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February 24, 2015Bruce Feldman’s new book, The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks, is described on Mr. Feldman’s website as “… a modern-day tale about the making of the next superstars in football’s most important position: The quarterback.” But as you read about this world (mostly through the eyes of the private quarterback coaching industry) it becomes apparent that the “next superstars” are not so much being “made” as marketed. Whether Mr. Feldman intended it or not, his portrayal of this subculture reveals another facet of how 24-7 media coverage, big money and celebrity hype have overwhelmed the world of team sports.
From the moment I saw the book’s cover, I wondered whether it contained anything at all to teach about what really makes a successful quarterback … or how to find one. On the book’s first page in the Prologue the author says that quarterback is the hardest position in sports to evaluate and that college and NFL teams fail “at a stunning rate in their evaluations of the QBs they selected …” I wrote in the margin next to that sentence, “and what constitutes failure?” Mr. Feldman’s answer: “In the twenty NFL Drafts prior to 2013, fifty quarterbacks were selected in the first round, and about 40 percent of them proved to be busts, while only six of those fifty ever started – and won – a Super Bowl.” There’s plenty to digest in this book between the Prologue and its last page (294) but it’s hard to come away from it without the feeling that if you win, maybe you’re a good QB. If you win a Super Bowl maybe you’re an elite QB … depending on what the media has to say about it.
But first a historical digression…
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“In the twenty NFL Drafts prior to 2013, fifty quarterbacks were selected in the first round, and about 40 percent of them proved to be busts, while only six of those fifty ever started – and won – a Super Bowl.”
— Bruce Feldman
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“You just sent Mike Phipps out to get his gas tank filled up?”
“Well, I wasn’t gonna do it!”
I really should have said, “Welcome to Cleveland!” but I felt like I had already annoyed him enough and that presuming to talk about his private life might be unwelcome.
Anyway, you get the picture. In January that year the Browns had traded future Hall of Famer, Paul Warfield, to the Miami Dolphins for the third overall pick of the NFL Draft, Mike Phipps. Phipps had just finished an outstanding career as QB of the Purdue Boilermakers, following the graduation of Bob Griese. In 1969, his senior year, he finished second in the voting for the Heisman. He was 6-3, 208, had great passing skills, excellent mobility and he led his team to some big wins. The Browns QB was Bill Nelson whose career, the Browns figured, couldn’t last much longer because of multiple surgeries on both knees. So Phipps was seen as the Browns’ quarterback of the future.
And he had just moved himself to Cleveland with a U-Haul truck. Without an entourage.
So, some things change … and some don’t … as we shall see later when we return to Mike Phipps.
If there is a protagonist to Bruce Feldman’s book it’s probably Trent Dilfer. Dilfer was the sixth overall pick of a weak Tampa Bay team in 1994. Eventually, he won a Super Bowl with Baltimore in 2000 but the Ravens didn’t re-sign him beyond that year and, from that point on, he played for Seattle, Cleveland and San Francisco. Along the way he got labeled as a game manager-type quarterback, never able to break into the “elite” category. He retired from the NFL before the 2008 season.
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But in “The QB” Dilfer plays a starring role as the front man and “head coach” of a group called, Elite 11, said to be the first and premier high school quarterback competition organization. Included in its stable of coaches is George Whitfield. There’s a chapter devoted to Whitfield who is known as the “Quarterback Whisperer.” The book documents other such organizations around the country, including a camp run by the Manning family, the family of Archie, Peyton and Eli, and endorsed by the Luck family. It includes a fascinating account of Peyton’s legendary devotion to preparation. There’s also a chapter on former Major League pitcher, Tom House, whom Dilfer says is “sports’ greatest biomechanics guy ever to walk the earth.” House calls himself a “rotational-athlete evaluator.” There are also numerous conversations with private coaches who, when they’re not working with groups and camps, take on private clients ranging from 8-year-olds to guys in the pros.
As Bruce Feldman describes the development, “An entire industry had sprung up in the 2000s to nurture quarterbacks in an attempt to cash in on sports’ ultimate lottery.” There is, of course a fair amount of competition between these groups (some friendly, some not) and each engages in their fair share of self-promotion. There is also some strain in relations between college coaches and private coaches, as when a college player, speaking to the media, refers to working with “Coach” so-and-so (a private instructor). Naturally, the college coach is left to wonder, “I thought I was his coach.”
