- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
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- The Dude
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I have finally figured Sam Bradford out. Why did he look so bad in the 49ers game, and then almost have a perfect score last week with several aggressive deep throws? My answer: Bradford is a Comfort Quarterback. I have always known there are different types of quarterbacks, but I have never found the right labels for the categories I recognized. I finally believe I have discovered the proper labels. There are several types of quarterbacks. 1. Adaptive 2. Comfort, 3. Game Managers, 4. Hero, 5. Bad. To highlight the distinction I am trying to make, let’s define these terms.
Adaptive QB: A quarterback who can play well in any situation, whether the best payer on a bad team, the game manager on a great team, the hero bringing the team back from a huge deficit, or the dominant killer who loves a lead and builds on it. This QB will look like he Hero (defined below) on a bad team, but will show his excellence on a mediocre to good team because he makes others better around him. Ex. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady
Comfort QB: A quarterback who plays well on a team where he can rely on others to do their job, and he is just one of several good players that opposing teams have to worry about. This QB tends to excel on a winning that is at least adequate in all areas of the game, but almost never pays well on bad team that requires excellence from him to win. On a good team, this quarterback will look like an Adaptive QB. In short, this QB needs his “comfort zone” to succeed. Ex. Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner
Game Manager: This quarteback has limited skills. If given the right situation, where he is only asked to move the ball forward, and not turn it over, he can win. However, this QB will almost never attack downfield nor have huge stats. Like the Comfort QB, he will help a winning team win, but he will never look like an Adaptive QB. Ex. Trent Dilfer, Alex Smith,
Hero: This is the quarterback with the 80 yard arm, big stats, and inconsistent results. He loves being on a bad team where success requires excellence from him because he can take risks without remorse. However, when he is asked to play the role of a game manager (which all QB’s need to do for at least limited times) he crumbles into a blob of mistakes. Ex. Jeff George, Tony Romo, Michael Vick.
Bad: simply stated, this guy sucks. He may have one excellent characteristic to make you dream of his greatness, but you always wake up eventually to witness his failure.
The QB that always causes debate and heartache is the Comfort QB. Everyone wants the Adaptive QB, but he is rare. Furthermore, there is always a hero QB in the league, and the football related message boards are full on people complaining that the Comfort QB is not the Hero. Sometimes, the Comfort QB never makes it because he is drafted by a bad team and never gets in the situation he needs. At the same time, the Comfort QB can be mistaken for an Adaptive QB, and it will not be discovered until he is forced to struggle on a bad team. Look at Eli Manning who some were suggesting was better than Peyton, which just looks ludicrous this year.
The problem with Sam is we have all been trying to figure out whether he is an Adaptive QB or a Game Manager. No one has suggested he is a Hero QB. Yes, some have suggested he is a Bad QB, but those people are haters that complain about Albert Pujols jogging to first. We have all forgotten about the other type of QB because no one ever dreams of drafting a Comfort QB. Moreover, fans tend to get confused by the inconsistency of the Comfort QB.
Each Comfort QB may have a different Comfort Zone. Kurt Warner liked to attack, but Sam Bradford’s comfort zone is the Game Manager role. When allowed to play the Game Manager, he will take calculated risks and he has the skills to succeed when voluntarily taking those risks. Sam has shown a propensity to do well in the 4th quarter when we need a last minute drive. There is a reason for that success. The other team is in a prevent defense, and the underneath stuff is almost conceded. Sam loves the underneath stuff. Now that we are having success running the ball, The intermediate stuff is becoming less risky because the defense has to at least worry about the run.
For those of you complaining about Sam’s use of the underneath stuff, please go back and check Tom Brady’s stats, in particular his last minute drives. I probably would have called Tom Brady a Comfort QB, if I did not witness his greatness when he had Randy Moss. Brady is afraid of nothing. If needed, he will take as much risk as Jeff George. However, Brady has made a living on the underneath, especially in his last minute drives. Last week, is just another example.
Going back to the Rams, I was flabbergasted when Fischer came out two weeks ago claiming we were going to fix our problems by running the ball more, when that was our weakest skill. Now, I get it. Fisher saw what I did not. He saw what Bradford was and realized that the threat of a running game was vital to allow us to begin using our new weapons. If you want to see that seam route again to Cook, Sam wants to see the safety coming up to stop the run. If you want Tavon to have some room for YAC, Sam demas that the linebackers worry about the RB. Sam Bradford is not going to take the Hero risk. It just isn’t in his makeup.
Some of you may be upset that we don’t have the Adaptive QB, but I a not. Since I made up these categories, I can comfortably tell you that Joe Montana wasn’t an Adaptive QB. He was a Comfort QB. I would not mind having the next Joe Montana. I also suspect Dallas would not mind have a little Bradford in their QB right now.
These are my thoughts on Bradford, please let me know if you disagree. I love a good debate.
