"The Decision"

I meant to do this a LONG time ago, but just never made the time. I finally did this morning.

I went back and watched the entirety of the 1-hour special titled "The Decision" that aired on ESPN in which LeBron James announced he was signing with the Miami Heat. During the telecast, I recall several moments when I thought to myself, "What did he just say?" On 710 AM radio, Andrew Siciliano and Mychal Thompson recently have been reviewing "The Decision" and how LeBron is seen in the media, in light of the season starting. Here's a review of some of the questions James was asked and how he responded:

Jim Gray: What's been going on with you this summer?

LeBron James: This whole free agent experience, I'm looking forward to it.

Since it was the first question, Gray asked it jokingly as a way to break the ice. Ummm, you're looking forward to it? I know you're sitting on the "hot seat" at the moment, and a bajillion people are watching, but seriously? Couldn't even answer a simple, easy question properly? Oy.

JG: Would you like to sleep on it a little longer or are you ready to make this decision?

LBJ: Uh, naw I've slept enough; or the lack of sleep.

That doesn't even make sense. I know what you're trying to say and understand that you're trying to make light of the fact that you haven't been able go get much sleep in the time leading up to this announcement. So say that! Not difficult.

JG: What's your decision?

LBJ: I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.

Take your talents to South Beach? I suppose that's a creative way to word it. It was also ridiculous. Sometimes, less is more. A simple response would have been just as useful. And less corny.

JG: How do you think you'll be able to fit in and possbily not be the headliner all the time?

LBJ: Well, for me it's not about sharing, it's about everybody having their own spotlight...

THAT'S THE PROBLEM!!! If all 3 of you have your own spotlight, then you're never going to gel as a team. You're all going to need the ball separately and have to do your own thing individually. BUT, if you SHARE the spotlight, that's what will make this work.

LBJ: ... At this point, D-Wade is the unselfish guy here, to be able to have Chris Bosh and then LeBron James, to welcome us to his team, it's not about and individual here.

I agree. Dwayne is THE upstanding dude in this situation. He even took less money than either Bosh or James once the contracts had been figured out. He should've been the one getting paid the most and Bosh and James should have taken less for the chance to play with him in his town. Also, why the 3rd-person? Totally unnecessary.

JG: How do you explain this to people in Cleveland?

LBJ: It's heartfelt for me...

I'm pretty sure that's not the right usage of that term. If it is, that's absurd.

LBJ: ...the greatest challenge for me is to move on.

It's true that great challenges do come from moving on. It's also true that great challenges come from gutting out current situations, growing through them, and growing with the people who stick with you through them.

Michael Wilbon: How heavy has this whole thing been the last few weeks?

LBJ: It's been a huge... It's been heavy on me a lot.

Granted Wilbon's question wasn't the most eloquently worded, but it's like LeBron didn't even try to come up with an intelligible answer.

I UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION. LeBron James is NOT a public speaker. I get that. However, HE created this setting. It may not have been his idea, so I've heard, but it was his decision to go along with it. That being the case, he has to be a little more prepared and come off a little more well-spoken. Contrary to what I said at the start of this paragraph, LeBron IS a public speaker. At least, it's part of what he does as an athlete. Every kid grows up seeing their favorite stars giving interviews, appearing at press conferences, being in commercials, etc. They know that should they become a professional athlete, they will be in the media and will have to know how to talk and behave when the whole world is watching. LeBron had weeks (if not months) to prepare for this. He controlled the entire situation. And he's been in the public eye since he was in high school. He has to be able to represent himself in a much better way. Instead, he embarrassed himself. He deserves all of the criticism sent his way. (Criticism, not personal attacks. BIG difference. Most people have attacked him and are idiots for doing so. I tried not to do that.) He has also created all of the expectations being placed on this team. All of the pressure is on him to make it work because of how he handled it. Good luck this year, LeBron, but I won't be rooting for you.

