s like someone calling Reggie Bush Jr., the “next big thing” based of his bloodlines. Peyton’s at least shown that he’s worthy of the praise, based on his play. I don’t view Eli any differently than I view Matt Hasselbeck, or someone along those lines. On top of which, my dad can’t stand Archie, so that’s rubbed off on me over the years. Plus, the whole throwing their weight around episode with the Chargers. They just seem like an overhyped collection of good ol’ boy tools, imo.

I voted for Jake, if I had a second vote…i would have gone with Wilson. Job of a backup is to be able to step in when needed and perform. Jake proved after he left the Saints that he was more than capable of doing that. Wilson did the same with the Vikes. Brunell had a good career as a starter, but came to us after years and years of decline, hence why he doesn’t qualify in my mind. Fourcade was serviceable, but never proved much, and I don’t remember Bobby Scott so i can’t comment on him. There you go…i shared.

while Archibald milked his shoulder tendinitis

As if it was no more serious than tennis elbow. An ow-ee.

The very best right now is Manning, the six-year vet from Mississippi who sat out last season following surgery on his right shoulder. That was Stram’s first year with the Saints, yet Manning learned the complicated offense just by watching. “Archie works the system like syrup on pancakes,” said Stram. “He’s a lot like Lenny Dawson up at Kansas City—cool and smart, excited by complex formulas—but he’s bigger and stronger than Lenny, blessed with a better physique. Heck, he’s 6’3” and 200 pounds, but he runs the 40 in 4.6 seconds. He moves very well, by design. Picks up secondary receivers as well as anyone I’ve worked with. On a play-action pass to the left last week against the Giants, with short yardage, the back slipped, but Archie picked up right away. He improvised and took it in for a score. We won that one, by the way, 23-7."

Paul of New Orleans asks if Archie, the dad, was the most sacked QB of all time when he was struggling with the Saints. It’s possible, but they seldom kept sacks by quarterback in those days. They didn’t keep them by sacker, either, until 1982, 11 years after Manning entered the league. I saw him take some awful beatings. In fact I remember a Rams game when it was so brutal that the Ram rushers, Jack Youngblood in particular, took pity on him and started letting him down easy.

No quarterback ever took a worse beating over a prolonged period of time than Archie Manning did when he was with the Saints. I saw one game when the Rams had all those great pass-rushers, Jack Youngblood and Larry Brooks and those guys, and they actually felt sorry for Archie and they stopped hitting him and were just kind of wrapping up and letting him down easy.

I didn’t say he didn’t, but I’d call “milked it for all it was worth” quite an exageration unless you have some pictures of him skipping physical therapy to help a buddy move a couch.

Wade.

Dave was pre-Hebert (overlapped as a backup), Wade was post-Hebert. Easy to remember, as they fall aphabetically.

There was also a RB during Dave Wilson’s era named Wayne Wilson. Just thought I’d mention that, so I could see your head explode.