The NFL has taken great pains to make sure that the golden goose that lays the golden egg can never become an endangered species.
The quarterback is the face of the franchise. The quarterback drives the owner’s Brinks truck. The quarterback is the lightning rod. The quarterback is fitted with Teflon to better enable him to withstand the violence that rages all around him.
And yet when Week 12 concludes on Monday night, 8 of the 32 teams’ starting quarterbacks — or 25 percent — will have been backups:
Tim Boyle (Jets), Gardner Minshew (Colts), Dorian Thompson-Robinson (Browns), Will Levis (Titans), Aidan O’Connell (Raiders), Jake Browning (Bengals), Josh Dobbs (Vikings) and Tommy DeVito (Giants).
“It’s kind of ironic, right?” former Ravens Super Bowl XXXV champion quarterback Trent Dilfer told Serby Says. “They changed the game, they made it kind of soft. All these crazy penalties on quarterbacks to keep ’em safe, and they’re more hurt than ever. Funny how that works. … It just shows when you legislate stuff like that without knowing all the reasons … it backfires on ya.”
The NFL is a lesser place without the likes of an Aaron Rodgers and a Joe Burrow. It is not all that surprising that a 39-year-old Achilles (Rodgers) can tear when you least expect it. But how do you explain misery loving quarterback company the way it has?
“I have talked to a couple of coaches and I said, ‘Look, here’s a tape you need to put together,’ ” former Raiders Super Bowl quarterback Rich Gannon told Serby Says. “ ‘I’ll give you three quarterbacks to study over the last decade, OK?’
“Russell Wilson, he’s the best quarterback slider in the history of the game. He knows how to protect himself. Not the biggest guy, but when he got outside the pocket, he got what he could get, and he’d either get out of bounds or slide.
“The other guy on that tape would be Tom Brady. When he got outside the tackle box, he knew there was a problem, and watch what he did when he got outside the tackle box: He threw the ball away, he protected himself, he avoided collisions and unnecessary hits and takedowns to the ground.
“The other guy is Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes has got a suddenness to him, he’s got elusiveness and escapability, he’s got great pocket presence and awareness. He’s a master of his system and protections and stuff. When they get a free rusher, he knows what to do. He knows how to step up, step out, slide, protect himself, throw the ball away. He’s a combination of a lot of things.”
Eli Manning somehow started 210 consecutive games. Brady missed 19 games since he became a starter, and four of them were because of his Deflategate suspension.
“Sometimes the guys that can’t run, they last because they’re masters of the domain, they understand protections, they understand fronts and coverages and pressures and where they’re coming from. They understand third down, they understand who the defensive coordinator is,” Gannon said. “They know what a quick answer throw is. But what they’re not gonna let you do is take ’em to the ground and separate a shoulder, blow out a knee or get concussed — they’re too smart for that.
“Then there’s the other component of it. Both of ’em are tough SOBs. There’s a little bit of luck involved, but there’s some toughness involved to playing that position.”
Inexperienced quarterbacks can be placed in jeopardy by frequent coaching changes and inexperienced coaches. Adding insult to injury is the product on the field.
“We fire six-to-eight coaches every year,” Gannon said. “This year, on offense alone, half the teams have new playcallers. And that doesn’t even count the defense. We have so much turnover in our business.
“And then we got quarterbacks that are going from team to team. You have to be able to identify who the talent is at that position, you gotta be able to get ’em in your building, and then once they get in the building, you gotta be able to coach ’em. And teams are failing, in some cases, in all three areas.
“You’ve got a lot of young guys developing bad habits, and the other thing is, you watch protections, and it is atrocious. You’ve got guys coming free off the edge, quarterbacks getting hit in the back and they have no idea it’s even coming. And I’m not talking about just young guys.
“I don’t think enough coordinators and offensive line coaches spend enough time understanding protections. You have to understand every protection, and then have an answer for every front and every coverage versus every protection. You have to have an answer for every freakin’ thing the defense can do. We always used the expression ‘You have to have tools in your toolbox to get out of a bad play and into a good play.’ To get out of a bad situation into a good situation. These guys don’t even know what a toolbox is. We’re promoting a quality control coach and he’s calling plays. They’re putting these guys in bad positions.
