Quarterback Cogitations

This is the age of the quarterback. The NFL is now a passing league. The Quarterback is the most important person on the football field. How many times have you heard those sentiments over the past several years? Too often, I’m sure. But the quarterback position truly is phenomenally important, and its significance can often be misunderstood. I had several revelations while watching Sunday’s doubleheader (a rarity for me, I know) about the most deified of athletic positions.
I love stats, I really do. I use them often to support a point or to define an argument. They’re integral in sports talk and every fan worth his salt is a living encyclopedia of them. As recently as last week I was fairly confident in all the statistics we have to define a quarterback’s performance. These include: passing yards, touchdown passes, interceptions, completion percentage, yards per attempt, and passer rating. Those together, give a pretty perfect picture of a quarterback’s day—or so I thought. That assumption has been challenged—not only by the conference championship games but the year as a whole.

Allow me to begin this case study with Ben Roethlisberger; a quarterback, who—at least on the surface—seemed to have a poor game against the New York Jets. His stats: 10-19, 133 yards, 7 ypa, 35.5 QB rating, 11 runs for 21 yards and a touchdown. Those don’t look good, in fact, they look terrible. But the game itself told an entirely different story. How about Ben’s ability to stay upright and move around the pocket—a talent Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees simply don’t possess. What about Roethlisberger’s ability to make plays in the nick of time? That sounds so archaic…I know. If you’re a huge stat nerd you probably exited this site before you even finished this sentence. But it’s undeniable—when the Steelers need a play, Big Ben makes it. (Examples from the AFC championship include Ben’s third and 12 scramble, his touchdown run, and his two clutch throws to end the game)

This isn’t a new idea. It’s called being great in the “clutch” or being unflappable under pressure. Great athletes throughout the years have had it, guys like Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Roger Staubach. These plays that great players make show up on the stat sheet simply as just another play. Think of it in basketball terms: where an athlete’s clutchness is often defined by his ability to make key shots even if he’s shooting poorly. When I guy goes 2-14 for the night, and then hits the game winning three—that’s nerve. Not many people have that quality.

Is all I’m doing rehashing old principles? Fans have always revered athletes that have that certain quality—athletes who relish the opportunity to secure a win with a couple impossible plays. But the quarterback position is often defined simply by the passing yards accumulated, the touchdowns thrown, the interceptions avoided. We simply have no way to define a QB’s clutchness—we need one. Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Mark Sanchez, is some of what they do unquantifiable? Stat geeks mobilize! Too bad I suck at math…

The difficulties of having an immobile quarterback…

The New York Jets defense was able to stonewall first Peyton Manning, and then Tom Brady. Why couldn’t they do the same to Ben Roethlisberger? Mobility.

Michael Lombardi brought this point up on the most recent “B.S Report”. When a quarterback is as unable to create plays on the run as Brady and Manning are, it makes it even harder to beat the man coverage so prevalent in the Jet’s defensive strategy. Man coverage creates some openings that allow a mobile quarterback to run, and big Ben took advantage. New York failed to take Ben’s legs into account, and it cost them. As Lombardi pointed out, they needed to treat Roethlisberger like Michael Vick.

Ben’s ability to avoid the rush and extend the play also played a huge part in Pittsburgh’s win. Not only did his receivers have more time to lose their man, but New York’s defensive backs often bit on Ben’s pump fakes and began cheating off their coverage’s as Roethlisberger moved around the backfield.

Big Ben brings a whole new set of skills to the table…

On Jay Cutler…

2011’s instant classic The Fighter revolves around boxer Micky Ward, a working class man who grew to fame not just because of his talent but his determination. His fighting style revolved around absorbing massive amounts of punishment, wearing his opponent down, and then delivering the knockout blow with a couple viscous right handers. Ward’s ability to get the crap beaten out of him yet triumph in the end is a characteristic that American’s revere and one that has made millions and millions of dollars at the box office.

