Visions Of Quarterbacks Danced In Their Heads

The Holidays are here. So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

It’s a special time to say the least. Gatherings of friends and family.  Good cheer.

Familiar and wonderful music and decorations.

It also means receiving presents.

What will you find under the tree? Or what did you find if you’re reading this past the 25th?

If you’re an NFL team the best present you could receive would be a franchise quarterback. Some already have one, so they hope for something else.

But those who need one they long to acquire one either through the draft or by an acquisition. For those teams, their Christmas gift may be delayed a bit.

There’s no rush.

Christmas came early for the Minnesota Vikings, for instance, when their backup, Sam Darnold, came through with a sensational regular season. Unexpected perhaps, considering he was merely a journeyman who had fallen flat with his two previous teams. I was on record saying Darnold’s early success wouldn’t last.

I was wrong. He has gotten the Vikes into the playoffs.

On the flip side, the Atlanta Falcons made a huge deal picking up Kirk Cousins from the Vikings. Cousins has had a solid career, never taking his teams as far as had been hoped, but more than respectable. But Cousins has faltered and has been replaced by a rookie, first-round pick Michael Penix, who may be a sleeper.

It’s ironic that the Falcons, preseason favorites in their division are now fighting for their playoff lives, while Minnesota clearly got the better of that deal with Atlanta.

Other happy campers are the Pittsburgh Steelers who made a huge move to pick up veteran Russell Wilson to fill a major gap at quarterback.

Wilson has sparked the Steelers into the post-season.

Washington struck it rich with rookie Jayden Daniels who has taken the mediocre Commanders to the brink of the playoffs.
Then there are those teams who have no chance unless Christmas is kind to them this season.

Those are the Giants, Raiders, Browns, Titans, and Saints.

Hopeful are the teams with quarterbacks who may emerge, hopefully sooner than later. They number the Bears, and Patriots, for example.

A bunch more like what they have and won’t be looking for a QB to unwrap.

They would be the Bengals, Broncos, Chargers, Packers and Rams.

Don’t ask me about the Cowboys. Can anyone figure out their story?

Everyone has an opinion on what makes a franchise quarterback.

I’m no expert, but over the years I’ve talked with enough people who know, to have an idea what counts and what doesn’t.

For instance, if you rate a QB on how great an arm he has, or how many yards he throws for, you are missing the key essentials.

Here’s how football folks rate the most critical position on the team.

1. Winning. If a quarterback wins, he is successful.

2. The ability to guide a team down the field for a touchdown to win or a tie a game.

3. The ability to NOT turn the ball over. This may be closer to the top. Mistakes by a quarterback are fatal. Check out Jameis Winston.

4. Tie that in with touchdown-interception ratio. Would you rather have a QB with 25 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, or one with 18 touchdowns and 3 interceptions? If you chose the first example, think again.

5. Accuracy. Being able to be on the mark, especially with medium throws into traffic.

6. The ability to escape pressure, buying time to find an open target, or to pick up yardage by running.

7. Not force a throw when in trouble.

8. Having the discipline to throw the ball out of bounds instead of taking a sack or forcing a pass.

9. But still knowing that taking a sack when the situation calls for no other choice. It’s okay to punt.

So you ask, what about the ability to throw deep?

The answer may be that many deep throws are set up by play-action, in other words, setting up a running play so the defense closes in instead of playing deep.

Many long passes are successful because the receiver comes back to the make the catch, or simply outruns the defender.

The fact is, winning a game is not about the deep throw exclusively over the effective use of the running game, the short pass,
screens to running backs, and slant routs to the middle, among others.

It’s the execution of the offensive game plan.

I’ve always downplayed passing yardage because if you look at the statistics after the weekend, the leading passers by yards lost the game.

They were trailing and had to throw, almost on every down.

A misleading statistic, indeed.

On the topic of quarterbacks, the best in the league are Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Josh Allen of the Bills.

They lead the best two teams in the AFC, perhaps the entire league.

Mahomes is seeking to lead K.C. to a third consecutive Super Bowl crown.

Allen is looking for his first.

Allen is having a brilliant regular season. Mahomes is now fighting an ankle injury.

The real drama of this NFL campaign is about the health of one, and the continuation of greatness by the other.

The subject in the NFL always starts with the quarterback.

I realize that digging deep in that key position may have our loyal men and women readers who are not football aficionados rolling their eyes.

My apologies to them.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.