Monday, December 7, 2009

What Happened To The Running QBs?

Watching the Packers game, I was stunned to hear Aaron Rodgers leads all QBs in rushing. Sure, he's quick and pretty athletic, but he's certainly not considered a "running quarterback."

I remember in college (1995-1999) there was this huge movement that you HAD to get a QB who could make plays with their hands and feet. "Today's defense are way too fast," was the mantra. Thus, all sorts of "duel-threats" were the "future" of the NFL. Guys like: McNair, McNabb, Culpepper, Couch, McNown, Vick, Quincy Carter, Carr, Kordell Stewart, Harrington, etc were the future of the league.

Well, what happened to those guys? Those duel-threat guys didn't do crap. Sure, McNabb and McNair had really good careers....but only after they learned how to throw from the pocket. Even today, take a look at the best QBs in football:

Manning - Basically a statue
Warner - Makes a statue look fast
Brees - Classic pocket passer
Favre - Hasn't left the pocket since about 1998
Brady - The slowest guy in the NFL. Ryan Pickett would beat him in a footrace.
Rivers - Has two left feet.
Big Ben - A Sherman Tank. Just stands there and lets guys bounce off of him
Rodgers - Decent wheels. Probably just running for his life.

Anyway...just thought it was funny how the "future" of NFL QBs were guys that had to make plays with their feet according to all the experts in 1996...Fail.

4 comments:

  1. TIMEOUT! Did you just say Couch, McNown and Harrington were dual threats? This was never a trait associated with these three. Couch set all kinds of SEC records while sitting in the pocket. McNown was so slow he lost his girlfriend to Couch. And Harrington’s only dual threat was he could play the piano. Just ask Murdock. Emmett I like you but sometimes when say stuff like this you loss all credibility on the issues you DO know what you are talking about.

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  2. Come on now. I just watched the 99 Rose Bowl a couple weeks ago. Keith Jackson was gushing about his scrambling ability all game long. Althought Keith could have been senile at that point, McNown did have 12 carries in that Rose Bowl. No, he wasn't Tommie Frazier, but more like a Jake Plummer shifty-type. There's another guy, Jake Plummer.

    I thought Couch used his feet a little bit. The interweb says he had 130 carries his last two years. As for Harrington, yeah, that was a stretch. Point taken

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  3. Playing for the Browns thier first year back in the NFL means carries = escaped the pocket as he ran for his life.

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  4. Calling Joey Heisman a 'dual-threat' QB, isn't a stretch, its outright ridiculous. I'm glad you had the good sense to not imply that Byron Leftwich was also in that category, or I might have fallen out of my chair.

    Vince Young still makes the occasional play with his legs though, and now that he appears to be the established starter for the Titans, he'll likely pass Rodgers in the meaningless 'QB rushing title'.

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