Matt Moore's injured. Jimmy Clausen's injured. Rather than go with third-string rookie Tony Pike, the Panthers have tapped the immortal Brian St. Pierre, the pride of Boston College.
On the surface, it doesn't make a lot of sense. But look a little deeper, and it still doesn't make any sense. We had to refresh ourselves on why St. Pierre is such a punchline, so we'll present selected Wikipedia excerpts:
"He spent his rookie season as the Steelers' third string quarterback behind Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch. In 2004, St. Pierre made his first appearance in a regular season game. He came in and ran for a key first-down conversion late in the fourth quarter on a two-yard naked bootleg in the season finale against the Buffalo Bills. He finished the game 0/1 passing and he had 5 carries (4 of which were kneel-downs) for -3 yards...St. Pierre was signed to the Steelers' practice squad...He was cut by the Steelers on October 14 and re-signed by the team two days later...He was cut again by the Steelers on November 11 and re-signed with Pittsburgh two days later...St. Pierre completed his first NFL pass on January 3, 2010 versus the Green Bay Packers. Two plays later, he threw his first interception to Tramon Williams...On November 18, 2010 the Carolina Panthers declared St. Pierre the starting QB for their November 21st game against the Baltimore Ravens, despite the fact that he has only thrown 5 pass attempts in his NFL career."
That's actually less experience than Tony Pike, who hasn't impressed anyone, but he's managed that in a lot less time than St. Pierre took to not impress anyone. So it doesn't add up, until you remember they're playing the Ravens. St. Pierre's going to be on his back on every other play, and injured and out by halftime. Pike will get his playing time.