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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 4, 2009

Colt Brennan says he'll return from leg injury; Colt-Chase debate wages


Advertiser Staff

The status of Colt Brennan's leg injury is expected to be updated today and his future could be decided in the next few days.

The former University of Hawaii star quarterback injured his leg in the fourth period of Thursday's 24-17 exhibition loss to the host Jacksonville Jaguars. It was both team's final exhibition game with the regular season starting next week.

Teams will cut down to 53 players as early as today.

According to the team's web site, Brennan left the game in mid-series after aggravating a hamstring injury and appeared to be in discomfort when evaluated on the sideline by athletic trainers. However, the Washington Post reported that it was Brennan's knee that bothered him.

Post reporter Daniel Steinberg reported that Brennan said his knee was sore and had "lost some strength" on the field, and that he was pulled because of his limp.

But he said the injury wasn't serious and he'd be back in a few days, ending a theory about stashing him on injured lists.

Brennan, a sixth-round draft pick in 2008, has been battling Missouri free-agent Chase Daniel for the No. 3 quarterback spot behind Jason Campbell and Todd Collins.

This exhibition season, Daniel has compiled better statistics than Brennan, a preseason standout last season,

The web site said head coach Jim Zorn and the offensive coaching staff will make their final decision on the No. 3 quarterback sometime in the next two days.

But Brennan's injury could potentially land him on injured reserve and give Daniel a spot on the roster.
The injury also allowed Daniel back into the picture.
Daniel entered the game in the first period after Campbell played one series.

In his four series, Daniel completed 3-of-8 passes for 19 yards. He was sacked once, lost a fumble that led to a Jaguars touchdown and was forced to scramble three other times.

His night, and possibly career, might have ended there had not Brennan gotten injured and allowed Daniel to return to improve his statistics.

With 1:54 left in the game, Daniel operated the Redskins’ 2-minute offense.

Daniel hit Anthony Alridge over the middle, and the speedy back reversed field and picked up 26 yards. Then Daniel completed a 25-yarder to Keith Eloi, who made a leaping grab at the Jaguars’ 1.

On 3rd-and-goal, Daniel tossed to Todd Yoder across the middle for an apparent touchdown, but the play was reversed when replay revealed Yoder did not hold on to the ball.

So Daniel came back on 4th-and-goal. He threw to Marko Mitchell, who cut in front of his defender and pulled in the pass for a 4-yard touchdown.

Overall, Daniel finished the game with 8-of-16 completions for 85 yards with a touchdown.

Brennan, who took over for Daniel midway through the third quarter, finished 10 of 14 for 83 yards and no interceptions (He had thrown a pick in each of the three previous exhibition games.)

Early in the fourth quarter, Brennan guided the Redskins for a score, completing a series of passes to Trent Shelton and Marko Mitchell.

Dominique Dorsey capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run up the middle. On the drive, Brennan was 5-of-8 for 58 yards.

“Colt had a really nice drive -- what a nice drive he put together at the end there,” Zorn said. “Chase had a little more difficult time when he first got in the game. They had some starting defensive guys in there and we had a hard time protecting him early, but we got the job done later.”

Brennan finished preseason with 23-of-43 pass completions for 249 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He was sacked seven times. His QB rating was 49.5.

Daniel, who played in just two preseason games, was 14-of-24 for 143 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked three times and his QB rating was 115.1.

"I hope that they can look at the overall picture," Brennan told the Post. "I moved the ball a lot, I kind of got into some turnovers this preseason, but [all] of those could easily be avoided with better decision making and ball placement. And with that said, just look at my overall body of work, from mini camp--which I did really well in--[to] training camp this year, and then obviously looking at overall this preseason. And just realize that he's progressed and he's got a lot of potential."

"I think I played as well as I could, going against their ones, as best I can," Daniel told the Post. "So I just wanted to go out there and try to make it a hard decision for the coaches. You never know what's gonna happen....You've just got to go about it on a daily basis. The NFL's not for long, so you've got to keep your head up, keep going and just move forward."

Campbell told the Post the decision to choose between Brennan and Daniel will be difficult.

"It's a tough decision. I like both of them," Campbell said. "I like the way both of them put in a lot of work and everything they do. I enjoy being around them. It'll be a tough decision, most definitely, but I think both of them, no matter what, I think both of them will be successful."

Details of the game and other information from redskins.com