I’m not gonna use his name because I’m tired of hearing it. I’ll just call him “this guy,” “that guy,” “the guy,” or some derivative thereof. To say this guy is polarizing is an understatement. People have opinions and they’re more than willing to let those opinions be known. I’d like to cut-through all the junk surrounding this guy’s story and just boil the debate down to its core. Is this guy a quarterback or not?
Football purists say he’s not. From their perspective, a quarterback has to be able to throw the ball. He doesn’t have to be Tom Brady or Joe Montana, but he’s still gotta be able to sling it to some respectable degree. This guy gets under the skin of football purists because he’s taking up one of the 32 slots that have been reserved for the best quarterbacks in the world. Does this guy deserve to be one of the 32? Shouldn’t he be a running back? Why are so many fans contributing to the charade that he should be controlling an offense? Somewhere out there is a quarterback who deserves this opportunity more, and that quarterback is being denied a shot because the fans are pushing this guy on the organization and on the league for a lot of reasons -- most of which have little to do with football, and more to do with what a good person he is. A football purist doesn’t want to hear that kind of reasoning. A football purist wants to turn on the TV every Sunday and watch the best football players in the world playing great football. Period, end of story. And what they’ve been seeing from this guy over the last few games -- including the victory over the Jets -- is sloppy, uncoordinated, and totally undeserving of a top 32 slot. Also, if he was such a prized quarterback, why haven’t the Broncos been starting him for the past few years instead of keeping him on the bench? It’s because they knew he wasn’t the guy.
And then there’s advocates on the other side of the argument. They claim this guy is quite simply, flat-out, a winner. He wins games, therefore it doesn’t matter how he throws or what mechanics he lacks. The guy’s 4-1 on the season, which is impressive considering that Mark Sanchez opened up his 2011 season going 2-3, and Cam Newton, Donovan McNabb, and Michael Vick all went 1-4. Those are big names. Those are guys who are generally respected in the league and considered true quarterbacks, and they all botched their first five games of the season far worse than this guy. Also, how can you argue with 4-1? That’s a solid record. When you add that to his illustrious college career, it speaks volumes. Also, plenty of great quarterbacks waited on the bench for their moment to arrive. If it’s so easy to predict who “has it,” then scouts and managers and decision-makers would be right a lot more than Almost Never.
And those are the two opposing views. Rarely does anyone fall in the middle, but I suppose I do. Truth is, I just don’t care that much about this guy right now. I don’t see the magic yet. He can win ballgames, but a lot of quarterbacks can win ballgames. Can they win at an elite level? That’s what counts. The regular season is...the regular season. In my opinion, any of the 32 quarterbacks in the NFL who can’t win at an elite level are replaceable. This guy has the intangibles, and he’s a winner, but his throwing ability is wretched and his Football IQ is questionable to say the least. Do I trust him controlling an offense? No, not yet, not based on what I’ve seen. So, can a quarterback who can’t throw the ball win at an elite level? The answer is no. But I’m not ready to say what he can or cannot do. I’ve only seen the guy play five times. So I have to cut him some slack. Unlike every other analyst in the world, I’m not ready to render my verdict on the guy. I know how I’m leaning, but we’re only five games into his career. Everyone needs to take a breath and just relax. Why do people get so passionate about this guy? I certainly don’t. Right now he’s just another struggling QB who’s squeaking out wins. He’s not a big enough deal to soak-up this much airtime.
And yet, people are choosing sides. You’re either with him or you’re against him. But again, my question is: Why? Who cares? Until this guy proves he can really play football, why does anyone outside of Denver have an opinion at all? I certainly don’t care. When Joe Flacco goes cold (as he’s done lately), I take notice because the Ravens are an important team and an arch-rival of the Patriots. Also, he’s a damn good QB. So I care about what’s going on in Flacco Land. When Matt Cassel gets injured and won’t be able to play on Sunday and possibly for the rest of the season, I care. I care because he’s a proven talent, he has a serious QB presence in the NFL, and he’s someone who has the potential to become great. So I care.
The problem is, in this day in age, people care about everything -- even the unimportant stuff. In an earlier age of football, most people would not know this guy’s name. People wouldn’t care unless he was a major threat to their team -- someone like Steve Young, or someone old-school like Johnny Unitas. I just don’t see why so many people care about this guy. I can understand someone not having an opinion on him, but EVERYONE has an opinion on him. I feel like throwing a bucket of water on everyone. Relax. He’s just another young QB in the league trying to prove himself. Let him succeed or fail. If you see something great in him, fine. If you don’t, you don’t. But if you do see something great in him, my question is WHY? Does it have to do with football, or something else? Does it have to do with the sport, or with his private life? Because all I care about is football. And for someone to tell me that this guy “has it” is a massive overstatement at this point. He doesn’t appear to “have it” at all. Will we see it develop over the course of the season? Perhaps. I’m leaving the window open. The more wins he gets, the longer I’ll leave it open.
Only two things are true: 1) analysts can’t jump off-and-on the guy’s bandwagon fast enough, and 2) the Broncos should not have beaten the Jets last Thursday. I’m glad they did -- but who are we kidding here? The Jets are a Super Bowl contender. The Broncos are not. Five-out-of-five analysts on the NFL Network Pre-Game Show picked New York to win. So based on that fact alone, you have to ask yourself if something is afoot here. That was a must-win game for Gang Green, and they lost. Every single person on the Jets played hard, and they lost. Rex Ryan wanted that win with every fiber of his being, and he didn’t get it. Are we to assume this guy had nothing to do with it? Denver’s defense was phenomenal, but we shouldn’t dupe ourselves into believing the Jets have a lot of offense to stop. Both squads are defensive-minded ball clubs. The guy played horrible football on Thursday, but I could see that his teammates wanted to win -- and they wanted to win for him. That’s not good football, but it certainly is good leadership. You can’t use it to support the “it” argument, but you can use it to support the argument that a lot people aren’t even giving him a chance.
And now, for a change, let’s take a brief moment to look at some guys that have gotten way too many chances. Like, for instance, this guy:
And this guy:
