Came across this article from the AP which states that Browns Head Coach, and all around professional man of mystery, Eric Mangini will not switch quarterbacks weekly during the regular season.
This makes me sad. I wish the article used specific quotes, even though I would have been disappointed for Mangini to be clear about anything. Unlike in this exchange with Braylon Edwards and reporters and then Mangini and reporters:
Reporter asks Edwards about his injury. Edwards responds, “Talk to coach Mangini about that and see what he says.” Reporter asks if the injury happened while Edwards was playing basketball, as has been the rumor. Edwards answers, “Talk to coach Mangini.”
Reporter asks Mangini about Edwards’ injury. “He has an injury,” says Mangini. Reporter asks where the injury took place. Mangini replies, “We’re not going to directly address the specifics of any injury. I understand the need to ask it, but I hope you can respect that.”
This is amazing. We need a NSA-type nickname for Mangini pronto. I guess in Mangini’s mind, the NFL is the world, he’s the President of the United States, and injuries are the nuclear codes.
But this diverts our attention from the point of me writing this article. One of my major hopes this year was that Mangini, with his grandiose desire to create a massive fog of misinformation, would decide that the best way to keep his opponents off-balance was to switch quarterbacks at will (or at least on a weekly or bi-weekly basis). After all, both of these guys performed at below average completion percentages last year and both appear to be better at different things…Anderson at throwing the ball down field for big plays, Quinn for dumping it off in an uninspiring fits of 4 to 8 yard gains. Why not utilize the talents of both QB’s depending on what vulnerabilities exist in the opposing team’s defense?
This is one of the things I don’t understand about football (I agree with much of Tim’s “Football Disclaimer”). Why do teams only use one QB? People could say it has something to do with a consistency of leadership or perhaps installing and building a unilateral offensive system…but most teams end up using multiple quarterbacks during the year anyway, due to injuries. I suspect that a large part of it has to do with the dearth of talent at the QB position in the NFL. Most of the time, teams play one guy because their backup guy sucks - and there’s a good chance your top guy might not be all that great either.
In this case, the Browns may have two guys that are just kinda-sorta average. Normally, I would agree that, even if the talent level is about equal, it makes sense to give all of the snaps to one guy for the sake of consistency and rhythm. However, when you have two quarterbacks with equal but unique talents, then there’s an argument to be made to go to war with two different weapons (I had to use a war metaphor because this is a football post).
I’m not a college football fan, but it’s worth mentioning that, to mixed results, Jim Tressel used both Terrell Pryor and that other player whose name I can’t remember at quarterback all the time. I bring this up because it’s a good excuse to state that I won’t be writing about college football on this blog unless it has something to do with my escapades on College Football Saturdays at The Parlor in Santa Monica, or if something priceless like Mike Gundy’s “I’m a man! I’m 40!” rant happens.
How come? Since there wasn’t a prominent Northeast Ohio college team when I was growing up, I never became a fan. Then I went to a college that didn’t even have a football team, so, no transition there.
All of this, ultimately, is a round about way of me saying that I have a lot to learn about the game of football. Hopefully, this blog will provide me the opportunity to increase my knowledge of the game over the course of this upcoming season. At least that, and the incredible way in which Mangini deals with the press, gives me something to look forward to for the ‘09’-‘10 NFL campaign.
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