johnsmith
01-10-2013, 09:54 PM
http://deadspin.com/5974789/save-the-black-quarterback
Good opinion piece. Avante, don't bother reading it because you'll just say something stupid afterwards, and Trill Clinton, you may as well not read it either, they don't make it a racist issue at all so you won't like it.
It's been 25 years since Doug Williams won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins, the first and only time a black quarterback has won a Super Bowl. This is not a good thing. We should have had another one by now. In a perfect world something like this doesn't matter, but every year that we go without a second black QB winning it all reinforces the idea in racists that you cannot win with a black QB at the helm. Because I promise you, there are still plenty of people out there who believe just that. The question is: Why hasn't it happened again? Is it just bad luck? Or are there more concrete reasons why? Drew Magary writes for Deadspin and Gawker. He's also a correspondent for GQ. Follow him on Twitter @drewmagary and email him at [email protected].
There are eight quarterbacks left in the NFL playoffs. Six of them are traditional pocket passers, all white guys. The other two—Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson—are African-American QBs who operate in offenses that include read option plays (Kaepernick more than Wilson). Another playoff QB who ran the read option—Robert Griffin III—was just dismissed from the playoffs after having his knee explode.
I want to believe that someone like Robert Griffin III is so talented that he can revolutionize the way football is played, just as Michael Vick promised to do. I want to believe this because watching teams run the pistol option is awesome, much more fun than watching Joe Flacco stand back there like a penis. There have been a zillion new rules implemented by Roger Goodell to cripple NFL defenses, and for a moment this season I thought that perhaps those rule changes would make it easier for teams to have long-term success in a system where the quarterback runs more often than the average pocket passer. But last weekend pretty much proved that wrong.
History has shown, time and again, that you don't win Super Bowls with this kind of hybrid offense. RGIII's long-term potential was just potentially compromised because his coaches had him running the football—including option plays!—when he barely had a leg to stand on. Why the fuck did they do that? Isn't that breathtakingly stupid? Colts quarterback Andrew Luck ran a 4.6 40 at the NFL combine, just .2 seconds slower than Griffin. But Luck attempted roughly half the number of runs (62) that RG3 did (120) all season long. In fact, Luck's 62 rushing attempts this season are nearly identical to Aaron Rodgers's rushing attempts over the past five seasons (56, 58, 64, 60, 54). If the Packers let Rodgers run 120 times a season, Mike McCarthy would be murdered. The Colts ran a couple of read option plays for Luck this season, but not nearly as often as the Redskins did. Why were Luck and Rodgers given better protection than Griffin?
I think (WARNING: ignorance ahead) that black quarterbacks are still getting hosed when it comes to being groomed as pocket passers. I think coaches look at white quarterbacks and think to themselves, "Whoa hey, we can't have him run." Luck and Aaron Rodgers are both capable of running the ball effectively, but their coaches happily sacrifice that part of their game because they know that, ultimately, their QBs will need to win games mostly by throwing the ball. But coaches look at black QBs and think to themselves, "Wow, look at him run! I'd be a fool not to use that part of his game!" I don't think this is overt racism at work. I think this is a case of typecasting. Why did Mike Shanahan run an option play with Griffin barely able to walk? Because he couldn't help himself, that's why. He thinks of RGIII as a multi-purpose threat and can't see him any other way.
If Griffin's destiny is to become a pure pocket passer, then his training should have begun immediately. There shouldn't have been this period of, "Oh, well let's have him run NOW while he learns to pass because he's awesome at running." That kills his progress, not mention his ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, XCL, ZCL, and NRDCL.
I guarantee: When RGIII returns to the field, the Redskins still won't be able to help themselves. They'll have him do a couple of read options because it looks great, and what's the harm in doing it just a few times? Then RGIII will succeed doing it, and it'll be, "Well, what's the harm in doing it just a bit more?" And then we're right back where we started. That's the cycle. Russell Wilson has already shown he can be brilliant as a pure passer, but he ran the ball 94 times this season, and averaged more attempts the last five weeks of the season than the first five. He's running more, and there's no guarantee that he'll be able to withstand it, no matter what the new rules are.
