Sometimes it Doesn’t Pay to be the Starting Quarterback

We all know the guy growing up. He’s the starting quarterback for the football team; his girlfriend is hotter than yours; teachers let him get away with hell in class; homework—who needs it? not this guy; homecoming king; prom king; basically, you name it and he had it handed to him growing up because he could sling a ball better than you could.

Fast forward about 15 years. You are getting ready to go to your 10 Year High School reunion. You are looking forward to bragging about your hot wife, your awesome car, and that six figure salary you have (because the geeks shall inherit the Earth…) to any and all in attendance.

Then you turn on Sportscenter as you wait for your hot wife to get ready, Low and behold, they are doing one of those human interest pieces about the latest superstar quarterback—your former classmate—heading back to his hometown for his high school reunion.

And he steals your thunder yet again. You love our wife, but his is a dang Victoria’s Secret model; he has a small fleet of awesome cars; his salary is in the seven-figure range and that’s just for football. Last year he made even more as a spokesperson for Wheaties, Gatorade, Bud Light, Reebok, and some erectile dysfunction pills.

Where’s the justice in that?

It could be in the fact that when he’s 50 he will not remember why everyone used to love him, or the fact that he’s not playing this weekend because doctors are afraid that if he does the rib that got dislocated the week before might slice into his aorta and kill him.

Quarterbacks have always taken a beating, but it seems like this season the various signal callers in the NFL have been especially beaten up. Just last weekend we had Alex Smith, Michael Vick, and Jay Cutler all knocked out with concussions.

Ben Roethlisberger escaped that fate, but probably wishes he didn’t. He suffered a shoulder sprain, but that is minor in comparison to his other injury. It’s Big Ben that has the whole aorta issue.

These guys are not the only ones that have felt the crunch this season. Matt Cassel was knocked out with a concussion and lost his job in the process only to get it back after Brady Quinn went down with an injury.

John Skelton won the job in Arizona over Kevin Kolb only to lose it after he was injured in Week One. Like Cassel he did get it back, but that was because Kolb was hit so hard that he had ribs dislocate from his sternum.

Ouch!!!

Jake Locker finally took over in Tennessee, but found his induction into the starter’s job delayed due to a shoulder injury. Rookie sensation Robert Griffin III suffered his first concussion in Week Five against the Atlanta Falcons, but ended up not missing any game time.

The dearth of injuries has prompted more conversation into how to protect quarterbacks better. Whether that can be done with tougher restrictions on hitting QBs or better equipment is anyone’s guess. Chances are that neither will have any effect whatsoever.

It is sad to say, but there is only one thing that can slow down the injury parade of QBs—better coaching.

This is not to say that QBs don’t know how to play the game, but these days it appears that players—all players—are playing to make the highlight reel rather than play the game. 

Technique is almost a thing of the past when it comes to tackling. How often do we see defenders launch their bodies at a runner’s legs? The idea is no longer to wrap up and bring him down. It’s lets light his *ss up ad hope he leaves the game in pain instead.

Some runners (QBs, RBs, etc) see this and are great at sidestepping and making these defenders look foolish, but not all of them. As we have seen with agile guys like RG3 and Michael Vick, even the most fleet of foot get nailed on occasion.

Maybe there is one other thing that the league could do. Rather than fine guys $10,000 to $30,000 for hits to the head they can nail them with a percentage of their pay or better yet—suspend them for a game. If the punishment actually hurts the pocketbook they might change their ways. If coaches have to deal with losing players maybe they’ll start teaching proper tackling techniques again.

Then again, the game is becoming over legislated as it is. I recently heard that Roger Goodell is considering getting rid of kickoffs or putting weight restrictions on the guys that can participate in those plays. Do I need to say how ridiculous this is?

Injuries are a regrettable part of the game, but they are still part of the game. Every guy that suits up on Sundays knows that and has accepted that possibility. That is why we have back-ups, and why we hope that our back-ups could be starters on other teams that are happy with less pay and sticking with the home team.

It is a shame that the Steelers may get knocked out of playoff contention with Big Ben out, but fault the team for not getting a better back-up then Byron Leftwich. Chicago knows how that feels; hence their signing of Jason Campbell in the off-season. Dallas has plenty of issues, but should Romo get knocked out QB will not be one of them with Kyle Orton backing him up.

No one wants to see anyone get hurt, but it does happen. Maybe there is a reason why these guys get paid like they do after all.