The 12th Man—May 17, 2012
UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM
“It will never work.”
So say many pundits—most recently Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports—and other critics who have questioned Pete Carroll’s decision to open up Seattle’s starting quarterback job for competition to incumbent Tarvaris Jackson and third round pick Russell Wilson instead of just declaring Matt Flynn the starter. They say Jackson doesn’t stand much of a chance of beating out the man Seattle signed to a $26 million dollar contract just two months ago. They say that Wilson is too short to succeed in the NFL. All this “competition” will do is take away needed practice time for Flynn, who is the odds on favorite to win the job sooner or later. As a result, Pete Carroll is hamstringing the team’s most crucial position at the worst possible time. So they say.
Case closed? Not at all. Put aside Wilson’s undeniable physical abilities and natural leadership and focus solely on his height for a moment. Short quarterbacks can’t win in the NFL, or so many people think. Yet how many short quarterbacks—say, anyone under 6 feet tall—have even gotten a legitimate chance to win in the NFL? How many short quarterbacks have been drafted or even signed as rookie free agents? Of those players, how many were immediately converted to other positions like wide receiver or cornerback to take advantage of their athleticism? Of the few that were allowed to concentrate solely on playing quarterback, how many were even given the opportunity to compete for a starting job? Pretty damned few. It’s true that no quarterback under 6 feet tall has become an elite QB in the modern-day NFL. But how often has a quarterback under 6 feet tall been given a real shot to become an elite QB in the modern-day NFL? Could the reason why it has never happened before be something as simple as that it has rarely, if ever, been seriously tried? That because everyone “knows” it can’t possibly work, no team has made the attempt?
Of course, Wilson’s stature is something that any decent coaching staff would have to scheme to account for, with rollouts and moving pockets and the like. Keep in mind that Russell Wilson is playing for the same coaching staff that put together a 7 DB “Bandit” package effective enough to ruin Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s day two years ago and struck gold by turning a “bust” defensive tackle into the best run-stuffing defensive end in the NFL. Pete Carroll & company excel at thinking outside the box. Is finding a way to get a smaller quarterback passing lanes really that impossible?
What about the argument that giving Jackson and Russell equal time with the first team will only hurt Matt Flynn, who will likely be starting for this team in September? The simple truth is that Flynn is hardly a sure thing either. Naming Flynn the starter now risks igniting a REAL quarterback controversy this fall if Jackson or Wilson outplays him in the preseason. It’s true that giving more reps to Jackson and Wilson will decrease the number of reps Flynn will be able to take, and Carroll’s quarterback competition would end up hurting the team’s chances this year if it drags out through the entire preseason, but that is in August. It’s only May. There is plenty of time to sort out who deserves to start at quarterback for Seattle in 2012 and still get that man the work he needs to be successful. And even if it’s essentially a foregone conclusion that Flynn will start, what he loses in reps he will gain in having two very determined players pushing him to his limits. Russell Wilson has a chip on his shoulder as big as he is. Tarvaris Jackson won’t give up his starting job without a fight. If Matt Flynn comes out on top in spite of their best efforts, he will be a much better quarterback than he would have been had Carroll simply handed him the keys to the kingdom.
Conventional wisdom states that short quarterbacks can’t win and that quarterback competitions hold teams back. Conventional wisdom also stated that a 7-9 team didn’t have a prayer of upsetting the defending Super Bowl champions in a Wild Card playoff game, that Aaron Curry was the safest pick in the 2009 draft, etc. One thing Pete Carroll and John Schneider have proven is that they don’t give a damn about conventional wisdom. They have also proven that they can do things differently than other teams and still be successful in those efforts. The Seattle Seahawks desperately need a true starting quarterback. Carroll and Schneider are going about finding one a little differently than most teams would, and as a result there are people out there who think their efforts are doomed to fail. Don’t be too quick to bet against them.
May the best man win…
“It will never work.”