Calvin Johnson's Non-Catch

So, there is a thing called the "process of the catch." I don't know exactly what that means. I suppose there is an interpretation involved at some point. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the ruling that the pass was incomplete. Johnson did not maintain possession all the way through contact with the ground. The same ruling is in play when players jump for a catch, hit the ground and the ball pops out. The ball may be very secure in their possession, but the collision with the ground causes them to bobble it and have it spring out of their hands, resulting in an incomplete pass. Calvin's situation is a little different and much less obvious, but the entire act of him landing on both feet and then falling to the gound, including bringing his hand that controls the ball to the ground, is all part of his "process." So, when the ball comes loose from his control upon his hand's contact with the ground, that's a relevant part of the play and is correctly ruled as incomplete. As if the Lions needed more help losing any more games on the road... What's lost in this is that they still had another play and another chance to score, but Shaun Hill threw a pass that Johnson had little- to no-chance of catching.

The Fail That is Running Quarterbacks

The supposed "return to excellence" that was Michael Vick in the first 2 weeks of the 2010 NFL season has motivated me to finally fully elaborate on my complete loathing of the phenomenon that is the dual-threat, running/"mobile" quarterback. I'm going to do as best as I can to examine all of these types of quarterbacks who have come into the league into the last 10 years, starting with Michael Vick's draft year of 2001. We'll go from there.

Overall, Name, College Team - Drafted by
2001 Draft
1. Michael Vick, Virginia Tech - Atlanta
53. Quincy Carter, Georgia - Dallas
149. Mike McMahon, Rutgers - Detroit

2002
108. David Garrard, East Carolina - Jacksonville

2003
110. Seneca Wallace, Iowa State - Seattle

2004
250. Bradlee Van Pelt, Colorado State - Denver

2005
1. Alex Smith, Utah - San Francisco
121. Stefan Lefors, Louisville - Carolina
152. Adrian McPherson, Florida State - New Orleans

2006
1. Vince Young, Texas - Tennessee
64. Tarvarais Jackson, Alabama State - Minnesota
103. Brad Smith, Missouri - New York (A)
193. Reggie McNeal, Texas A&M - Cincinnati
223. D.J. Shockley, Georgia - Atlanta

2007
103. Isaiah Stanback, Washington - Dallas
174. Troy Smith, Ohio State - Baltimore

2008
94. Kevin O'Connell, San Diego State - New England
156. Dennis Dixon, Oregon - Pittsburgh
160. Josh Johnson, San Diego - Tampa Bay

2009
17. Josh Freeman, Kansas State - Tampa Bay
44. Pat White, West Virginia - Miami
101. Stephen McGee, Texas A&M - Dallas

2010
25. Tim Tebow, Florida - Denver
85. Colt McCoy, Texas - Cleveland
89. Armanti Edwards, Appalachian State - Carolina
122. Mike Kafka, Northwestern - Philadelphia
181. Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan - Chicago
199. Joe Webb, UAB - Minnesota
250. Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State - New England

So, an observant person will see that this trend has grown (significantly) in recent years. Of all of these "mobile" quarterbacks, how many do you know? Not even the successful ones, just people you've heard of and know a little about? I'll give you Vick, Carter, Garrard, Wallace, A. Smith, Young, Jackson, T. Smith, Dixon, Johnson, Freeman, White, Tebow, and McCoy. That's 14 out of 29. Not bad. Let's examine those 14 that you've "heard of," though.

Vick- We all know.
Carter- Played for 4 seasons, last in 2004. Accounted for Cowboys' only playoff appearance from 2000-2005.
Garrard- 9th season with the Jags, 5th year as starter. Because Byron Leftwich wasn't very effective.
Wallace- 8th season, 1st with the Browns after 7 with the Seahawks. Career backup. Played receiver in their Super Bowl loss to the Steelers. Receiver. Yeah.
A. Smith- Overall Number 1 pick by Niners in '05. Started 42 of possible 82 games in that span.
Young- 5th year with the Titans. Been involved in a lot of controversial topics. You probably know.
Jackson- 5th year with Vikings. Started 19 of possible 66 games. The reason the Vikings didn't have a run game. Because you didn't have to worry about him beating you.
T. Smith- 4th year, first with 49ers after 3 with Ravens. You only know him because he won the Heisman. And you probably forgot about that.
Dixon- 3rd season with the Steelers. Been in the news with Roethlisberger out. Dynamic threat at Oregon.
Johnson- I lied. You haven't heard of him. Unless you live in Tampa. Or attended the University of San Diego. Which you don't. And didn't.
Freeman- 2nd year with Tampa Bay. Fairly productive. "Lots of upside."
White- You know him because he was Steve Slaton's QB at West Virginia. Now? Signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals. To play baseball. Yeah.
Tebow- We all know.
McCoy- Rookie with Cleveland. Winningest quarterback in NCAA history. Only a matter of time until he takes over for Delhomme.