It's not just the responsibility of a coach to limit how many times a QB runs, of course. Running the ball is often a decision made by the quarterback himself. And RGIII has already proven that he's fond of taking off from the pocket when it suits him. But it's a coach's job to say to him, "Don't do that a lot," and I don't think the Skins were complaining much when Griffin was winning games by ripping off 76-yarders. It's hard to say no to that. Impossible, really. The problem is that, when a team and QB win games that way, the more they become convinced that they can ALWAYS win games that way. And how many times have you heard announcers talk about the "added dimension of the running game," as if a quarterback who can run and throw is clearly more dangerous than a quarterback who can just throw brilliantly? That's the fallacy. All that running is a grand distraction, preventing a mobile quarterback from becoming a BETTER quarterback.
At some point, there will be a team that decides to start implementing run counts for its quarterbacks. They won't go by feel, or the flow of the game. They will say to their head coach, "This player will have a maximum of 20 designed runs over the season and 40 scrambles. No more than that." It won't be a perfect method, but at least it will establish a clear goal that both coaches and QBs will have to try to stick to. The framework right now is so loose that teams end up running their mobile QBs far more often than they should because they have no willpower. They fall pray to the idea that the game is evolving when it really isn't.
And if Kaepernick and Wilson get bounced from these playoffs sometime in the next two weeks, we'll again be treated to a Super Bowl featuring two upright white dudes battling it out. Since Williams's Super Bowl victory, there have been a grand total of two black quarterbacks to make the Super Bowl: Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair. That's it. To call it bad luck is wrong. There's a reason for it. Black quarterbacks have been treated as mobile QBs (and have often treated themselves as mobile QBs) for so long now that the idea that black QBs are SUPPOSED to play that role has become more and more ironclad. And the longer it goes on, the longer the black QB Super Bowl drought will continue, with racists holding it up as proof that black quarterbacks are selfish, unintelligent and undisciplined. I don't want that. I don't want to live in a world where Pro Football Talk commenters feel validated.
Good opinion piece. Avante, don't bother reading it because you'll just say something stupid afterwards, and Trill Clinton, you may as well not read it either, they don't make it a racist issue at all so you won't like it.
It's been 25 years since Doug Williams won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins, the first and only time a black quarterback has won a Super Bowl. This is not a good thing. We should have had another one by now. In a perfect world something like this doesn't matter, but every year that we go without a second black QB winning it all reinforces the idea in racists that you cannot win with a black QB at the helm. Because I promise you, there are still plenty of people out there who believe just that. The question is: Why hasn't it happened again? Is it just bad luck? Or are there more concrete reasons why? Drew Magary writes for Deadspin and Gawker. He's also a correspondent for GQ. Follow him on Twitter @drewmagary and email him at [email protected].
There are eight quarterbacks left in the NFL playoffs. Six of them are traditional pocket passers, all white guys. The other two—Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson—are African-American QBs who operate in offenses that include read option plays (Kaepernick more than Wilson). Another playoff QB who ran the read option—Robert Griffin III—was just dismissed from the playoffs after having his knee explode.
I want to believe that someone like Robert Griffin III is so talented that he can revolutionize the way football is played, just as Michael Vick promised to do. I want to believe this because watching teams run the pistol option is awesome, much more fun than watching Joe Flacco stand back there like a penis. There have been a zillion new rules implemented by Roger Goodell to cripple NFL defenses, and for a moment this season I thought that perhaps those rule changes would make it easier for teams to have long-term success in a system where the quarterback runs more often than the average pocket passer. But last weekend pretty much proved that wrong.
History has shown, time and again, that you don't win Super Bowls with this kind of hybrid offense. RGIII's long-term potential was just potentially compromised because his coaches had him running the football—including option plays!—when he barely had a leg to stand on. Why the fuck did they do that? Isn't that breathtakingly stupid? Colts quarterback Andrew Luck ran a 4.6 40 at the NFL combine, just .2 seconds slower than Griffin. But Luck attempted roughly half the number of runs (62) that RG3 did (120) all season long. In fact, Luck's 62 rushing attempts this season are nearly identical to Aaron Rodgers's rushing attempts over the past five seasons (56, 58, 64, 60, 54). If the Packers let Rodgers run 120 times a season, Mike McCarthy would be murdered. The Colts ran a couple of read option plays for Luck this season, but not nearly as often as the Redskins did. Why were Luck and Rodgers given better protection than Griffin?
I think (WARNING: ignorance ahead) that black quarterbacks are still getting hosed when it comes to being groomed as pocket passers. I think coaches look at white quarterbacks and think to themselves, "Whoa hey, we can't have him run." Luck and Aaron Rodgers are both capable of running the ball effectively, but their coaches happily sacrifice that part of their game because they know that, ultimately, their QBs will need to win games mostly by throwing the ball. But coaches look at black QBs and think to themselves, "Wow, look at him run! I'd be a fool not to use that part of his game!" I don't think this is overt racism at work. I think this is a case of typecasting. Why did Mike Shanahan run an option play with Griffin barely able to walk? Because he couldn't help himself, that's why. He thinks of RGIII as a multi-purpose threat and can't see him any other way.
If Griffin's destiny is to become a pure pocket passer, then his training should have begun immediately. There shouldn't have been this period of, "Oh, well let's have him run NOW while he learns to pass because he's awesome at running." That kills his progress, not mention his ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, XCL, ZCL, and NRDCL.
I guarantee: When RGIII returns to the field, the Redskins still won't be able to help themselves. They'll have him do a couple of read options because it looks great, and what's the harm in doing it just a few times? Then RGIII will succeed doing it, and it'll be, "Well, what's the harm in doing it just a bit more?" And then we're right back where we started. That's the cycle. Russell Wilson has already shown he can be brilliant as a pure passer, but he ran the ball 94 times this season, and averaged more attempts the last five weeks of the season than the first five. He's running more, and there's no guarantee that he'll be able to withstand it, no matter what the new rules are.
It's not just the responsibility of a coach to limit how many times a QB runs, of course. Running the ball is often a decision made by the quarterback himself. And RGIII has already proven that he's fond of taking off from the pocket when it suits him. But it's a coach's job to say to him, "Don't do that a lot," and I don't think the Skins were complaining much when Griffin was winning games by ripping off 76-yarders. It's hard to say no to that. Impossible, really. The problem is that, when a team and QB win games that way, the more they become convinced that they can ALWAYS win games that way. And how many times have you heard announcers talk about the "added dimension of the running game," as if a quarterback who can run and throw is clearly more dangerous than a quarterback who can just throw brilliantly? That's the fallacy. All that running is a grand distraction, preventing a mobile quarterback from becoming a BETTER quarterback.
At some point, there will be a team that decides to start implementing run counts for its quarterbacks. They won't go by feel, or the flow of the game. They will say to their head coach, "This player will have a maximum of 20 designed runs over the season and 40 scrambles. No more than that." It won't be a perfect method, but at least it will establish a clear goal that both coaches and QBs will have to try to stick to. The framework right now is so loose that teams end up running their mobile QBs far more often than they should because they have no willpower. They fall pray to the idea that the game is evolving when it really isn't.
And if Kaepernick and Wilson get bounced from these playoffs sometime in the next two weeks, we'll again be treated to a Super Bowl featuring two upright white dudes battling it out. Since Williams's Super Bowl victory, there have been a grand total of two black quarterbacks to make the Super Bowl: Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair. That's it. To call it bad luck is wrong. There's a reason for it. Black quarterbacks have been treated as mobile QBs (and have often treated themselves as mobile QBs) for so long now that the idea that black QBs are SUPPOSED to play that role has become more and more ironclad. And the longer it goes on, the longer the black QB Super Bowl drought will continue, with racists holding it up as proof that black quarterbacks are selfish, unintelligent and undisciplined. I don't want that. I don't want to live in a world where Pro Football Talk commenters feel validated.