Cam Newton. Colin Kaepernick. Two quarterbacks, who in the past 5 years have been inevitably linked due to their stark similarities and have both been credited to revolutionizing the way football is played at the QB position.
The similarities between the two are numerous. Both are non-traditional, non-white, non-pocket passing QBs who rely equally as much on their mobility and legs as they do their arm. Both have received their share of unfair criticism regarding their touchdown celebrations, from Kaepernick’s “Kaepernicking” to Cam’s “Dabbing”. Both of their character’s have been questioned, having both been called arrogant and bad role models for the younger generation.
Both have had their successes in the NFL, but as we prepare for the buildup to Super Bowl XL, we see that their futures couldn’t be any more opposite.
The 49ers played one hell of a game, and I’m extremely proud of their resolve and their fight until the very end of the game. If there was ever a loss that could propel a team to victory and greater things, this game would be it.
Today, I think we had a glimpse of what this team can be. The defense obviously is a very strong unit behind the leadership of Patrick Willis, and showed its ability to play well, while limiting the Saints offense to only 287 total yards.
The offense on the other hand was a revelation. The drive on the Niners 2nd touchdown was a thing of beauty with Alex Smith, Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, and Vernon Davis all making big plays to set up Anthony Dixon’s 2 yard run. Today was the first time I saw the new Alex Smith. He was confident in the pocket and made great decisions and showed great awareness. Yes he through two interceptions, but the last one for sure wasnt his fault, and was the result of a great play by the defense.
In order for the 49ers to win, they need to cut down on their mental lapses and mistakes.
1) The opening high snap that resulted in a Saints safety
2) Delanie Walker fumbling the ball in the red zone
3) Philip Adams muffing a punt in the 4th quarter that resulted in a Saints field goal
If none of the mistakes had happened, the game would have been a completely different story. The 49ers need to play with discipline to win.
I also had issues with the clock management at the end. Alex Smith lead a very very impressive drive at the end. 8 plays, 82 yards, in 0:53. Too good…but it was too fast. You can not leave 1:19 on the clock for Drew Brees. On at least 4-5 different occasions, the 49ers ran out of bounds to stop the clock, when they should have stayed in bounds and at least tried to milk the clock a little bit. They should have given Brees less time to work with…at least give him some type of pressure.
Are the 49ers screwed? Nope. Luckily for the 49ers, they play in a very very weak NFC West, where the last 4 division champions won no more than 10 games each. With the Seahawks and Cardinals at 1-1 and the Rams and 49ers at 0-2, it is very likely that this trend will continue for a 5th straight year. On paper, the 49ers are still a lot better than the other 3 teams, and they should still win the division this year.
Next weeks game against a surprising 2-0 Kansas City team is a must win game for 49ers.
i know its been a loooong while since I’ve last updated. Life just forced this blog on the back-burner for the past month. anyhow, with the NFL season starting soon, I give you my predictions.
and i promise a real post will follow shortly…
NFC West: San Francisco 49ers
NFC East: Dallas Cowboys
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC Wild Card: Atlanta Falcons
NFC Wild Card: Minnesota Vikings
AFC West: San Diego Chargers
AFC North: Baltimore Ravens
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC Wild Card: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC Wild Card: New York Jets
MVP: Aaron Rodgers
Offensive Player of the Year: Chris Johnson
Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Willis
Coach of the Year: Mike Singletary
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Ryan Matthews
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Ndamukong Suh
Superbowl Champions: Green Bay Packers over the Baltimore Ravens
so after weeks of speculation about this Pac-16 megaconference, it turns out…nothing drastic will happen. it was nice to daydream this past couple of weeks about what could have been, but in the end, I always believed this was too drastic a change that the chances of this happening was pretty unrealistic.
in the end, the University of Texas decided to stay in the Big 12 of only 10 teams. on a side note, the Big 10 has 12 teams now…go figure.
a recap of what’s happened…
1) Nebraska left the Big 12 to go to the Big 10.
2) Colorado left the Big 12 to go to the Pac 10
3) Boise State left the WAC to go to the Mountain West Conference
All along, Texas kept placing the possible downfall of the Big 12 on Nebraska and Colorado for deciding to leave. However throughout this entire ordeal, it was always Texas that was the biggest key to keeping the conference intact. In the end, yes it was Texas’s decision, and they finally decided to stay.
