Baltimore Ravens quarterback Jimmy Clausen took the first-team snaps in practice on Wednesday as backup-turned-starter Matt Schaub did not practice due to a chest injury.
If Schaub isn’t able to play Sunday and Clausen has to start against the Seattle Seahawks, he would be joining a very rare club.
Clausen also started against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3 for the Chicago Bears. The list of quarterbacks to start games against the same opponent, but with two different teams in the same season is a rather short one.
According to STATS, Inc., via Tim Booth of the Associated Press, only five other quarterbacks have ever had that opportunity in league history.
Kyle Orton was the most recent quarterback to do it and the only one to do it with two separate opponents in the same season. Orton faced both the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders in 2011 as a member of the Denver Broncos. After being released by Denver and claimed by the Kansas City Chiefs, Orton started games against both Green Bay and Oakland before the end of the season.
In 1998, Kerry Collins started games against the Atlanta Falcons as a member of the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints.
In 1991, Chris Chandler started games against the Saints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Phoenix Cardinals. In 1974, Norm Snead started games against the Dallas Cowboys with the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, and in 1962, Jack Kemp started games against the New York Titans with the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills.
If Schaub can’t play Sunday, Clausen will be just the sixth different player in history to join the list.