“The QB” relates a number of entertaining stories about quarterbacks of the past and present. Tom Rossley, for instance, a very good QB in college who had to play behind future first round pick, Greg Cook, was the QB Coach for Brett Favre at Green Bay. He was also Johnny Manziel’s first QB coach at Texas A&M. In trying to pin down the number one characteristic of a successful QB, Rossley goes through the list: Footwork? Arm strength? Accuracy? Height? Body Type? No, actually, it’s “magic.” “You gotta wow me when you’re competing.” How do you perform in tight games, when your team is trailing, on third downs, when you’re on the road?
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Steve Clarkson is another interesting story. Mr. Feldman calls him “the marketing whiz and the de facto godfather of the private QB coach business.” Plenty of others come into the business because there are large sums of money to be made and because there is a demand for their services. Miami offensive coordinator, Gary Stevens, in the late 80’s, lamenting the lack of time college coaches had with their players, said that quarterbacks needed to come in already fundamentally sound: “Unless you’ve got Bernie Kosar, who is basically smarter than the coaches, you can’t make up for your lack of fundamentals.”
In addition to all the attention paid to the QB guru class, Mr. Feldman also boasts on his website that his book reflects “unparalleled access to Heisman Trophy-winning phenom Johnny Manziel.” There is, in fact, a great deal written about Manziel in this book, much of it very unpleasant. For Browns fans, however, it’s worth mentioning that Manziel’s Pro Day on March 27, 2014 went very well under the tutelage of George Whitfield. The Browns, however, were one of only two teams who weren’t in attendance. They conducted a private workout later, on Saturday, April 19 … without having arranged for any wide receivers to be present. And they had trouble locating a football.
After the Browns drafted Manziel it came out that Joe Banner had “outsourced a study of the quarterback position that cost $100,000.” It was completed after Banner was fired but the “advanced-metrics study” recommended Teddy Bridgewater as the best QB prospect in the draft.
“The QB” is organized around the competing personalities of this narrative and not around finding a consensus regarding the principles of good quarterbacking and good evaluation. Each expert’s story is presented, his own priorities, preferences and opinions. Each has his own drills that clients are put through. There is some overlap but the gurus are very intent on creating their own brand, and part of creating one’s own brand seems to be creating one’s own jargon, much of it offered up without definitions. Trent Dilfer seems to lead the league in “Dilferisms.” But to him, the most important characteristic leading to success is confidence. To Chip Kelly, it’s the intangibles and intelligence. To wunderkind saber metrics guy, Matt Richner, a key factor is a QB’s completion percentage on third down. To former NFL Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach, Cam Cameron, it’s best to test the young QBs by putting them under stress. “I want to blitz them [in practice] every single down from the day they walk in.”
To “quarterback consultant” and Dilfer protege, Jordan Palmer, it’s not about “magic” at all. “I think you need in today’s game to be more of a problem solver than a magician.” Then, after discussing the plusses and minuses of several college QB’s getting ready for the 2014 NFL Draft, he states the most salient, if not profound, opinion: “It’s still a crapshoot.”
And here, I would offer a pet peeve about the commentary on quarterbacks and one of my reservations about the book. In my view, one of the most significant attributes a quarterback can possess is how quickly he gets rid of the ball. And yet, this subject is nowhere to be found. I thought for a moment that Mr. Feldman was addressing it in his interview with Matt Richner, who describes a metric he uses called “Snap to Pass,” but this turns out to be a measurement from the time the ball is snapped by the center to the time the pass is released. I’m referring, however, to the amount of time it takes from the moment a quarterback begins the passing motion to the moment the pass leaves his hand. The “Snap to Pass” metric contains so many variables as to make it more a measurement of a team’s offensive system than of a quarterback’s decisiveness and arm quickness. The West Coast Offense will have, by its very nature, a shorter snap-to-pass time than the system in use by teams who throw the long ball more often. A weaker offensive line may actually improve such a stat by requiring a QB to get rid of it — or get sacked. But purely in terms of a quarterback’s own release speed, Dan Marino had the quickest gun I’ve ever seen in an NFL quarterback. The ball just seemed to shoot out of his shoulder. And I would hazard a guess that none of the great ones had a slow delivery. I would have loved to ask any of the NFL coaches or QB gurus in Mr. Feldman’s book, do you measure this? Do you teach it? Can you teach it? Who, amongst the current crop of QB prospects do you think has an excellent quick release speed? We’re talking fractions of a second, of course, but isn’t that the idea? See open receiver, hit open receiver.