Why? Money, money, money. All along, I’ve always said its been about the money.
By staying, the Longhorns have re-negotiated their contracts to make an estimated $20-$25 million a year, as opposed to $10-$15 million before. They have also been allowed to create their own tv network that will bring in $3-$5 million a year. On top of that, Texas will keep the buyout penalty that Colorado and Nebraska have to pay for leaving the Big 12.
Another reason to have doubted the expansion rumors to the Pac-10 was the fact that Texas has always been the “alpha male” in its conference. If it had joined the Pac-10, it would have had to compete with equally strong schools such as USC, UCLA, and Stanford (who have won the Director’s Cup for the past 15+ years as the country’s top athletic program). No one in the Big 12 dares to put up a fight with Texas and they just bow down to their presence. On the contrary, there are many schools in the Pac-10 that would put up a fight with Texas.
The ramifications of everything…
1) The Big 10 gets what it has always wanted…Nebraska so they can hold a conference championship game. Ideally they would have wanted Notre Dame, but Nebraska has always been there #2 choice.
2) The Big 12 might turn out stronger with this change. Nebraska and Colorado never really offered much lately to the Big 12 in terms of football or basketball, and with the departure of these two, the Big 12 can now play in a single division. Before they had played in two very, very competitively unbalanced divisions, with the South composed of Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech, and the North composed of teams like Nebraska, Missouri Kansas State, and Iowa State in the other. How unfair were these divisions? The South has won 10/14 championship games, including the last 6.
3) The Pac-10 has to be the biggest loser here. Yeah they were able to bring in Colorado, but they definitely struck out trying to bring the entire Big 12 south to the conference. They are still one team short of a championship conference game, and will have to go back to the drawing board to see who to invite. All guesses will be the University of Utah Utes.
Rumors this entire week have been swirling about what’s going to happen with regards to the Big 10, Big 12, and Pac-10 in the future.
Well in the past 24 hours, two major players made their first move, and now its time to see how the dominoes fall. In a completely unrelated move, another football powerhouse made it huge move.
Here the main things you need to know…
1) Last night, the University of Colorado officially accepted an offer to the join the Pac-10, which I guess will be the Pac-11 right now. Like I mentioned yesterday in a previous post, the Pac-10 had always targeted Colorado because Denver is a significant TV market.
2) Today, the University of Nebraska officially accepted an offer to leave the Big-12 and head to the Big-10 (I’m not sure what they’ll be called. After Penn State joined the conference, they’ve had 11 schools…and were still called the Big-10).
3) Boise State, the nation’s best mid-major conference team (not part of the Pac-10, Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 10 or Big 12), made a move to leave the weak Western Athletic Conference and join the relatively strong Mountain West Conference.
What does this all mean and what’s going to happen moving forward?
1) The Big 12 is officially down to 10 teams, two teams short of what’s required to host a conference championship game. It’s highly unlikely that the Big 12 is going to be able to survive for now, and its more and more likely that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State will follow Colorado and join the Pac-10 to form the Pac-16.
2) With the Big-12 collapsing, there was talk about what to do with their BCS bid. Since the Pac-16 would be powerful, there was even talk about giving two bids to the conference, one each for each division winner, which I think is a terrible idea.
With Boise State joining the Mountain West Conference, I say the MWC gets an automatic BCS bid. If Boise State was in the MWC last season, the MWCwould have had 4 teams ranked in the top 25: Boise State, TCU, Brigham Young, and Utah.
Year after year, these teams continue to show that they have the ability to compete with the major conferences. It’s about time that we reward them.
3) Basketball and small markets get screwed.
This expansion has always been about money, and unfortunately the basketball schools (Kansas) and the small market schools (Baylor) get screwed.
For a program that has such a rich history like Kansas with regards to basketball, it’s kind of sad to see them without a major conference to play in. However, I believe this “homelessness” will be short-lived as the Big-East (a power conference in basketball already) will come along and invite them.
Two days ago, I had written a post regarding the Big 10 and Pac 10 expansion situation, and it seems that things are moving along ahead for a major shakeup.