“So guys don’t understand protections, you’ve got some young guys playing, you’ve got some young guys coaching the position. I think a lot of these coaches, their idea is this: We don’t want that responsibility on Zach Wilson, so instead of him having the ability to change protections and audible at the line of scrimmage, we’ll do that. What happens is, you call the blitz beater and they rush three and drop eight, you got a bad play. If you have Aaron Rodgers in there, he can fix it. If you got Tom Brady or Drew Brees or Peyton Manning or Patrick Mahomes, they can fix it. There’s only 60 or 65 plays in a game, and good quarterbacks don’t waste any of ’em. We’ve got poor quarterbacks that are running the ball into a strong-side blitz, they’re dropping back, they’ve got two guys that are free and the protection, they don’t know it. They’re wasting six, seven plays every game.
“It’s absolutely terrible s–t that’s being put out on film.”
Dilfer, currently head coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was 6-foot-4, 247 pounds. “Everybody was 6-3, 6-4, 225, 230 pounds, big, thick joints,” Dilfer said. “Those guys don’t get hurt as much as 6-1 ¹/₂, 6-2, 200-pound guys.
“I don’t recruit skinny, small-jointed quarterbacks because big-jointed, thicker-boned, broader shoulder, whatever you want to say, I don’t think height matters as much, but thicker guys don’t get hurt. Lean guys, narrow guys, get hurt.”
That doesn’t guarantee invulnerability even for a 6-5, 238-pounder like Josh Allen if he neglects protecting himself. “The kid in Buffalo, I love him,” Gannon said, “but it’s not if, it’s when he gets his. He’s gonna get hurt.”
Joe Burrow (wrist), Anthony Richardson (shoulder), Deshaun Watson (shoulder), Daniel Jones (knee), Kirk Cousins (Achilles), Jimmy Garoppolo (back), Ryan Tannehill (high ankle sprain), and Rodgers and Wilson (performance) are spectators. Justin Fields (thumb) and Kyler Murray (knee) recently returned.
“A lot of us didn’t miss seasons for separated shoulders and wrists and fingers,” Dilfer said. “Now Aaron, I think, is an aberration. You get older, the Achilles thing, that happens. But a lot of the stuff is … really?”
A lot of the backup quarterbacks are … really? “If you look at the backup quarterbacks in the NFL, there’s guys in the NFL, I’m like ‘Who is this guy?’ ” Gannon said. “When I came into the league, the backup quarterbacks were like 8-, 10-, 12-year guys. Now we pay one guy $40 million, and pay another $400,000. We’re not doing a good job identifying, recruiting and developing that position.”
Boyle toiled Friday for the Jets. Gannon’s quick scouting report on the seven other Week 12 backup quarterbacks:
Browning: “He understands the offense, he understands the calls, understands the protections. Every time out is a learning experience not only for him, but for the guy who’s calling plays.”
DTR: “The accuracy, the decision-making is a bit of a concern. Didn’t play great last week but got ’em to the finish line. I would say he’s a work in progress, athletic kid that can extend some plays.”
Dobbs: “Really intelligent. … I think his ability to use his athleticism to move around and run around a little bit has helped him. He’s got some physical limitations in teams of his arm talent, but I think he’s a solid backup.”
Minshew: “Players respect him, he’s tough, he’s gritty. You’ve got a chance with him every week. He doesn’t check every box in terms of height and weight and arm talent, but he’s a smart guy, he understands the system, he understands defenses, and the guy’s got a lot of confidence. He’s got a little bit of Brett Favre in him, he thinks he can make every throw, and sometimes that gets him in trouble. When he’s gotten the opportunity to step in, he has handled himself pretty well.”
Levis: “He’s one of these guys that when you’re the youngest kid in the neighborhood he wants to challenge all the kids to see how far he can throw it, he’s that guy. The accuracy and the decision-making and the lack of experience is a problem.”
O’Connell: “He’s got a lot of the intangibles you like — he’s poised, he’s comfortable in the pocket, he’s got good feet, good mechanics, he makes all the throws, he doesn’t get rattled, when he makes a mistake he’s able to quickly turn the page and come back. I think that kid’s got a chance.”
DeVito: “I don’t think he’s ever gonna be a frontline player, but he’s weathered the storm, made some really impressive throws. And I give that coaching staff some credit for hanging in there with him.”