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On occasion, and perhaps unintentionally, Mr. Feldman discovers a nugget of truth about this business of the QB. George Whitfield, when he senses one of his QB clients is getting down on himself and taking the full blame for whatever has gone wrong with his team, says, “You always want to bring them up to the 30,000-foot view, because they almost always think it’s just them … ” In the interview with Craig Nall, the former blue-chip recruit recounts how he picked LSU over Florida where it looked like he could be a starter for three years. But later, LSU brought in Josh Booty. He had more hype. So Nall transferred to a lower level school, performed very well and was drafted by Green Bay in the fifth round in 2002. He began his NFL career behind Brett Favre and 34-year-old Doug Pederson. In spite of his progress, each time it looked like he would move up on the depth chart, the Packers would bring in another QB to test, first Akili Smith, then Tim Couch. Both were cut. But then the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers. As for his own career he said, “Had I gotten drafted someplace else, who knows? Had I gone to Florida instead of LSU, who knows?”
The QB position is unlike any other position in sports, the most influential, the most impactful.
Along those same lines, in 1983 the Baltimore Colts, at the time one of the worst teams in the NFL, made John Elway the first overall selection of the NFL Draft. But Elway, having also played baseball in college, was also drafted by the New York Yankees who believed that the sky was the limit for Elway’s baseball career. In effect, Elway used his potential career in baseball as leverage to get himself traded away from the Colts to the Denver Broncos. The question: What if Elway had played for the lowly Colts? Would he be in the Hall of Fame today?
Returning to our old friend, Mike Phipps, when he came to the Browns they were still a competitive team, making it to the playoffs in 1971 and ’72. Phipps’ record as a starting QB was 10-3 in 1972 but the Browns’ fortunes were heading south. They were aging and their handling of the draft was abysmal, trading away draft picks for journeyman players and often missing big-time when they did make a pick. From 1972-75 Phipps was sacked 128 times. The 44 sacks he endured in 1973 led the league. In the first game of the 1976 season, Phipps looked as sharp as he ever would with the Browns but he suffered a separated shoulder in that game and in came Brian Sipe. Looking at the career of Mike Phipps from the 30,000-foot view reveals that he played for a Browns team that was in decline, that just wasn’t very good. The Browns had a weak offensive line and a weak stable of receivers. Some of Phipps’ greatest plays were made while running for his life.
These little asides illuminate what Urban Meyer said during last year’s run-up to winning the College Football National Championship after Braxton Miller and J T Barrett went down and Cardale Jones was preparing for Wisconsin … he said QB’s are, essentially, the sum of the parts around them. I would assume Meyer meant not only the quarterback’s teammates but also his coaching staff.
Two of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, Archie Manning of the New Orleans Saints and Bert Jones of the Baltimore Colts, will never get the props they’re due. Manning’s career stats are unimpressive: 125 TDs, 173 INTs, with a QB rating of 67.1. But years later he gets some well-deserved recognition for how well he played for some dreadful teams. Bill Belichick called Bert Jones the “best pure passer” he ever saw. Some highly respected names in the NFL felt that, had Jones played under “different circumstances” (meaning on a decent team) he may have been the greatest player ever.
Bruce Feldman echoes the sentiments of the cast of characters in his book when he says that the QB position is unlike any other position in sports, the most influential, the most impactful. Perhaps it is, but maybe the point has been overplayed. At any given time on any given Sunday, a great running back, behind a dominant offensive line can take over a game. A wide receiver or linebacker can become unstoppable. A defense can be so well prepared that they become impenetrable. Sure, who wouldn’t like to draft the next superstar quarterback? But who in the world would think that a rookie college quarterback, even a great one, will turn an otherwise below-average team into a Super Bowl contender? And who in the world would think you can’t win a Super Bowl without a superstar at QB?
Who indeed?
19 Comments
Speaking of Browns QBs…http://national.suntimes.com/nfl/7/72/694723/johnny-manziel-rehab
I agree that the point has been overplayed. Franchise QBs are rare — and always have been. So coaches have to figure out a way to win without one. Heck, anybody can coach an offense that has Peyton Manning in it. But if you don’t, you have to get creative.