Some recent developments…
1) It seems that Nebraska will most likely move to the Big 10, as reported by ESPN here.
2) The Pac-10 is in the process of sending invites to 6 Big 12 schools: Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado.
There actually has been a lot of talk recently about who the Pac-10 should invite, Colorado or Baylor. A very prominent Baylor supporter even emailed Baylor alumni in the Texas Legislature to see if they could somehow work to package Baylor with their three fellow Texas schools. If Baylor isnt brought along to the Pac-10, they’re screwed and their sports teams will take a huge blow.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, it all comes down to money and television contracts. The Pac-10 decided to take Colorado because Denver (No 16 in the nation) is a much bigger TV market than Waco, Texas.
3) A report in the NYTimes says that the officials from Texas and Texas A&M will meet to try to salvage the Big 12 Conference.
It’s going to be an exciting next couple of days…that’s for sure!
How will the Pac-16 affect the college football season?
1) There would be two divisions: probably the West and the East. The East would have all the new teams + University of Arizona and Arizona State. The West would consist of the remaining 8 teams from the “Pac-10”
2) Currently in the Pac-10, each team plays all other 9 teams once and 3 other non-conference teams to make up a 12 game schedule.
In the new format, I envision each team playing a 7+2+3 format, 7 teams in their own division, 2 teams in the other division, and 3 non-conference opponents. Furthermore, that would also mean that a) One team would only play a member of the other division once every 4 years and b) they would host this opponent once every 8 years.
3) The winner of each division would play a 13th game in the conference championship.
How will the Pac-16 affect the basketball season?
The Pac-16 would probably just follow the system used by the Big East, which also has 16 teams. Team in the Pac-16 would still play an 18 game regular season. Currently, teams play all 9 other teams, home and away. In the Pac-16, each team would play each other once, and then play 3 of the teams twice. The Big East pairs up teams based on regional proximity and rivalries. For example, the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia are always paired up because of their deep rivalry.
I can envision the following breakdown of 4 regions where the teams play each other twice.
a) The Oregon/Washington schools: University of Oregon, Oregon State, University of Washington, Washington State
b) The California schools: Stanford, California, UCLA, USC
c) The Texas schools + Colorado: Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Colorado
d) The Oklahoma and Arizona schools: University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, University of Arizona, Arizona State.
Today for the first time, I watched a baseball game that wasnt the World Series and didnt involve either the A’s or the Giants. Yes. I watched a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals, arguably two of the worst teams this decade.
Why? Two words. Stephen Strasburg.
Strasburg has been the most hyped baseball prospect since Alex Rodriguez in 1993. During his junior year at San Diego State, he compiled a 13-1 record, a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits, 16 earned runs, 19 walks, and 195 strikeouts in only 109 inning pitched. Absolutely INSANE numbers. He was then drafted #1 in 2009 by the Washington Nationals. In the minor leagues this year, he finished his minor league stint with an overall record of 7–2, an ERA of 1.30, 65 strikeouts and 13 walks in 55⅓ innings, and a WHIP of 0.80. Again. Absolutely INSANE numbers.
Tonight, he made his major league debut pitching against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a sold out crowd, and the entire nation was buzzing with excitement over his debut. Any boy he didn’t disappoint. 7 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 14 STRIKEOUTS, and NO WALKS. In his first game, he set the franchise record with most strikeouts in a game.
His feat is so amazing that there are only 5 other pitchers since 1900 to throw at least 14 strikeouts and 0 walks: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Mike Mussina, Brad Penny. That’s some pretty fine company to have!
Strasburg is the real deal, and he brings a sense of hope to a franchise that has struggled tremendously this decade.
However, this was the 2nd piece of really good news for the club this week. Yesterday in the 2010 draft, the Nationals again had the #1 draft pick, and they drafted a kid named Bryce Harper, who supposedly is one of the best power hitters in recent memory. If both he and Strasburg live up their hype, the Nationals will have such a solid foundation to build a team around and become competitive once again.
Elsewhere around Washington
The excitement in Washington isnt only around their baseball team.