Now you want to talk about successful? With a large stretch on the definition of that word, we'll include Vick, Carter, Garrard, Wallace, A. Smith, Young and Jackson. When I actually determine some sort of scale for being "successful," I will post it. But I will only actually say that Vick, Garrard, Wallace and Young are successful. Carter only played 4 seasons, and was out of the league 1 year after leading the Cowboys to the playoffs. Garrard has sustained himself as a starting quarterback for multiple years. Wallace's longevity alone allows for this classification. Young simply by name and the fact that he's started more games than he hasn't in his career.

So, out of the 29 mobile/running quarterbacks selected in the last 10 years of the draft, only 4 have become "successful." I don't know what the percentage of players that get drafted and being successful is, but I know that 14% is not good.

Now to the statistics part of this blog. I am a huge fan of the Quarterback Rating. It's mildly complicated. All you have to know is that a perfect rating requires at least a 77.5% completion rate, at least 12.5 yards per attempt, a touchdown on at least 11.875% of attempts, and no interceptions. The maximum rating achievable is 158.3. Minimum is 0. We'll say that an average game for a quarterback is 18 for 30 (60%), 210 yards (7 yrds/att), 1.5 TD, 1 INT. That would be a rating of 84.2. So we'll say that the average quarterback performance is a rating of 84.2. The records over the last few years of the quarterbacks with ratings above and below that mark (amongst quarterbacks that qualify):

Above Below
2009 151-83* (.645) 88-115** (.433)
2008 159-112 (.587) 81-92 (.468)
2007 135-82 (.622) 86-98 (.467)
2006 90-59 (.604) 140-146 (.490)
2005 136-74 (.648) 90-132 (.405)***
*Includes 4-12 Jason Campbell
**Includes 9-5 Matt Ryan, 8-2 Vince Young
***Kyle Orton went 10-5 despite having a league-worst 59.7 rating

And now, a comparison of Quarterback Ratings for "Mobile" vs "Pocket" quarterbacks, amongst those drafted since 2001 with a minimum of 30 games played if drafted before 2007, 10 if after.

Mobile

Michael Vick's career rating is 76.8, with a career-high of 81.6 in his 2nd year.
Quincy Carter: 71.7, 72.3
David Garrard: 84.9, 102.2
Seneca Wallace: 82.5, 87.0
Alex Smith: 69.0, 81.5
Vince Young: 72.8, 82.8
Tarvaris Jackson: 77.9, 95.4
Troy Smith (14 G): 79.7
Josh Freeman (12 G): 65.1

Pocket

Drew Brees: 92.1, 109.6
Sage Rosenfels: 81.2
David Carr: 75.2, 83.5
Joey Harrington: 69.4, 77.5
Patrick Ramsey: 74.9, 75.8
Josh McCown: 71.3, 74.9
Carson Palmer: 87.7, 101.1
Byron Leftwich: 79.6, 89.3
Kyle Boller: 70.6, 75.2
Rex Grossman: 69.5,73.9
Eli Manning: 79.3, 93.1
Philip Rivers: 96.2, 105.5
Ben Roethlisberger: 91.7, 104.1
J.P. Losman: 75.6, 84.9
Matt Schaub: 91.9, 98.6
Aaron Rodgers: 97.1, 103.2
Kyle Orton: 78.1, 86.8
Derek Anderson: 69.5, 82.5
Matt Cassel: 78.5, 89.4
Jay Cutler: 85.1, 88.5
JaMarcus Russell: 65.2, 77.1
Brady Quinn (14 G): 66.8
Kevin Kolb (13 G): 67.8
Trent Edwards: 76.8, 85.4
Tyler Thigpen (17 G): 73.8
Matt Ryan: 84.6, 87.7
Joe Flacco: 81.5, 88.9
Chad Henne (19 G): 76.1
Matt Flynn (22 G): 37.4 (17 pass attempts in 22 games...)
Matthew Stafford (11 G): 61.9
Mark Sanchez (17 G): 67.1


So, of the mobile quarterbacks drafted since 2001, only David Garrard has a career QB rating that's better than average, and only by 7 tenths of a point. And only 3 more of the 9 have a rating over 75. Compare that to the pocket QB's, where 8 of the 31 have a rating over 84.2 and 10 others are over 75.