There is nothing sacred about today’s one-feature-back pro-style offense. So concentrate on building your offensive line and try running a two-back set at times. Or a three-back set with lots of motion and lots of options. Revive the wildcat. There are lots of things you can do while you’re waiting for your franchise QB to fall into your lap.
It doesn’t make sense to tell Brian Hoyer to run the same offense that Aaron Rogers does.
Agree about circumstance. Few fans today know how great Archie Manning was – no great QB ever had less to work with, had to do more by himself or took a worse beating on the carpet-over-concrete that was his home turf. I’m always glad to see that he retained his gray matter, was a post-career success and obviously raised a nice family.
But Mike Phipps as a victim of circumstance? Uh, no. He couldn’t read a defense, couldn’t improvise, lost the starting job to Sipe and regained it again before he was hurt after a very short run of good games. The Browns handed him that job, needed him to “get it” (after sacrificing Warfield in the trade) and he never significantly improved, ultimately couldn’t hold off a competitor drafted in the 13th round. He had fewer good games than Derek Anderson, way fewer than Scott Mitchell. He was just another strong-armed bust.
You mentioned the offensive line. I think this is highly relevant:
1. Great QB + bad OL = great QB sidelined by injury and a lousy offense.
2. Bad QB + great OL = a workable running game and a mediocre offense.
Just because the QB position is the one most likely to be holding the ball doesn’t make it the most important spot. And if you need proof of that, compare the Browns last year before and after Alex Mack went down.
“So coaches have to figure out a way to win without one. ”
I believe this has been Pett and Ray’s mantra from day one.
A
“the most superlative…the most impactful…the most” SUPERLATIVE. – which means you got a big nasty-ass microscope on you 24/7.
– gooooood luck.
What a great article. This is why I follow WFNY.
I would love to apply this paradigm to the 2014 browns and the play of Brian Hoyer. In the first 1/2 of the year, you could say good, B+ QB play lead the browns to a 6-3 record. This was a “sum of the parts” performance. As the sum of the parts declined due to injury and failed performances (Gordon) you saw Hoyer’s performance fall as well. If only we could have plugged a great QB into the mix to see how big a difference they would have made.
I really believe that Cleveland is a perfect team for a QB to take over and blossom. Good, almost Great offensive line, Multiple running backs, Defense that won’t turn games into shoot outs, and one receiver away for a good receiving corps. Get the right Vet, have Manziel recover from his Football coma, or Draft a prospect that develops and something great could happen.
Thanks much for the comments, Harv. Here’s a link to an interesting 1977 article from the Chicago Tribune after Mike Phipps was traded to the Bears. It includes quotes from Blanton Collier about Phipps. My comments about him as a Cleveland Brown were not to suggest that he would have been a great QB for the Browns if only … (I’m no crystal ball gazer) but rather that it’s impossible to evaluate quarterbacks in a vacuum. And, unless the QB in question is a guy like Bobby Garrett (Browns’ No. 1 overall pick in 1954) who had a severe speech impediment and just couldn’t call plays in the huddle, it’s pretty difficult to say, “Well, that guy was never gonna work out.” The quality of their teammates — even players on defense — adds immeasurably to their success. Feldman’s book, unfortunately, seems to repeat incessantly the mantra that has dominated the QB discussion for decades, that a QB’s success is pretty much his and his alone to make or break — and, by the way, a QB guru could very well put him over the top. In fact, isn’t it a commonly expressed opinion that you’ll never really have a championship team without that superstar QB? As for Phipps being unable to “hold off a competitor drafted in the 13th round” (Brian Sipe) this is another line of reasoning promoted by big media, as if it’s a game of one-on-one. “Sunday, tune in. The big match between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.” Brian Sipe ended up winning the MVP award in 1980. Not MVP of the Browns — MVP of the NFL! How did he do that? First and foremost he had a great offensive line which was particularly good at pass protection. He also had a very solid receiving corps. Was he that much better than Phipps? Who knows? That’s why in my article, Craig Nall and Cam Cameron get quoted. “Who knows?” and “It’s still a crapshoot.” http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1977/05/05/page/55/article/inconsistency-not-always-phipps-fault-collier
In my last para (just before the “Who indeed?”) I listed circumstances that can win a championship without necessarily having that Hall-of-Fame QB. I was thinking of December 27th, 1964.