Washington Redskins (football) – This offseason, they fired Jim Zorn, their coach for the past two years, and brought in Mike Shanahan, the former Denver Broncos coach who won 2 Superbowls with the team. Shanahan has to be one of the top 5 coaches in the league right now, and will definitely turn around the team. Not only that, they brought in Donovan McNabb from the Eagles to be their new starting QB, replacing Jason Campbell. Yes McNabb is getting older and he’s past his prime, but he’s still a big upgrade over Campbell. Also, McNabb gives the team at least 2-3 seasons of playing, which is more than enough time to develop their younger quarterbacks, Rex Grossman and Colt Brennan. If these two dont work out, they could also look to draft a QB in the next couple drafts.
Washington Wizards (basketball) – Recently, the Wizards have suffered, mainly stemming from Gilbert Arenas and his injuries/legal troubles. The Wizards used to be a force in the Eastern Conference, but now have struggled to make the playoffs these past two seasons. However, their fortunes changed in April’s draft lottery. Since they had the 5th worst record in the NBA last year, they had a 10% chance of getting the 1st pick (the Nets with the worst record had a 25% chance). However, the Wizards beat the odds and were awarded the #1 pick in the draft, where they’ll mostly likely draft John Wall from Kentucky. He’s the type of player that will be a cornerstone for the team and who you could definitely build around.
Over the past couple weeks, there has been great talk about a reshuffling among the major collegiate conferences in sports, mainly within the Big 10 (Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, etc), Big 12 (Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Kansas, etc), and Pac-10 (Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC, etc). What’s going on and what does it mean for the future of college sports?
All of this is happening because of three related issues: a football conference championship, television contracts, and unequal revenue sharing. It’s a domino effect that ultimately comes down to money.
Realignment because of football? Really? Yes. Football. While basketball and baseball are popular collegiate sports, nothing compares to the cash cow that is football. In the 2008-09 school year, athletic departments from the ACC, Pac-10, Big 12, Big 10 and SEC brought in a combined $3.9 billion. The football departments of these schools alone brought in $1.9 billion. Nearly half the revenue schools bring in comes from football alone. So yes football is king.
Let’s go through this domino effect of events.
1) The Big 10 wants a football conference championship
The NCAA says that a conference needs 12 teams to hold a conference championship. A conference would have two divisions of 6+ teams, and the winner of each division would play in a final championship game.
What’s so great about the conference championship? More money. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) brings in another $15 million for having one extra game.
Three out of the 6 major conferences host a conference championship game: the SEC, ACC, and Big 12. The ACC was previously a 9 team conference until 2004, when they poached Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College from the Big East to get to a 12 team conference.
The Big-10 needs one more team to reach 12, and they have famously gone after Notre Dame many times. However, Notre Dame still wants to stay as an Independent. Now, they’ve decided to go after Nebraska and Missouri, two very strong football programs, who are also very geographically close to the rest of the Big 10 teams.
2) Why would Nebraska or Missouri even want to leave the Big 12 for the Big 10?
Again. money. Nebraska and Missouri would get more money in the Big 10 than in the Big 12.
Why? The Big 10 has equal revenue sharing, while the Big 12 gives more money to the teams that bring in the most. In 2007, Texas and Oklahoma made $10 million each, while Missouri and Nebraska got $9 million. Every team in the Big 10 received over $22 million.
Also, the Big 10 famously has their own tv network/contract that generated $204 million in revenue last year that is split between all 11 teams. Neither the Big 12 or Pac 10 has their own tv network/contract.
3) If Missouri or Nebraska leaves, Texas, Oklahoma, and the rest of the Big 12 will leave
If Missouri or Nebraska leaves, the Big 12 will be down to either 10 or 11 teams, which means the league will not have a conference championship.
Therefore, teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech will be stranded and left out to dry. They have to either
a) Try to convince Nebraska and Missouri to stay
b) Bring in teams to replace them
c) Find another conference
4) The Pac-10 wants exactly what the Big 12 wants/has: conference tournament and a tv network/contract
Like the Big 12, the Pac-10 wants a conference tournament. They currently have 10 teams and need two extra teams to reach 12. For the past year, there has been a lot of speculation about what the Pac-10 would do. One likely possibility was to target Utah and BYU (Pac-10 wants schools in geographic pairs: Stanford/Cal, USC/UCLA, and Arizona, Washington, and Oregon (university of and state).