So say many pundits—most recently Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports—and other critics who have questioned Pete Carroll’s decision to open up Seattle’s starting quarterback job for competition to incumbent Tarvaris Jackson and third round pick Russell Wilson instead of just declaring Matt Flynn the starter. They say Jackson doesn’t stand much of a chance of beating out the man Seattle signed to a $26 million dollar contract just two months ago. They say that Wilson is too short to succeed in the NFL. All this “competition” will do is take away needed practice time for Flynn, who is the odds on favorite to win the job sooner or later. As a result, Pete Carroll is hamstringing the team’s most crucial position at the worst possible time. So they say.
Case closed? Not at all. Put aside Wilson’s undeniable physical abilities and natural leadership and focus solely on his height for a moment. Short quarterbacks can’t win in the NFL, or so many people think. Yet how many short quarterbacks—say, anyone under 6 feet tall—have even gotten a legitimate chance to win in the NFL? How many short quarterbacks have been drafted or even signed as rookie free agents? Of those players, how many were immediately converted to other positions like wide receiver or cornerback to take advantage of their athleticism? Of the few that were allowed to concentrate solely on playing quarterback, how many were even given the opportunity to compete for a starting job? Pretty damned few. It’s true that no quarterback under 6 feet tall has become an elite QB in the modern-day NFL. But how often has a quarterback under 6 feet tall been given a real shot to become an elite QB in the modern-day NFL? Could the reason why it has never happened before be something as simple as that it has rarely, if ever, been seriously tried? That because everyone “knows” it can’t possibly work, no team has made the attempt?
Of course, Wilson’s stature is something that any decent coaching staff would have to scheme to account for, with rollouts and moving pockets and the like. Keep in mind that Russell Wilson is playing for the same coaching staff that put together a 7 DB “Bandit” package effective enough to ruin Bears quarterback Jay Cutler’s day two years ago and struck gold by turning a “bust” defensive tackle into the best run-stuffing defensive end in the NFL. Pete Carroll & company excel at thinking outside the box. Is finding a way to get a smaller quarterback passing lanes really that impossible?
What about the argument that giving Jackson and Russell equal time with the first team will only hurt Matt Flynn, who will likely be starting for this team in September? The simple truth is that Flynn is hardly a sure thing either. Naming Flynn the starter now risks igniting a REAL quarterback controversy this fall if Jackson or Wilson outplays him in the preseason. It’s true that giving more reps to Jackson and Wilson will decrease the number of reps Flynn will be able to take, and Carroll’s quarterback competition would end up hurting the team’s chances this year if it drags out through the entire preseason, but that is in August. It’s only May. There is plenty of time to sort out who deserves to start at quarterback for Seattle in 2012 and still get that man the work he needs to be successful. And even if it’s essentially a foregone conclusion that Flynn will start, what he loses in reps he will gain in having two very determined players pushing him to his limits. Russell Wilson has a chip on his shoulder as big as he is. Tarvaris Jackson won’t give up his starting job without a fight. If Matt Flynn comes out on top in spite of their best efforts, he will be a much better quarterback than he would have been had Carroll simply handed him the keys to the kingdom.
Conventional wisdom states that short quarterbacks can’t win and that quarterback competitions hold teams back. Conventional wisdom also stated that a 7-9 team didn’t have a prayer of upsetting the defending Super Bowl champions in a Wild Card playoff game, that Aaron Curry was the safest pick in the 2009 draft, etc. One thing Pete Carroll and John Schneider have proven is that they don’t give a damn about conventional wisdom. They have also proven that they can do things differently than other teams and still be successful in those efforts. The Seattle Seahawks desperately need a true starting quarterback. Carroll and Schneider are going about finding one a little differently than most teams would, and as a result there are people out there who think their efforts are doomed to fail. Don’t be too quick to bet against them.
May the best man win…
posted at 20:32:25 on 05/17/12
by Shadowhawk -
Category: "The 12th Man" by Will Harrison
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