The Perfect Quarterback

I’ve been having this conversation with my brother a lot. It starts out, “Who do you think is the best quarterback in the NFL?” It usually ends with Alex saying Russell Wilson, and/or Robert Griffin III.

I would like to point out that no quarterback can be perfect, and with that thus pointed out, I would like to attempt to combine the best parts of several of the best quarterbacks to make the perfect quarterback. This quarterback can run and pass. It can read defenses, and make the play to defeat them.

This is the perfect quarterback:

The Head: Peyton Manning. With his eyes dissecting the defense there isn’t a chance for the other team. Manning is the greatest authority regarding plays to beat the defense. With Manning’s knowledge of the game, the quarterback will be able to force defenses to think twice before daring him to run.

The Arm: Tom Brady. With Brady’s arm, the accuracy, and power will be perfect. Tom Brady has proven time and time again, that he can throw the ball to receivers who are draped in defenders. His accuracy extends to the deep ball, and he can drop  the ball into the perfect spot, and  does it on a consistent basis.

The Desire: Russell Wilson. Too short. Will never be able to see his receivers. Cannot. Can’t. No way. Wilson is fired up by all of the criticism and uses it to his advantage. The diminutive quarterback is not afraid to be hit, and always delivers in the clutch. (Excepting of course the last game where he threw the game ending interception.)

The Love of the Game: Tim Tebow. This man wants to do anything he can to help his team win. If that meant long-snapping, he’d do it. But instead he was able to pursue his dream as a quarterback. Built more like a full back though, he did what he was best at to help his team: run the ball. He’s the perfect example of a football player.

The Upper Body: Cam Newton. Cam Newton is a big boy. According to NFL.com Newton is 6′ 5″, weighing 245. I’ve seen rosters and trading cards that have his height at 6′ 6″ (I’ve actually seen 6′ 7″, too). That’s huge. To top it off he’s super strong, too. With Newton’s upper body and core strength the quarterback would be nearly impossible to tackle.

The Hips: Mike Vick. If you’ve ever watched a game that Michael Vick participated in, you’ve seen something special. Vick is a quarterback who takes advantage of a stereotype. He drops back to pass, the receivers are covered, he runs. What makes him special is his ability freeze defenders. Vick has incredible agility, and can shake his hips to fake one way, and then, a millisecond later, he flips his hips and is taking off, leaving the defender in the dust.

The Thighs: Colin Kaepernick. Watching Colin Kaepernick run is a bit comical. First he gets low to the ground and makes a few defenders miss. Then, when he’s in the open field, he straightens up and starts loping, or what looks like loping. Then you see that he’s going really fast. I’ll say two things. Colin Kaepernick has the most powerful thighs of any quarterback, and definitely the longest legs of any quarterback (Excluding Mike Glennon for definitive purposes :-)— isn’t he 6′ 8″?)

Lower Leg Agility: Robert Griffin III. Griffin is quite the athlete. He always reminds me of the few videos I’ve seen of Doug Flutie playing football. His legs, though, are far superior. Where Flutie could run, Griffin has ankle breaking cuts, and change of direction skills that are far beyond anything I’ve seen quarterbacks do. Besides that he’s pretty fast 🙂 I made the rule that you can only be in one category. So, Mike Vick is in this category too, just in spirit.

Lower Leg Stance: Drew Brees. Drew Brees is probably one of my favorite quarterbacks, he is soooooo short, but he bounces around in the pocket to see where his receivers are, then he throws the perfect ball to his receiver. The key to his success would have to be his stance. Drew Brees has the perfectest, widest base of any quarterback, it’s not even a contest. Even if you look at Peyton Manning (the perfectionist!), Brees gets lower, and delivers the ball better (according to the prototype of technique; obviously Manning has his own technique, and it works for him).  The stance is really important for Brees because he’s so short. When he bounces around to see over his line, it’s imperative that he lands in that perfect trapezoidal base. That way he can throw right away. It also improves his accuracy, and power. (No, I’m not that smart, I just got all that from watching Sunday Night Football 🙂 I thought it was interesting, though, because it makes perfect sense. At least to me. 🙂 )

Our little Frankenstinian creation doesn’t look pretty, but I’d say it’d get the job done. With all of these attributes defenses would have to double spy on the quarterback (because of the running ability) and that would force the defense into man coverage, with no safety help. That would be easy pickin’s for the perfect quarterback.