Football Brainiac

“Baby, we were born to run!”
- Bruce Springstein

When it comes to the topic of running quarterbacks, much has been discussed on television, radio and the internet. It’s a real hullabaloo!

You know who they are (no matter how much they may despise or deny the title). Vince Young, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper and Michael Vick are the most famous among them. They are exciting, game-changing quarterbacks who have grown on football fans like a colony of E-coli on room temperature beef.

But there’s a dark side to these nimble-legged field generals. We’ve all heard the theory that “Running Quarterbacks” don’t win championships. As the saying goes, “you’ve got to have a traditional, sit-in-the-pocket type of quarterback if you want to be successful.” It’s also interesting to note that only 15% of NFL teams started these types of quarterbacks at the peak of their popularity.

This post is the first of a four-part series that will aim to solidify the argument that the “Running Quarterback” is, overall, ineffective and will never win a world championship.

DEFINING QUARTERBACK STYLE

There are three different types of quarterbacks we will be discussing in these posts. To completely understand this style of quarterback, it is important to define each of these QBs so that it will be easier to compare them. They are:

• The “Pocket Passer”

• The “Scrambling Quarterback”

• The “Running Quarterback”

A “Pocket Passer” is the traditional type of quarterback who drops back, scans the defense, steps up in the pocket when necessary, and finds the best target to throw the ball to. His objective is to get rid of the ball as soon as possible and throw it accurately. Quarterbacks of this sort are the Dan Marinos, Drew Bledsoes and Tom Bradys of the NFL. They may be able to move around in the pocket a bit or run for a first down, but it’s not their forte.

A “Scrambling Quarterback” is one who can move around in and out of the pocket to give his receivers more time to get open so that the play called can be accomplished successfully. It’s more of a “complete the play first and, if you can’t, then try to make a play out of it” mentality. Characteristics of this kind of QB include the ability to feel when defenders are near, the knack to elude would-be tacklers, and the capability to run for positive yardage when the opportunity presents itself. The scrambling quarterback takes off running when all other options have failed or there is a tremendous amount of yardage available to him. Think John Elway, Steve Young or Jeff Garcia and you’ll get the right idea.

A “Running Quarterback”, is very similar to the “Scrambling Quarterback” in many ways. This quarterback can feel when defenders are near and elude tacklers just as well, if not better than, a “Scrambling Quarterback”. The fundamental difference between these two QBs is that when a “Running Quarterback” tries to complete a play, instead of checking down to his second and third receivers like a “Pocket Passer” or even a “Scrambling Quarterback” does, he takes matters into his own hands. All too often, he tucks the ball and runs with it. He consistently searches for opportunities to create big plays himself as soon as his first option is taken away (if not sooner) and run with it, hence the term “Running Quarterback”.

In part two, we’ll head to the Way-Back Machine and take a look at the history and production of “Running Quarterbacks”. That’s right, folks, we’re edumacational ‘round here!