However, the reason why the Pac-10 wants a conference tournament is to bring in more revenue and to use it as an attractive centerpiece in their desire to get a lucrative tv contract. A lot of people dismissed the Utah/BYU possibility because they didnt believe the Salt Lake City, Utah area was a large enough marketplace and that BYU/Utah weren’t attractive enough to get a lucrative contract.
Couple the Pac-10’s desire to expand with the uncertainty going on in the Big 12, and you got yourself a potentially explosive situation.
The Pac-10 knows that its highly likely that either Nebraska or Missouri will bolt for the Big 10, and they know that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and either Baylor or Colorado or ripe for pickings. The Pac-10 presidents have told the Pac-10 commissioner, Larry Scott, that he can do whatever he wants for expansion, and rumors have it that he will soon send out invitations to all of these schools to create a Pac-16 mega-conference.
5) More domino effects…
a) What happens to the BCS? What will happens to the automatic bids? Who will get bids?
b) What happens to Kansas and Kansas State? They will be the only two teams left from the Big 12, and I can see them being taken in by the Big East…which will make the Big East the ultimate basketball power conference. Kansas, UConn, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Georgetown, Lousiville, Syracuse. Best basketball conference ever.
6) What do I think will happen?
The outcome of this is really hard to predict, because it seems that the Big-10 and Pac-10 are being very serious and aggressive in their pursuit of teams.
Honestly, I really cant see all 6 teams leaving the Big-12 and heading to the Pac-10 to form a megaconference. I think this is way too big of a move to be done in a short amount of time, and I believe the ramifications of this move are just too big to fathom. I just dont believe that this will be feasible.
We’ll find out soon what happens. It all depends on what Nebraska or Missouri want to do. If they stay, we keep our status quo. Else, we’re going to get a shakeup in college athletics.
The NFL draft is less than a week away, and speculation is swirling on the fate of all the QBs in this draft class: Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, and Jimmy Clausen. The biggest question of this draft has to be: “Where will Tim Tebow get drafted?”
If you’ve remotely been following college football for the past three years, you would know that Tim Tebow is arguably one of the greatest college football players of all time. He was a three-time Heisman Trophy finalist, winning it in 2007. He lead Florida to two national championships. He won the Maxwell Award twice (best football player in the country). His trophy and awards list goes on and on and on. He was a dual threat qb, throwing for 88 TDs and running for another 57. In 2007, he set the record for most combined TDs in a season (55).
You would think that after being called one of the greatest college players to have ever played, Tim Tebow would be the top draft pick in the draft this month, go on to be an immediate starter in the NFL next season, and have a productive career in the NFL in the future.
To the shock of many, Tim Tebow isnt the best QB in the draft this year, and some would argue that he’s not even in the top 3. There are some analysts that think Tebow shouldn’t play QB in the NFL and would be better suited being a Tight End or a Halfback.
WHAT?! One of the best college players ever might not even play his position in the NFL? What’s going on?!
Before I move on, take a short quiz for me. For these next 5 players, read their stats and tell me when they got drafted and how their career is doing right now.
1. Timmy Chang – 5 year starter at Hawaii. Completed 1377 out of 2436 passes for 17,072 yard and 117 touchdowns (3rd most all time). Holds the record for most offensive yard (16,910), most career passing yards (17,072), and most career plays from scrimmage (2,587).
2. Graham Harrell – 3 year starter at Texas Tech. All time leader in touchdowns (134), and 2nd in passing yardage to Timmy Chang. Won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which is awarded to the best senior QB in the country. 2008 Gator Bowl MVP and was 4th in the Heisman Trophy voting.
3. Troy Smith – Heisman Trophy winner in 2006 from Ohio State and AP Player of the Year. Consensus All-American. Voted the best Big 10 player of the decade this year. One of the best dual-threat (runner and passer) QBs of all time. Finished his career with 54 passing TDs and 14 rushing TDs.
4. Jason White – two time Heisman Trophy finalist from Oklahoma, winning it in 2003. Two time winner of the Davey O’Brien Award, awarded to the best college football player. Winner of the Maxwell Award in 2004.
