St. Louis Rams May Have Something In Little-Known QB Austin Davis

By Jordan Wevers
Getty Images
Getty Images

In his first ever NFL start, he wasn’t flashy but no one can say the one-time undrafted free agent quarterback Austin Davis of the St. Louis Rams was not efficient.

In contrast to the play from last week’s starting quarterback Shaun Hill, who left the game with an injury, Davis did a number of positive things in Hill’s absence. Hill started that game only 8-of-13 for 81 yards and an interception. Davis came in in the second half last week against the Minnesota Vikings and filled in rather admirably with a 70 percent completion rate on his attempts for 192 total yards passing. That’s not bad for a 25-year-old thrust into the Week 1 spotlight after halftime.

For starters, Davis separated himself from Hill by putting his team in a real position to win their first ball game of the 2014 regular season on Saturday versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On the Rams’ final offensive series of the game, he completed 4-of-6 passes, allowing kicker Greg Zuerlein the opportunity to kick a field goal and take the lead with under one minute remaining in the ball game — and he connected. A win was a huge thing for the Rams, and Davis was able to deliver even though his defense nearly blew it on a Buccaneers’ rally in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.

Davis chose his targets carefully and did not turn the ball over in the game. He outplayed opposing veteran quarterback Josh McCown, despite not being blessed with as talented wide receivers, such as Vincent Jackson or Mike Evans, to throw to. The efficiency in Davis’ game was evident by his 75.9 completion percentage on his way to throwing for 235 yards.

Davis is a product of Southern Miss, the same collegiate program that gave pro football Brett Favre. If Davis’ career can be half as illustrious as Favre’s, the Rams and Jeff Fisher may want to keep on starting him.

Jordan Wevers is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanWevers, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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