I couldn’t agree more! Trent was a top-2 NFL QB in Kansas City once he settled in. Those amazing Dick Vermeil offenses made for a lot of fun games. Unfortunately, the horrific defenses led to even more heartbreak.
I actually wrote a little about Trent (I’m sure there will be more in the future) in a Chiefs Chronicles from last year:
I won't provide too much detail here (this series exists to provide such detail), but I will say that between 2001-2005 (all of Trent's Chiefs career before the concussion) he ranks second in EPA/Play amongst QBs (min. 1000 plays), behind only Peyton Manning, and ahead of Kurt Warner (LOL), Steve McNair, Rich Gannon, Marc Bulger, Chad Pennington, and Tom Brady, so you're bang on with top two.
Three of those players I mentioned won MVPs, one of them (Pennington) should've won one. Marc Bulger replaced Trent in STL, and Tom Brady's name is Tom Brady. People chose each and every one of these QBs (except Chad) over Trent at some point in this era, for either an award or a roster spot, and they were all wrong. That's why we need to get on (more accurately, commandeer) the Trent hype train.
I've only gotten halfway through your piece, but wanted to share that my dad and I were sitting on the couch watching that 1998 game versus the Giants. Green came in, as you said, and we couldn't stop him. My father was prone to exaggeration in his fan capacity, something that made it fun to watch games with him, and he said, "This is the best quarterback in the history of the NFL." We were terrified of Green and had no doubt he would prove to be the goods. What a terrible way that would have been to have a victory stolen from us (we were Giants fans, obviously), losing to this guy who came from nowhere. It was obvious from the beginning that he totally had it, that he was uncanny. It was one meaningful completion after another, bing bing bing. I didn't know he had been around pro football quite as long as you report, however. I would have probably said it was his second or third year in the league if someone had asked me before reading your piece, and I didn't know he'd been cut by the CFL.
I bet you were happy when Trent left Washington after the season too, but yes. By the time this game happened he was 28 already. I don't even think Joe Burrow is 28 yet. Trent may also be the only QB ever to come back from being released from the CFL. Normally that truly is the death sentence for a football career, but even that couldn't hold our man down.
I couldn’t agree more! Trent was a top-2 NFL QB in Kansas City once he settled in. Those amazing Dick Vermeil offenses made for a lot of fun games. Unfortunately, the horrific defenses led to even more heartbreak.
I actually wrote a little about Trent (I’m sure there will be more in the future) in a Chiefs Chronicles from last year:
https://open.substack.com/pub/chiefschronicles/p/chiefs-chronicles-nfl-week-13?r=2xorbz&utm_medium=ios
Thanks so much for the subscribe. It means a lot!
I won't provide too much detail here (this series exists to provide such detail), but I will say that between 2001-2005 (all of Trent's Chiefs career before the concussion) he ranks second in EPA/Play amongst QBs (min. 1000 plays), behind only Peyton Manning, and ahead of Kurt Warner (LOL), Steve McNair, Rich Gannon, Marc Bulger, Chad Pennington, and Tom Brady, so you're bang on with top two.
Three of those players I mentioned won MVPs, one of them (Pennington) should've won one. Marc Bulger replaced Trent in STL, and Tom Brady's name is Tom Brady. People chose each and every one of these QBs (except Chad) over Trent at some point in this era, for either an award or a roster spot, and they were all wrong. That's why we need to get on (more accurately, commandeer) the Trent hype train.
I've only gotten halfway through your piece, but wanted to share that my dad and I were sitting on the couch watching that 1998 game versus the Giants. Green came in, as you said, and we couldn't stop him. My father was prone to exaggeration in his fan capacity, something that made it fun to watch games with him, and he said, "This is the best quarterback in the history of the NFL." We were terrified of Green and had no doubt he would prove to be the goods. What a terrible way that would have been to have a victory stolen from us (we were Giants fans, obviously), losing to this guy who came from nowhere. It was obvious from the beginning that he totally had it, that he was uncanny. It was one meaningful completion after another, bing bing bing. I didn't know he had been around pro football quite as long as you report, however. I would have probably said it was his second or third year in the league if someone had asked me before reading your piece, and I didn't know he'd been cut by the CFL.
You can say you called it!
I bet you were happy when Trent left Washington after the season too, but yes. By the time this game happened he was 28 already. I don't even think Joe Burrow is 28 yet. Trent may also be the only QB ever to come back from being released from the CFL. Normally that truly is the death sentence for a football career, but even that couldn't hold our man down.