Supe QBs giving hope to Eli, Giants
The quarterback position is evolving. The next big prospect always has one more tool than the last, and yet, if Super Bowl LI is any indication, Old Reliable still fares just fine manning the most important position in pro football.
Tom Brady and Matt Ryan are not the sexy, new prototypes that leave scouts, GMs, coaches and offensive coordinators salivating. They are not the do-it-all — or even dual-threat — talents like Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck or Russell Wilson that every franchise now covets.
But they are your father’s prototypical quarterbacks, with strong arms, strong character, smarts and work ethic, and yes, in the year 2017, that is still enough to leave 30 other teams in the dust.
The Giants would do well to note this, that while Eli Manning is in the twilight of his career — in a league with increasingly dynamic passers — a quarterback with Manning’s more traditional skill set can still win with the right pieces around him.
This is interesting, though, because the NFL is a copycat league, and there is no reason for a franchise not to follow a foe’s lead in drafting its own Rodgers or Newton, who are both different players but share the ability to play the game on another level of competence.
Super Bowl LI, in fact, will be the first in four years that does not feature at least one mobile, dual-threat quarterback: Newton lost to Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos last season (2015), Wilson lost to Brady’s New England Patriots in 2014 and beat Manning’s Broncos the season prior (2013), and Colin Kaepernick before that lost in the 2012 finale with the San Francisco 49ers to Joe Flacco’s Baltimore Ravens.
The mobile, hybrid talent Rodgers won his lone Super Bowl actually at the conclusion of the 2010 NFL season. So that means the last time two more traditional pocket passers faced off in a Super Bowl was — you guessed it — Eli Manning’s Giants 21, Brady’s Patriots 17 in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Both Brady (6-4, 225 pounds) and Ryan (6-4, 217), pure passers with height to best survey the field, are capable of pulling the ball down and running when necessary.
Ryan played high school basketball at Penn Charter in Philadelphia, and his athleticism was evident on his 14-yard, second-quarter touchdown run in Sunday’s blowout, 44-21, NFC Championship win over the Green Bay Packers.
At the same time, that was Ryan’s first rushing touchdown since the 2012 regular season, and he finished this season with 117 rush yards to Brady’s 64 in 12 games. So that is far from the Falcons’ M.O.
The upcoming NFL Draft is another reminder of how the quarterback positioned has evolved.
Prospects Mitch Trubisky (North Carolina), Deshaun Watson (Clemson) and DeShone Kizer (Notre Dame) are all dualthreat passers valued highly not just due to any passing or winning pedigree but also for their mobility and the potential that they could be the total package.
This past season, a pair of rookies in the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott (282 rush yards) and Carson Wentz (150 rush yards) became the latest quarterbacks to wow with their ability to escape, complementing their passing talents. It’s not so much about rushing yard totals as it is the ability to extend plays.
And yet Prescott, despite his running ability, was noteworthy in his success primarily as a pocket passer. He threw 23 touchdown passes to just four interceptions, playing a more prototypical quarterback position for the team that finished with the NFL’s second-best regular season record (13-3) behind Brady’s Patriots (14-2).
Drew Brees went over 5,000 yards passing again and Kirk Cousins is a valuable commodity. Pocket passing is alive and well.
What Brady, Ryan and Prescott all had in common was a strong team running game to complement their work at QB. The Cowboys (149.8 rush yards per game, 2nd in NFL, 4.8 per carry,), Falcons (120.5 average, 5th in NFL, 4.6 per carry) and Patriots (117.0 average, 7th in NFL, 3.9 per carry) all either excelled at running the ball or at least committed to it.
So there is certainly hope, Giants fans, that a pocket passer such as Manning can win another Super Bowl as the league trends toward mobility and dualthreat talents at QB. But yes, he could use some help.