I have finally figured Sam Bradford out. Why did he look so bad in the 49ers game, and then almost have a perfect score last week with several aggressive deep throws? My answer: Bradford is a Comfort Quarterback. I have always known there are different types of quarterbacks, but I have never found the right labels for the categories I recognized. I finally believe I have discovered the proper labels. There are several types of quarterbacks. 1. Adaptive 2. Comfort, 3. Game Managers, 4. Hero, 5. Bad. To highlight the distinction I am trying to make, let’s define these terms.
Adaptive QB: A quarterback who can play well in any situation, whether the best payer on a bad team, the game manager on a great team, the hero bringing the team back from a huge deficit, or the dominant killer who loves a lead and builds on it. This QB will look like he Hero (defined below) on a bad team, but will show his excellence on a mediocre to good team because he makes others better around him. Ex. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady
Comfort QB: A quarterback who plays well on a team where he can rely on others to do their job, and he is just one of several good players that opposing teams have to worry about. This QB tends to excel on a winning that is at least adequate in all areas of the game, but almost never pays well on bad team that requires excellence from him to win. On a good team, this quarterback will look like an Adaptive QB. In short, this QB needs his “comfort zone” to succeed. Ex. Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner
Game Manager: This quarteback has limited skills. If given the right situation, where he is only asked to move the ball forward, and not turn it over, he can win. However, this QB will almost never attack downfield nor have huge stats. Like the Comfort QB, he will help a winning team win, but he will never look like an Adaptive QB. Ex. Trent Dilfer, Alex Smith,
Hero: This is the quarterback with the 80 yard arm, big stats, and inconsistent results. He loves being on a bad team where success requires excellence from him because he can take risks without remorse. However, when he is asked to play the role of a game manager (which all QB’s need to do for at least limited times) he crumbles into a blob of mistakes. Ex. Jeff George, Tony Romo, Michael Vick.
Bad: simply stated, this guy sucks. He may have one excellent characteristic to make you dream of his greatness, but you always wake up eventually to witness his failure.
The QB that always causes debate and heartache is the Comfort QB. Everyone wants the Adaptive QB, but he is rare. Furthermore, there is always a hero QB in the league, and the football related message boards are full on people complaining that the Comfort QB is not the Hero. Sometimes, the Comfort QB never makes it because he is drafted by a bad team and never gets in the situation he needs. At the same time, the Comfort QB can be mistaken for an Adaptive QB, and it will not be discovered until he is forced to struggle on a bad team. Look at Eli Manning who some were suggesting was better than Peyton, which just looks ludicrous this year.
The problem with Sam is we have all been trying to figure out whether he is an Adaptive QB or a Game Manager. No one has suggested he is a Hero QB. Yes, some have suggested he is a Bad QB, but those people are haters that complain about Albert Pujols jogging to first. We have all forgotten about the other type of QB because no one ever dreams of drafting a Comfort QB. Moreover, fans tend to get confused by the inconsistency of the Comfort QB.
Each Comfort QB may have a different Comfort Zone. Kurt Warner liked to attack, but Sam Bradford’s comfort zone is the Game Manager role. When allowed to play the Game Manager, he will take calculated risks and he has the skills to succeed when voluntarily taking those risks. Sam has shown a propensity to do well in the 4th quarter when we need a last minute drive. There is a reason for that success. The other team is in a prevent defense, and the underneath stuff is almost conceded. Sam loves the underneath stuff. Now that we are having success running the ball, The intermediate stuff is becoming less risky because the defense has to at least worry about the run.
For those of you complaining about Sam’s use of the underneath stuff, please go back and check Tom Brady’s stats, in particular his last minute drives. I probably would have called Tom Brady a Comfort QB, if I did not witness his greatness when he had Randy Moss. Brady is afraid of nothing. If needed, he will take as much risk as Jeff George. However, Brady has made a living on the underneath, especially in his last minute drives. Last week, is just another example.
Going back to the Rams, I was flabbergasted when Fischer came out two weeks ago claiming we were going to fix our problems by running the ball more, when that was our weakest skill. Now, I get it. Fisher saw what I did not. He saw what Bradford was and realized that the threat of a running game was vital to allow us to begin using our new weapons. If you want to see that seam route again to Cook, Sam wants to see the safety coming up to stop the run. If you want Tavon to have some room for YAC, Sam demas that the linebackers worry about the RB. Sam Bradford is not going to take the Hero risk. It just isn’t in his makeup.
Some of you may be upset that we don’t have the Adaptive QB, but I a not. Since I made up these categories, I can comfortably tell you that Joe Montana wasn’t an Adaptive QB. He was a Comfort QB. I would not mind having the next Joe Montana. I also suspect Dallas would not mind have a little Bradford in their QB right now.
These are my thoughts on Bradford, please let me know if you disagree. I love a good debate.