That link is a great find, Richard. Doesn’t change my opinion at all – he was dumb in a football sense. Scrawny little Sipe was as good or better given the same teammates, and then excellent when the roster was upgraded. I generally agree with your overall premise, just not in Phipps’s case. I save my doubt for guys like Couch. He was mentally tougher and more competitive than Phipps, and had the cajones to lead a few comebacks. Phipps was a big strong guy in perpetual shell shock.
Btw, the Browns somehow got a first round pick from the Bears for Phipps, which they turned into Ozzie Newsome. Wouldn’t it have been something if they could have done that with the Trent Richardson trade.
Oh, brother … what a GM could do with a time machine. Remember the 1960 film with Rod Taylor, The Time Machine? As a kid, whenever I fantasized about going back in time, did I think of influencing WWII or saving President Kennedy? No, it was more like please, please, don’t trade Roger Maris!! Don’t trade Bobby Mitchell!! With that Trent Richardson draft choice, however, did a GM really need a time machine?
Really great, and interesting, article.
Loved the Phipps story.
And while Tim Couch was NOT a bust, I do firmly believe he’d have had a GREAT career with a good team.
Also- Is it me or does Cardale Jones have an extremely quick delivery? Pitchers who are as tall as he is seem to have a long delivery, with moving parts that can get out of whack.
Hey, Greg, I’ve been enjoying reading through your past articles and I really liked the one about Blanton Collier, which I read this morning. It gave me the idea to look for something Collier may have said about Phipps — which led me to the 1977 Chicago Tribune article I shared with Harv below. So thanks, and thanks.
WelI, I would not say Cardale’s delivery is real quick. It seemed faster at times because he just hurried it up on occasion during those few games I saw. But overall speed-of-release-wise, I’d call him average. But I’ll tell you who’s out there right now who looks faster than anyone since Marino: Bryce Petty. AND I HAVE NOT HEARD ONE COMMENTATOR MENTION THIS. Have I missed one? There’s a lot of chatter about him being a later-round pick and needing work and all that, and fine, but passing-wise, he makes a lot of beautiful passes, long, medium and short. And even though he gets rid of the ball very quickly, it doesn’t necessarily come out like a bazooka shot. (Does Jim Ninowski come to mind here?) I’ve heard numerous comparisons of Petty to Weeden. That I don’t buy at all because Weeden’s slow release always reminds me of the baseball pitcher he used to be. I think Petty’s got great touch on a great arm with a lightning-fast release. Footwork? Hey, the guy’s a very good athlete. His footwork will be fine. Reading defenses? I don’t know. I would hope my scouts can make a reliable read on that. I’m not saying I’d take him in the first round, not if he’s not the best player available (notice I’m referring back to my BPA draft article), but I’d take him if I could at some point if he’s within range of BPA. But with any rookie QB, I would do my best to be patient, avoid the hype and not treat him as THE SAVIOR. And the OL would be a very high priority with me. I’d like all my QBs to have a lot more than two seconds to get rid of the ball.
Petty’s release is at least getting mention on pretty much every scouting report.
a few:
http://walterfootball.com/draft2015QB.php
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/bryce-petty?id=2552369
http://cfn.scout.com/a.z?s=451&p=8&c=1&nid=3199146 (going back to HS even)
his issues are that his accuracy tends to wane on longer throws, he is in a 1-read system, he gets flustered by pressure more than many.
as a late round guy, he’d be someone to take. but, I keep seeing a 2nd round grade attached to his name and I think he is far too raw for that type of investment.
Thank you, Michael. Oh, I don’t see where Walter mentions it, but, no matter. It’s not going unnoticed. The only game of Petty’s I watched carefully and in its entirety, was vs Mich St. I thought he played really well in that one but it does seem like there are lots of different opinions re Petty and I think that probably happens more often with QB’s than other positions. Supposedly, after last year’s draft, the Browns have upgraded their scouting staff, right? An awful lot hinges on talent evaluation, on those scouts who shall remain nameless, no matter what your draft strategy is. In a short section of Feldman’s book, Petty is mentioned as one of the participants in an Elite 11 camp. His intangibles (strength of character, leadership, etc) were through the roof.
Well, that is what I get for not reading thoroughly on that link. Walter FB did talk extensively at one point on Petty’s release, but that was the wrong link. Anyway, yes, it is definitely a point of strength for him.
good post MrC …
good post BOSS …