Can an " Elite Quarterback " be develop or is he just " that guy "

Can an " Elite Quarterback " be develop or is he just " that guy "

With the game of NFL football at the height of it's popularity and no ceiling in sight, the Quarterback position has become the most debated in football. In my opinion the NFL Quarterback position has to be the hardest to play in all of sports. In a sport that is totally Quarterback driven, you might be hard press to come up with a list of ten QB's ( out of 32 teams )who will hit anyone's Elite list. With such a high premium put on the Quarterback position to carry a team, you have to ask yourself, why there are so few team's in the NFL with the capability to develop a championship caliber QB. The first thing you might hear is players don't work as hard at the game the way they use to. I don't believe that to be true, professional football player probably train harder at their sport than any other. People might say it's all the money players make, it give them no incentive to work at their craft. While I think there might be a case to be made with some players, I think the number is very small. You don't play this game without some love and passion for it.

Where as I don't think money is the reason Quarterbacks fell to make the impact we as fans feel they should. I do feel money is the main reason their development is hinder. NFL Owners and General Managers feel they can't let that kind of money sit on the side line and learn the game at a more gradual pace. The Quarterback position is the one position on any team where a longer learning period is needed. There have been very few exceptions of Quarterback who have started their rookie year and became Elite QB's. ( Troy Aikman, Payton Manning, Dan Marino to name a few ) Theses three guys had that " it factor " the first day they step on the field. Troy and Payton took a pounding their first few years, just tying to stay alive while learning on the job. Dan Marino looked like a polish veteran right from the beginning, one in a million, you may never see this kind of Quarterback again.

Without the time that is needed to sit behind and watch a veteran Quarterback go though the day to day riggers of being an NFL Quarterback, these young QB's are eaten alive. I believe it take a minimum of three years to develop an NFL ready Quarterback, a guy who learn's the position inside and out.This mind you is not an Elite Quarterback, this is a QB who might not lose his team a lot of games. We have seen this type of QB win Super Bowls ( Trent Dilfer, Rob Johnson, Doug William, Mark Ripen ) the one thing these Quarterback have in common, they learn the game from the bench. These were veteran QB's who had the opportunity to develop their skills to the point where they could lead a team to and win the Super Bowl.

The term Elite Quarterback is used to loosely for my taste. The real question is what make's a Quarterback Elite? I know it can't be winning a Super Bowl, Dan Marino was one of the most Elite Quarterback's in NFL history ( no SB ring ) Ben Roethlisberger on the other hand has been to three Super Bowls and won two and there's a lot of so call experts who don't think he's Elite ( I'm not one of them ). My definition of an Elite Quarterback is every time he go's on the field the opposing team know's he can win, Big Ben fits that definition. There are only a few QB's in the NFL today that give me that feeling.They are ( Payton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger ) these are the only QB's I feel have that " it factor " in the NFL.

Aaron Rodgers is the only QB on my list who got the chance to sit and watch the game being played by a veteran for a extended period of time. And if not for Brett's on again off again retirement talk he might still be sitting. I believe sitting helped Rodgers become the Elite Quarterback he is. Time.... Time..... Time is what it take's to develop an NFL ready Quarterback! The approach a majority of Owners and GM's take with the most important part of their team's blow me away. It put to much pressure on coaches, their team's, and most importantly the young Quarterbacks they bring in to lead their team's.

If money is the underline reason for the under development of an NFL Quarterbacks, than money should be the main reason team's take a more diligent approach to this position. Most of the team's in the NFL go though QB after QB tying to find that guy, a ton of money spend hoping there's a diamond in the rough coming out of college football. I read a very amazing take on this subject on the ESPN Webb sight the other day.( and by amazing I don't mean good ) John Clayton had a Q&A on his blog sight, a fan of the New England patriots ask John if the Pats should draft a Quarterback to develop as Tom Brady's successor? John said no because it might upset Tom ( wow! John miss the whole football field on this answer ) if there's a right time to draft a young Quarterback and develop for future it's now for New England. They have a great QB and the time to let a young man sit and watch how it's done.

As we have witness with this lockout, NFL football is a business, so any Quarterback who gets upset about a smart business move has no loyalty to his team. ( he can't play forever ) I believe if more time is taken with the development of young Quarterbacks, we might see 15 to 20 team's with a real shot to win a Super Bowl instead of the 4 to 5 we can count on each year.