The good thing about the quarterback rating system is that it doesn't matter how much or little the quarterback throws, it's an accurate assessment of how successful he is when he does throw the ball. With a strict focus on completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown rate, and interception rate, it determines quite precisely whether a quarterback is performing well or not. According to the above statistics, pocket quarterbacks have a tendency to produce much better quarterback ratings, which produce better records. And I don't know about you, but I want my team putting up victories, not losses.

The other side to this that I have yet to address is the fact that when quarterbacks leave the pocket area (which is rare for pocket quarterbacks, frequent for mobile ones), they are exposing themselves to the dangers of being tackled/hit hard by linebackers/safeties/pursuing defensive linemen. Which leads to injuries. Lots of them. Staying in the pocket keeps the quarterback behind his offensive linemen, who's only job is to protect him. Ummm. Pretty sure I want my most important, highest paid player to BE PROTECTED. Just saying.

SOOOOO.... All of this boils down to one thing: When a decision is to be made between drafting/playing a pocket quarterback versus a running/mobile quarterback, I'm always taking the pocket quarterback. Quarterbacks throw the ball, running backs run the ball. That's what they're there for. That's the way it's been since the invention of the forward pass. And that's the way I'm going to keep it.



PS: Except in the college game, of course. Players like Denard Robinson are the most entertaining people to watch in sports, and usually lead to spectacular plays and winning records. It just doesn't translate to the NFL. Defenses are better, players are bigger and faster. That's just the way it is.

Witness

Having watched two Christian high schools face off in a junior varsity football game this afternoon, I played witness to a few things; some random, some poignant:

1. From the "Never seen that before" department- Upon being kicked through the uprights for an extra point, a football was launched over a wall and into someone's backyard. The ball was later recovered.

2. Again from the "Never seen that before" department- While approaching the ball on the way to kick off, the kicking team would consistently rush it as a group, feigning an onside kick, stop abruptly before kicking the ball, then regroup, lineup and kickoff in a regular fashion. On one of these fakes, the kicker got too close and accidentally tapped the ball. It fell over, and he picked it up. Play is dead, receiving team gets possession at the 35. Everyone's reaction on the sideline: "What just happened?"

3. Christian schools tend to be small. Very small. Brethren Christian has 400 students. (My graduating class had 850 students. School had 5,000.) As a result, the football team is very small. To the tune of 25 on varsity and 15 on JV. Do you know how ridiculous that is? NFL teams have 53 on their roster; college teams are in the 60's. 11 players play on the field at one time. That means more than half of the junior varsity had to play the ENTIRE GAME. BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL. A football team cannot be successful* in this situation, as was proven by the gameplay. It's impossible to excel (heck, not even excel but to just get by relatively well) when you can't put as much effort as possible into each play because you have to play every play of the entire game. Or when you are forced to play multiple positions (one player played safety, cornerback, running back, wide receiver and quarterback!) and cannot focus on the numerous duties that come with each one individually.

4. Come to think of it, this section is going to be ridiculously hypocritical, but that's okay because I'm the author and I am admitting it. Regardless of the outcome of a play, the opposing teams always helped each other up and patted each other on the back. What?!?! Um, excuse me, you play football. That's not how this works. You want to hang out and be best friends after the game? Sure, fine, whatever. You just clocked me in the mouth and put me on my back, but want to help me up and tell me I gave a good effort? Get the heck away from me! I'm not trying to hear anything from anyone, let alone the person who did it to me.

5. Best cheer ever: "Jesus!" Woot.


*successful = going well beyond the goal of winning the game, but also providing an environment that provides for a positive experience for everyone involved while also seeing each player continually improve with goal of reaching one's full potential.