Cris Collinsworth: Lack of practice reps why a lot of backup QB’s ‘are fat’

By now it’s pretty well known that backup quarterbacks don’t get a lot of reps in during the season. And during Saturday night’s Peacock exclusive between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers, Cris Collinsworth had an interesting take on what that means.

Chargers quarterback Easton Stick was making his second career start against Buffalo. His first, which came on Thursday night in Week 15 against the Las Vegas Raiders, was an absolute disaster. But the early part of Saturday’s game against the Bills went much better.

Play-by-play man Mike Tirico explained that Los Angeles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore “actually had Easton Stick for a week of practice.”

Collinsworth elaborated on that, saying “When you’re the backup quarterback, you can go months without even taking a single play in practice.”

Tirico explained that while the backup quarterback getting so little practice time “sounds insane,” teams have to be careful about running guys into the ground during the week. That set Collinsworth up perfectly.

“That’s the reason a lot of backup quarterbacks are fat,” he said. “They don’t do anything.”

With both men laughing, Tirico began spelling “Collinsworth,” telling people to “Send ’em to Cris” before finishing with, “I love the backup quarterback.”

Cris Collinsworth: When you're the backup quarterback, you can go months without even taking a single play in practice…that's the reason a lot of backup quarterbacks are fat. They don't do anything.

Mike Tirico: C-O-L-L-I-N-S…Send 'em to Chris. pic.twitter.com/fscnm6gszq

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 24, 2023

[Photo Credit: Peacock/NBC]