Brought to by: AJ Jones from Cambridge
"Let's Talk Football" Visit- www.ajstakeontheNFL.blogspot.com

Time For Healing To Start

ATime For Healing To Start

It's my hope somehow this blog reaches both; Brett Favre and the power to be in the front office of the Green Bay Packers, to let them know the time has come to put the past behind them, so the healing can begin.There's two sides to the game of Professional Football, there's the " Fun" side of the game we as Fans get to see a minimum of 20 weeks a year. The game itself, ( Td passes, Sacks, Interceptions, and the Punt and Kickoff return for touchdowns) this part of Professional Football even the casual Fan understands.Than there's, the ugly side of Professional Football, the " Business " side that even the most knowledgeable of Fans with an emotional attachment to their Team has a hard time grasping. (the hiring and firing of General Managers and Coaches, Players Contracts, Free Agency, and the very harsh reality of the " Business " side of Professional Football, when do you need to part ways with a beloved Superstar Player?

Now the Packers are not unique in this ugly side of Football ( Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott with the San Francisco 49's Emmett Smith with the Dallas Cowboys, Joe Namath with the New York Jets, and even Johnny Unitas with the Baltimore Colts). All Superstars, all Hall Of Famers, all parted ways with the Teams that made them famous. Not one of these Players wanted to leave their team's and many of their fans were very upset when the " Business " side of Football hit these Players. As a life long Green Bay Packer fan and a huge Brett Favre fan, the " Business " side of Football had a tremendous emotional effect on me.

I had mixed emotions on if the time had come to part ways with Brett; he had just missed a chance of going to a third Super Bowl. The team won 13 games, why now? We were so close! I got caught up in the " Fun " side of Football. Than I step back and look at it from a " Business " standpoint and it became clear, It Was Time! As close as they came to the Super Bowl, Brett did not fit the mode of the leader Ted Thompson or Mike McCarthy felt they needed to lead this Packer team. With this team being so young, you need a leader to lead by example ( attending mini camps, starting training camp on time, and just showing a commitment to wanting to be there) this was not the case with Brett.

This is where the " Business " side started to win me over, could see Brett still had a lot left in the tank, he was playing at a very high level in 2007. But on the other hand he was becoming a distraction to the team. We must remember 2007 was the end of the odyssey with Brett not the beginning. For 4 years leading up to the parting of the ways, all fans and the team herd from Brett was he didn't know if he wanted to play. I remember him crying at his press conference telling us he was retiring, that's when the " Business " side of Football reared it's ugly head. I knew Brett's days as a Green Bay Packer was over( very sad day ) and it was time to move on. Even when Brett wanted to un-retire, you could see Green Bay wanted no part of it.

As we have seen when Superstar Players are told it's time to move on, it's gets real personal. Fans across the State of Wisconsin had Brett's back, though he got a raw deal. There are fans who still think the Packers were 100% wrong in letting Brett go, and there's no way they will ever see past the " Fun " side of the game. I think both sides handle this situation horrendously!! Packer's management ( Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy ) showed no real confident in their decision to move past Brett. When they entertained the idea of bringing him back, they open a door that would be very difficult to close. You don't tell a Hall A Fame Quarterback he can come back, but he will have to compete for His job. It's his job or you move on!!!

Brett show little or no professionalism in how he handle his on again off again attitude about playing ( this went on for a few years ) football. He gave you the impression the Packers needed him more than he wanted to play for his team. I like to take this time to say, I am old school when it comes to sports. Veteran Superstar Players of Brett's stature having the right to go out on their own terms when it doesn't interfere with team progress. Brett took advantage of his aments popularity and Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy lack of history with fans of Green Bay; to gather support for his thinking he had more power than they did. Brett underestimated the " Business " side of the game, you can't back your team into a corner and think there won't be repercussion.

The time has come fro Brett and Packer's management to shake hand and move forward, so he can come back to Green Bay and retire and go to the Hall Of Fame as a Green Bay Packer. Both sides in the end got what they wanted, Brett got to play in the NFC North, got his payback. Packer's management got to build the team they wanted, won the Super Bowl proving they made the right " Business " decision. The Green Bay Packers are not the first and certainly will not be the last team to part way with a Hall Of Fame Player. And as we have seen with the Players mention in this blog, they all went back to and retire with the teams that made the Hall Of Famers. It's time for the " Fun " side of Football to take over in Green Bay, and make thing right for Brett, the Packers, and most certainly for the fans who want nothing more than the healing to begin.

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