Football: The Newest Game of Chance
| 9
|
by Bberg11
From my blog, The Lazy Athlete
The Cleveland Browns have not exactly been a pillar of success in the NFL since returning to the league in 1999. During that time, they have gone a combined 40-88 with one playoffs appearence; a 33-36 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round. Most recently, they finished the 2006 season with a 4-12 record, earning the number three overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. So things obvioulsy haven't been going very well in Browns country. But with coach Romeo Crennell in his third season, and a nice haul of young players with bright futures from the last few drafts, hopes would seem to be on the rise. That is until you hear that Crennel is choosing his starting quarterback for the Brown's first preseason game by the most scientific of methods: flipping a coin.
For a sport based on strategy, analysis, and consistency as much as football is, it's ridiculous that a coach would decide the most important part of a football team by an activity of chance. Crennel's reasoning is that both his quarterbacks, Derek Anderson and Charlie Frye, are so evenly matched that he could go either way. While, logically, that makes sense, that just isn't the way football works. The quarterback position needs to be your most consistent if you want your team to have consistent success. And by flipping a coin, not only are you losing that consistency, your are telling your team that neither is capable of consistently leading them.
There are a number of positions in football where it is ok, and in some cases an advantage, to have more than one player capable of starting. The quarterback position is not one of them. And unlike a running back by committee approach, a quarterback by committee approach doesn't exist. Obviously you can only have one QB on the field at a time, but also there simply isn't enough quality quarterbacks in the league for one team to have two of them. Some teams aren't lucky enough to have one quality trigger man. So, in the case of the Browns, if you don't have one guy behind center, then you've got none.
Aside from this decision demonstrating the lack of a quality starting quarterback on the team, it also demonstrates the coach's lack of decision making, leadership, and quite frankly, coachingability. What does a coach expect his team to think when he can't even decide which quarterback will give his team the best chance to win based on something other than luck. If he can't do that, how can you be confident that his starting running back wasn't decided by throwing a dart at the depth chart; or the game plan wasn't put together with the help of his children; or trades aren't orchestrated based on the teams with the best cheerleaders? As an NFL coach in today's game, it is imperative that you show control in the decision making process.
I understand that it is only preseason, and those two quarterbacks may very be equal enough to be decided by a flip of the coin, but this is not something you make public. There needs to be a sense of confidence and control coming from the head coach; especially when the team is in a rebuilding phase. When you are a team on the upswing, looking to reinvigorate the fan base, saying/doing something as crazy as this is something that could really put a dent in the level of confidence in the team's progress.