5. Eric Couch – Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award winner from Nebraska.
Ok done? How did you do?
1. Timmy Chang went undrafted. He tried to play in the CFL (Canadian Football League) but couldn’t make it there.
2. Graham Harrell went undrafted, and is currently playing for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.
3. Troy Smith was drafted in the 5th round by Baltimore, but is serving as the backup QB to Joe Flacco.
4. Jason White went undrafted in 2005. Gone from football.
5. Eric Couch was drafted in the 3rd round by Saint Louis as a wide receiver. He went on to play as a safety in NFL Europe.
Chang, Harrell, and White weren’t drafted at all…even through 7 rounds! Heisman Trophy winner Couch wasn’t even drafted as a QB. And Smith…one of the most exciting QBs to have played this decade is currently sitting as a backup to Flacco, who went to Delaware, a Division 1-AA school.
This clearly shows that success in the college game does not necessarily translate to success at the NFL level. To understand why, there is only one thing you have to consider: the college offense vs the pro offense.
The College Offense
In the college game, a lot of schools run gimmick offenses, where the QB is often times in the shotgun position, meaning that the QB stands up 5 yards behind the center, as opposed to right behind him (with his hands often touching the center’s thigh/butt). A lot of college teams to use this to either run a spread offense or an option offense.
In an option offense, dual threat QBs have the option to either run with the ball, pass, or handoff to the RB. Troy Smith at Ohio State played out of the option offense, since he was dangerous running or passing. Smith would get the ball 5 years behind the line of scrimmage, see what the defense gave him, and then have the “option” to either run with or pass the ball. Other option QBs who were successful in college were Vince Young and Tim Tebow.
In a spread offense, again the QB would stand in an shotgun formation 5 yards behind the center. The spread offense is a passing-based offense, with 4 or 5 WRs playing at a time, and is dependent on quick, short, precise routes run by the WRs. By standing 5 yards behind the center, the QB would have enough time to see what WRs are open and get the ball to them quickly. Timmy Chang at Hawaii and Graham Harrell at Texas Tech both played in spread offenses, and were able to set numerous passing records. The offense is solely on the passing game, so obviously they were able to set great numbers.
The NFL offense
However, the successful teams in the NFL run a pro style offense, and you will rarely find a successful team running the spread or option offenses. A pro style offense has the QB directly behind the Center, two WRs to the sides, and a RB and Full back behind him. As the QB drops back, in those three seconds, he has the choice to either handoff to his RB or throw a pass to his WR. The defense facing a strong team will have to respect the run and the pass, so in those few seconds as the QB drops back, they are unsure what’s going to happen.
Pro-style QBs are often called “pocket passers.” Most of these QBs operate in the “pocket,” the area that a QB’s lineman gives for protection. As a generalization, they are not the most mobile QBs and wont beat you while running. If you take a look at the QBs who have won a Superbowl in NFL History: Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, John Elway, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw…they are all your traditional pocket passers.
The Two Most Important Skills Sets in a NFL QB
1. Good arm strength/throwing mechanics – Throwing mechanics is very important…however a lot of college players lack the fundamentals of a pro QB. For example, the biggest knock on Tim Tebow is his poor throwing mechanics. See the following video for an explanation.
2. Good footwork – This is one of the biggest issues with QB’s making the transition from college to the pros. With more and more QBs operating out of the shotgun formation, a lot of QBs lack the necessary fundamentals in their footwork that is necessary in the pros.
In the NFL, with the QB mostly under the center and not in a shotgun, the QB must do a 3-step, 5-step, or 8-step drop to give himself room away from the line of scrimmage. The following video at 0:18 shows Steve Young doing a 5-step drop. Note: even though he almost trips, its the most clear example of a drop I could find.
Most college QBs lack the fundamental footwork to achieve these drops…simply because they are not required to do so at the college level.
The Transition Between College and the NFL
Mainly because of footwork and arm strength, and to an extent lack of familiarity/experience in running a non-spread or non-option based offense, there are many great college QBs who have never been able to make the jump to the NFL. Often times, these QBs aren’t even given a chance to succeed. Also realize that the college game is set up such that an amazingly freakish athlete, a la Vince Young and Troy Smith, can still dominate other teams…based on his athletic prowess alone. Not to say that these athletes aren’t talented…they are…its just that when they get to the NFL wherever everyone is very good…their athleticism wont be enough succeed. They need strong fundamentals to make that next step.
