When I hear about how popular the NFL is in this country, I am reminded that the ultimate team sport is being judged by individuals who know individuals more than they know team. It has become so glaring that I am convinced they have no clue about what goes into the game. I am not like the insecure who believe the only way you know about the NFL is to have played in the NFL, but it seems some have lost their way.
Example number one, the quarterback. He is compared to everything from John Wayne to George Patton, and yet when it comes to toughness the rules have been made up to give him the most protection of anyone on the field.
Here is one for you. New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has been given all the credit of defeating two Hall of Fame-bound quarterbacks in Peyton Manning and Tom Brady over the last two weeks.
Is that so? Funny, I never saw Sanchez tackle either, nor did I even see him on the field at the same time until the game was over, and yet he gets all the credit for “beating” his opponent in what is supposed to be a team game. Sanchez’s teammates did a masterful job of beating Manning’s and Brady’s teammates. It look like the sacks, hurried throws and interceptions had more to do with their demise than anything Sanchez did.
The defensive linemen versus the offensive linemen had more to do with the outcome of the game than anything else. Why then do we use this statement of a quarterback’s record against another? I think any quarterback is more concerned about the amount of sacks his left tackle gives up. That is more of an indicator on who’s winning. Yet the uninformed will give all the credit to the quarterback.
The offensive coordinator. There is a good one. The guy who calls the plays, the guy who is the brains of regurgitating an offense that has been on the blackboard for years and yet he is a genius. He is only a genius when he has good players.
Ever seen a so-called great offensive coordinator win with bad players? When Mike Holgrem was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, he was considered a mastermind of what Bill Walsh had termed the West Coast offense. He even won a Super Bowl with it. He was a genius. He was so smart he left Green Bay to go to Seattle to coach the Seahawks.
Then broadcaster John Madden said, “If Mike Holgrem intends on having the same success in Seattle as he did in Green Bay, he better take Brett Favre with him, along with some offensive linemen.”
The defenses and offenses of the day have been around for ages. A tweak here and a tweak there, and now a guy is brilliant? Okay, he stayed up later than the guy across the field. If that were the case, then why is it that the guy who stays in his office till late in the morning still gets his brains beat out on Sundays?
Take last year with Steve Spagnuolo. Hard worker, the staff worked hard to get the players ready to play, and when it was all over they had one win to show for it. Funny how when you get a few more good players, things change.
When you read or hear the so-called experts, you can now wonder how they got their jobs as they have turned a team sport into an individual competition. The quarterback position is an easy one to follow with all the ready-made static available to anyone who can count to three. Passer ratings (when have you ever heard a talk show host explain it?), completion percentages, red zone efficiency… just some of the tracking devices implemented to gauge individual success in a team sport.
As important as linemen can be, why is sack totals the only number anyone is enamored with? What about all the plays when an offensive line prevents a sack? What should the percentages be for a key element like that? Too hard to tell because you have to pay attention? Perhaps. Never played the position, even in their youth? An option. Just plain soft from the get-go? I’m getting warm.
