Quarterbacks of destiny?

Football season is my favorite season, but I chose to refrain from making any observations concerning preseason activities until things shook themselves out. I suppose the most obvious observation to make is in regard to the quarterback situation on several teams. Now, back in 1999 Oliver Stone released a football film called Any Given Sunday. Jamie Foxx starred as a “quarterback of the future,” likely based on “prototypes” which that year included Randall Cunningham, Kordell Stewart, Steve McNair, Rodney Peete and Tony Banks; the film made a conscious effort to differentiate “new” and “old” school quarterback, with “new school” quarterbacks as much “athletes” who were running threats as well as passers. 

Out of all of these, only McNair would make it as far as the Super Bowl. As it turned out, the immediate future was not quite ready to be taken over by the “new school” quarterback, but after the apparent success of the likes of Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick, it appears that every team without an established “traditional” passer is aching to get their hands on one, if for no other reason but to excite the fan base. 

At least three other teams are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle this season, the New York Jets with Geno Smith, the Oakland Raiders with Terrelle Pryor, and the Buffalo Bills with EJ Manuel. None of these quarterbacks were particularly impressive in the preseason. Smith, for example, threw three interceptions and “scored” a bone-head safety in his last start preseason start; Smith, as one may recall, was the leading Heisman Trophy candidate last season after putting up mind-boggling numbers against awful defenses (like Marshall’s 103^rd ranked defense, Baylor’s 123^rd,  Kansas’116^th,   and subdivision James Madison’s). But he quickly dropped out of contention after losing five straight games against the cream of the Big 12. 

But for some reason people think Smith is the future, and Mark Sanchez is the “past.” Sure, Sanchez played well enough to reach the AFC Championship game his first two seasons, but commentators and fans thought this wasn’t good enough, when it took Peyton Manning nine seasons to reach the Super Bowl. But during the past two seasons, Sanchez received the brunt of the blame on a team with substandard offensive weapons and poor offensive line play; while fans and commentators joked about Sanchez, they had surprisingly little to say when after he was benched last season, backup Greg McElroy was sacked a record-tying eleven times against San Diego. 

This year, it was no secret that new Jets general manager John Idzik wanted Smith installed as starting quarterback, even to the point of having him play injured. After Smith was pulled against the Giants, Sanchez was inserted behind a backup starting line, which in retrospect was a move criticized by many, including Joe Namath. Sanchez injured his shoulder on what was clearly a dirty play by the Giants’ Marvin Austin, who simply bulled into Sanchez well after he had thrown the ball; perhaps it was his way of “helping” his man Geno secure the starting job. In any case, Jets owner Woody Johnson had the mendacity to say that Sanchez should have “protected” himself on the play, and it is clear that the Jets are willing to toss him off into the trash bin. It is a sorry way to treat a quarterback who has won as many playoff games as all the rest of the team’s quarterbacks in their entire history. 

Meanwhile, in Oakland it seems that Matt Flynn has lost out yet again after being the “presumptive”: starter going into training camp. I’ve been on Flynn’s side from the start, but he has again been upstaged by another more “exciting” quarterback, this time Terrelle Pryor, who one may remember was booted off Ohio State for violating NCAA rules. Like Smith, Pryor was not impressive during the preseason, but his ability to “make plays” running downfield has Raider fans dreaming of another Wilson, who “beat out” Flynn for the Seattle job. Technically, Flynn supposedly has arm problems, and this may be true; but Flynn’s 480-yard, 6-TD performance the last time he was called upon to perform in a game that counted is a distant memory, and nobody seems to know or care how he did it. He’s too bland and vanilla, and Pryor is “exciting”—or at least some people think he is—and this is enough for the short term. 

Over in Buffalo, it seemed that Jeff “Tuel time” was canceled now that former Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel has recovered enough to play. ESPN’s Adam Shefter said it was his “destiny” to be the Bills’ starting quarterback, but Manuel was hardly impressive during his two preseason games; his numbers were “conservative” to say the least, only 199 yards passing on 26 completions. But again, he is the “type” who has fans and commentators believing that this kind of “athletic,” running quarterback are not just the wave of the future, but can be simply plucked like an apple from a tree if you only have the wherewithal to take the leap. 

Whether or not this fascination with the second wave of  “new school” quarterbacks will have the longevity of the first wave is an open question. The Green Bay Packers showed how a quarterback like Russell Wilson can be neutralized during their preseason game against Seattle, but the true test will be how they contain Kaepernick in the season opener against San Francisco on the road. If the Packers can contain him and actually win the game, then it may have the effect of showing other teams how to delay “destiny” once again,