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January 30, 2004
Huard played key role in victory
Pats' reserve QB did excellent job imitating Manning
TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE
HOUSTON
Only one New England Patriot on the active roster didn't play in the AFC Championship game.
Damon Huard.
Yet Coach Bill Belichick singled out Huard after the game as a crucial contributor to the win.
Huard apparently executed a prize-winning impersonation of quarterback Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts all week in practice. And the Patriots were so well prepared by Huard's role, they intercepted Manning four times and won another trip to the Super Bowl.
For the Huard family, the AFC title game was just an elaborate extension of the competitions Damon and his younger brother, Brock, used to have in their Puyallup, Wash., backyard. With higher stakes, of course.
Brock occupied the same role for Indy - backup quarterback - that Damon fills for the Patriots. It hasn't been documented if the Colts lost because Brock failed to do an adequate impersonation of Pats starter Tom Brady in practice.
But having the siblings on opposite sidelines was convenient for a certain group of their closest fans.
"My family were the only people who could reserve their tickets to Houston without worrying (about) the results of the game," Damon said. "They knew one of us was coming either way."
Any sympathy for kid brother?
"Sure, I have been lucky enough to go through this experience before, and I would love for him to have the experience," Damon said. "But if one of us has to make it, why not big brother?"
Damon Huard was on the New England team that defeated St. Louis in the Super Bowl after the 2001 season.
Playing behind Brady, who continues his emergence as a standout in the league, Huard has thrown one pass in the past three seasons.
But the way he approached his job in preparation for the meeting with Manning is emblematic of his value to the Patriots.
"He wanted to give us the best picture he could of Manning, so he studied film on him," said John Hufnagel, the Patriots' quarterbacks coach. "That's his attitude - 'I'm going to do my job, whatever it is, the best I can, and that's the way I can help us win.' "
Huard had seen Manning in action several times when Huard was playing for Miami, so he had a fundamental understanding of his game. But he researched his role much deeper.
"I watched him, I read about him, I tried to duplicate his mannerisms as he got to the line, how he called his audibles, how he handles the ball, all the little things I could come up with," he said.