The 2010 Quarterback Class
Sam Bradford. Colt McCoy. Tim Tebow. Jimmy Clausen.
This 2010 QB class might be the most hyped up class in recent years, not because of talent, but because of name recognition. I still think that the 2004 NFL draft class was one of the best QB classes (Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger) in a while.
Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame) is the most NFL ready QB out of the four, mainly because he played in a pro style offense under Charlie Weiss (ex offensive coordinator of the Patriots and Jets) while at Notre Dame. He has the arm strength and footwork necessary to be an immediate started in the NFL.
Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) might not be as “NFL ready” as Clausen, but I believe he has greater potential to be a greater QB than Clausen. At Oklahoma, he showed that he had a great arm and great leadership qualities. The biggest unknown is whether or not his season ending shoulder injury during this junior year will have any affect on his throwing.
After Clausen and Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow are the two biggest unknowns. The biggest knock on Colt McCoy is his toughness. He’s by far on the smaller side for QBs. How he’ll be able to deal with the grueling hits in the NFL will go a long way to see if he’ll have a productive career. He has the arm strength and the smarts to succeed. I dont quite know if he has the toughness.
Tim Tebow is probably the biggest question mark this entire draft. He is by far the most athletic athlete out of these 4 QBs but he also lacks the most in fundamentals. At Florida, he was able to pretty much will his team to win and most of the time, he used his insane body to run the ball and crush opposing defenses. However, his throwing mechanics was poor and his foot work was severely lacking. But the one trait that Tebow has that none of the other 3 can match is his insane dedication to his position. This offseason, he wanted to prove his critics wrong, so he worked with a bunch of NFL QB gurus and worked on his throwing and footwork. From what I saw on film from Gruden’s QB Camp, he has improved tremendously! His throwing release is much quicker and his movement on the 8-step drop was insane. It’s one thing to show these changes when you dont have 300 LB lineman after you. How he’ll respond in actual games will be interesting.
It wasn’t long ago that Santonio Holmes and Ben Roethlisberger hooked up for one of the greatest plays in Superbowl history and helped lead the Steelers to their 6th Superbowl title. For his performance, Holmes was named Superbowl MVP. Surely, a play that will be remembered by fans forever.
In a post I wrote last month regarding the Steelers, I mentioned that it would be interesting to see what the Rooney family will do in response to the off-field behavior of Santonio Holmes and Ben Roethlisberger. Holmes and Roethlisberger were both accused of sexual assaults allegations this past summer, though as we’ll find out tomorrow, no charges will be brought up against Roethlisberger. However, in the past week, rumors were swirling that Holmes would be suspended for four games for a drug related incident. He has been a repeat offender, and has admitted on multiple occasions to using (and dealing drugs) in the past.
Finally today, the Steelers traded him for a 5th Round Draft Pick to the New York Jets. WOW. The 3rd most important player on the Steelers, behind Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu, was just traded. The Superbowl MVP for crying out loud. A 26 year old player who is still in his prime. Traded…for the 151st pick in the draft. What a slap in the face to Holmes. This guy has the talent and the ability to the #1 receiver on any team. Talent wise…this guy could be one of the best WR in the next couple years. WOW.
What a message this sends from the owners to Ben Roethlisberger.
“You know what…we just took away your best offensive weapon. We’re not afraid to do the right thing. You dont shape up…we’re not afraid to let you go too.”
Again in my previous post, I questioned if the Rooney family had the balls and guts to do the right thing…to uphold the fine traditions that make the Steelers the class of all professional sports teams…and the finest team out there.
Tonight…they answered that.
WOW. WOW. WOW.
*edit*
1) and what do you know…the New York Jets are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field next season…oh you know Holmes will have this game circled on his calendar.
2) interesting to know that if Holmes does get that 4 game suspension (which it is highly assumed that he will), the next violation after that will result in a 1 year suspension. The Steelers had to be thinking that if was highly likely Holmes wouldnt change…
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