Week 11 Lookahead Widespread QB injuries have shaped 2015

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The quarterback wave hit its most Quinton Spain Jersey evocative nerve this week when a miserable , confronting his and perhaps his football mortality, admitted that by he had hurt his team. Manning has been benched -- let that sink in -- and it is unclear when, or if, he will be healthy enough to return, particularly if starting this Sunday .Manning's sudden physical demise is only the most high-profile case in what has been a brutal year for quarterback durability, particularly for playoff-caliber teams. returns this week after mi sing two months with a broken clavicle to find a team that went 0-7 without him while enduring a sometimes comical struggle to replace him. What the and ever-optimistic owner Jerry Jones learned, what the entire NFL is finding out now, is what everyone has suspected all along. Unle s you have a backup quarterback who can win games, an injury to your starting quarterback will devastate your season.Entering this week, it is expected that 11 teams will have had to use backup quarterbacks because of injuries to their starters this year. And if that isn't enough, the and have had to use two different backups. The results have been predictably dispiriting. According to NFL Network research, the backups are 6-17 so far, with 19 touchdowns and 18 interceptions thrown. Only the ' maintains an unblemished record at 2-0. Six of the backups did not win even one game, including, most memorably, the ' and . The ' Michael Vick (2-1) is the only other backup with a winning record in games in which he has played this year.If it seems as if the injury report has more quarterbacks on it than usual, it's not an illusion. According to NFL Network research, in the entire 2014 season, nine teams had to start backups because of injuries to their regular starting quarterback. In 2013, it was 10 teams."And you know they have put so much effort into protecting defensele s quarterbacks and police it well now," one AFC team's personnel executive said. "It's almost a heightened sensitivity to it."Dallas is barely alive only because the rest of the , too, and Romo acknowledged this week that the ' dire situation plays a role in the timing of his return. The 35-year-old QB Xavier Su'a-Filo Jersey said he cannot know for sure if his clavicle is fully healed."You won't know," Romo said. "Honestly, every time you come back, there's going to be a few weeks where you're risking it -- that's part of when you come back from a collarbone in seven or eight weeks, whatever. Always, the re-breakability is going to be there. That's a real thing, it happens all the time, but you've got to go play. We don't have much wiggle room."The have a little more and may survive Manning's deterioration only because -- and Manning in one throwback game -- helped them to a three-game lead in the AFC West. Still, it is almost impo sible to imagine the , despite a championship-caliber defense, making a run under these conditions at the game's most important, and seemingly vulnerable, position.In Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, strong playoff expectations have been imperiled by the health of the starting quarterbacks. is out for what could be six weeks , placing the fortunes of the in the hands of the 40-year-old Ha selbeck. The most telling part of that: Of all the teams struggling with quarterback injuries, the might have the best backup plan. Unle s it is , who when the starter hurt his ankle. The (, ), (, ) and (, ) all have banged-up starters whose availability going forward will go a long way to determining their postseason viability.The NFL has long struggled with how to manage the backup quarterback spot. Ironically, the might be in the best position now precisely because things went so poorly when Manning suffered the neck injury that so drastically altered his career. Until he mi sed the entire 2011 season in Indianapolis, Manning had mi sed exactly one snap Jake Browning Jersey in his pro career due to injury -- a broken jaw -- affording then- president Bill Polian the luxury of e sentially ignoring the backup role for years. After Manning was hurt -- and the collapsed to a 2-14 record with Curtis Painter, and Kerry Collins -- Polian, who had by then been fired, told coach Marvin Lewis that he would still be in the ' front office and not working on television to be Manning's backup in the spring of 2011. That cautionary tale is one reason why current general manager Ryan Grigson was so intent on finding an experienced and capable backup for Luck.Grigson was fortunate to lure Ha selbeck to be Luck's backup. But last summer, Todd Haley, the ' offensive coordinator who's had to ready Vick and Jones to replace Roethlisberger this season, forecast the problem he and the rest of the league have faced this season."Let's start with there's not enough good quarterbacks to begin with," .Three more things to watch around the NFL in Week 11:There are three critical games to watch this weekend -- and part of what makes them so compelling is that all six teams have healthy starting quarterbacks.1) There's been a momentum shift in the NFC North. The , the receivers to get open and the defense hasn Cincinnati Bengals Women Jersey 't gotten a sack in that span. While that's been going on, the have . With a one-game lead in the division, the have a chance to put the in a hole and will use , who is averaging 107 yards per game, to try to do so. The ' bigger concern may be whether their offense can get anything going against a Minnesota defense that is and has allowed 23 or fewer points in each game this season.2) Injuries could play a role for New England . It's hard to imagine the losing at home to the after dominating them for most of the game in Buffalo , but the thing to watch is how the Pats adjust their offense, which is now mi sing and , who accounted for 47 percent of New England's scrimmage yards in that early-season game. Largely overlooked in the shadow of the ' offense is that the scoring defense -- and New England's . That's a problem for the , who would prefer to run first and have gained at least 100 yards in eight of their nine games. They'll try to put the game in the hands Jonah Williams Jersey of , who probably will have trouble getting out of the pocket against this defense.3) said this isn't just another game. Even if the ' quarterback wasn't talking about his , he'd still be right. The and are two of the most well-rounded teams in the NFL -- both with , the with the and the with the . The are coming off a lethargic performance in their first lo s of the season, though, which has rekindled the talk that they, and quarterback , are not quite ready for prime time. Dalton, who is tops in the league pa sing against the blitz, could see plenty of it from the , who have the third-highest blitz frequency on pa s plays in the league. Cincy's defense has not allowed more than 24 points this season, but the , with Palmer throwing downfield, have scored at least 30 points this season and have allowed just 17 points per game at home.Follow Judy Battista on Twitter .