TSN:The mistakes teams make in evaluating quarterbacks

[scstand]

This article is from 2001 but thought it might help with all the talking we do about our beloved QB position.

Picking a quarterback is like picking a spouse in that it's the most important decision a team can make. Yet very few teams make the right choice, and the result is a soaring divorce rate.

Already this season, Jeff George was cut by the Redskins, Jeff Lewis was cut by the Panthers and Tony Banks was cut by the Cowboys. All were supposed to be starters. The Lions benched Charlie Batch. The Bears benched Shane Matthews. Other teams, such as the Bills, Seahawks and Steelers, have not gotten what they expected out of the quarterback position.

"Quarterback is the most difficult position to evaluate, no question," former Packers general manager Ron Wolf says. Why is this so? To answer the question, I interviewed five men with excellent records of quarterback evaluation: Wolf, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, Vikings coach Dennis Green, Colts president Bill Polian and the man who invented the modern quarterback, 49ers consultant Bill Walsh.

There's as much gray area in quarterback evaluation as there is in a typical Seattle sky. A second-rounder to me is a sixth to you. "Everybody's got a different feeling of what their ideal quarterback is," Shanahan says. "Year in and year out, that position has the biggest disparity of opinions."

Yet, there are common mistakes that teams fall victim to repeatedly.

Physical aspects are overrated, and instinct is underrated. Instinct is the first requirement on Walsh's list when he evaluates a quarterback. "They have instincts by the time they are in sixth grade, and if they don't, you rarely can produce a quarterback," Walsh says. "You can see the ones who feel the pass rush, quickly avoid, locate someone and throw an accurate pass. Doug Flutie does it so well. Usually those kind of instinctive players are good basketball players, point guard types."

Arm strength is the rarest of attributes but hardly the most important. George and Banks are prime examples of players who can throw a ball from the Atlantic to the Pacific but haven't been able to translate that into touchdowns and victories.

"Where people make mistakes, and I've done it myself, is you see the physical and you neglect the mental and emotional, the intangibles," Polian says. "Just because you can throw a ball through the proverbial brick wall doesn't mean you're a quarterback."

The ability to make the requisite throws in a given offense is more important than the ability to throw the ball into the upper grandstand. "A quarterback never has to throw more than 55 to 60 yards on a football field anyway, so what difference does it make if he can throw it 80 yards?" Shanahan says.

Bottom line: Accuracy is more important than arm strength. Polian thinks it's critical that a quarterback prospect have a touchdown-to-interception ratio of at least 2-to-1. If a quarterback is operating out of a system that uses a short-to-intermediate passing game, like the West Coast offense, he looks for a completion percentage of more than 60 percent.

Walsh considers accuracy part of instinct. "You have to be poised to throw an accurate ball, with an adrenaline level not so high that you lose focus," he says.

Rest of Article

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_42_225/ai_79276035/

:munchout:

[hitmandm]

This is a Mark Sanchez marketing article.

[Vicious]

Yah because Joe Flacco was a first round pick before he started chucking balls down the field. NEXT.

Also our own QB's accuracy is good, even by NFL QB standards, under duress all the time. It has also improved every year he has started. If you think Jason Campbell has accuracy issues, you do not pay attention to NFL football.

[scstand]

This is a Mark Sanchez marketing article.

Sanchez still had Colt Brennan posters on his wall back in 01.

[darklight1216]

I think you forgot something, it should say: "Brought to you by the New York Jets."

[Warhead36]

Oh man I remember the abombination that was our QB-ing in 2001. George/Banks make Campbell look like Peyton Manning.

[scstand]

Yah because Joe Flacco was a first round pick before he started chucking balls down the field. NEXT.

Also our own QB's accuracy is good, even by NFL QB standards, under duress all the time. It has also improved every year he has started. If you think Jason Campbell has accuracy issues, you do not pay attention to NFL football.

Read the entire article...I cut it off after that last point by Polian with the link to the rest...I don't think I made any reference to QB names but if you are this sensitive I shouldn't be surprised by such a response.

[darklight1216]

I wish the Ravens had had a blueprint for qb success. It would have saved alot of wasted years during the Kyle Boller experiment. Oh well live and learn.

[Vicious]

Read the entire article...I cut it off after that last point by Polian with the link to the rest...I don't think I made any reference to QB names but if you are this sensitive I shouldn't be surprised by such a response.

If you don't get it in at the beginning, unintended or not, it will turn into a JC hate thread.

[scstand]

If you don't get it in at the beginning, unintended or not, it will turn into a JC hate thread.

That word is not in my football vocabulary....I do have my own views on the JC debate but have posted them in several current and past threads so I won't go into that here.

My point for posting this was to see how five pretty good talent evaluators of the game looked at the QB position.

Is this article from 2001 relevant to 2009? I would say so since we debate it year after year. I don't care who's pulling the trigger as long as the ball is coming out in rhythm and on time.