So it’s no wonder Jay Cutler has been lambasted by the fans and media after he did not return to action midway through Sunday’s NFC championship. I’m sure y’all know the story by now…Cutler was injured in the last drive of the first half and didn’t return to the contest—despite looking quite healthy as he watched the game unfold from the sideline.

It looked more like he was benched, or refused to return to the game (as the Bears were getting blown out by 14-0) rather than being legitimately injured. When most players are injured—scratch that, ALL—one of four things happen. 1) The injured player in question is being carted off the field. 2) He’s getting vigorously worked on by a legion of trainers on the sideline as he grimaces towards the camera. 3) He lies motionless on the field for several long, terrifying minutes. 4) A couple medical staffers aid the injured player as he limps off the field and disappears for the game. What did Cutler do? He stood on the sideline, bundled in a Chicago Bears wind breaker, with the familiar “I’d rather take a ride through a trash compactor than be on this field” scowl.

I’m not going to question Jay Cutler’s toughness based on one game. Throughout his quarterbacking career he’s suffered behind awful offensive lines (going back to his days at Vanderbilt). He’s been sacked 87 times over the past two seasons and missed only one game (after he was sacked 11 times against the Giants)…he can take the punishment.

Do you really think that Cutler’s teammates would have defended him as steadfastly as they did if he did indeed fake (or milk) an injury? Here’s a clue for you: they wouldn’t. It’s common knowledge throughout the sports world that Jay isn’t the most likeable of fellows—making it all the more likely his teammates would simply call him out. We see it all the time; players are people too; if they see something they don’t like on their own team, they’ll let people know. Brian Urlacher—the undisputed heart of the Chicago Bears—would not let Cutler get a pass for faking.

Cutler, we now know, suffered a grade two MCL sprain—which will not require surgery, but takes roughly 3-4 weeks to recover from. Stephania Bell of ESPN said that an MCL sprain restricts lateral movement and makes it difficult to plant full weight through the leg. You can see how that would be quite a problem for a quarterback. Lovie Smith added in his press conference, "You never want a player on the field if he can't protect himself or perform his duties.” Ding, ding, ding!!!

This isn’t to say no one is at fault here. Every single person on the Bear’s PR staff needs to think about where they went wrong in handling this situation. I don’t care if he didn’t need crutches or a massive brace; it looked really really bad from the onlooker’s perspective. At least help the poor guy out and create the illusion that Cutler was severely injured. Cutler—though incapable of playing—deserves some blame also. Not once did we see him pouring over play sheets, or helping Hanie/Collins execute the offense. He gave the whole world the impression he had mentally checked out after his team was getting blown out of Soldier Field.

Please, Jay, make it look like you care…

Defense still wins championships…

It’s so easy to become enticed by all the high scoring offenses that proliferate the NFL these days. But what level of defense do we have in the Super Bowl this year? According to the Football Outsiders DVOA statistic we have the number one (Steelers) and number two (Packers) defensive squads. That’s not to say top ranked offenses can’t win it all either (Green Bay has the seventh ranked offense, Steelers the 5th) but it highlights the importance of defense in what many are proclaiming an offensively dominated league.

That’s partly true, 2010 saw 22 quarterbacks throw for 3,000+ yards—a league record. The 2007 Patriots nearly won the Super Bowl with the best offense ever (still bitter) and games are resulting in higher scores than ever before. But the fact remains, any offense can be stopped. Over the past ten or fifteen years, can you ever remember one that hasn’t been stymied? Bill Belichick engineered a brilliant game plan to shut down “The greatest show on turf” in the 2001 Super Bowl. The New York Giants sacked Tom Brady five times en route to a shocking Super Bowl upset. The only counter I can think of is the 2009 Saints, but they weren’t even the top ranked offense of that season!

So what does this prove? That you need both to win a championship. Anything can be stopped...you’re team better be able to win left handed if a Super Bowl victory is the ultimate goal.

Take it from a grieving Patriots fan…

I’ll leave you with this:

Perhaps the greatest video I have ever seen. Pay attention to Rashard Mendenhall (No. 34) as he jumps on Big Ben’s back. He does something quite interesting…