Rosenfels breaks down 3 Super Bowl-winning QBs with unique struggles
Sage Rosenfels is a former 12-year NFL quarterback who now writes, does radio, and podcasts about the NFL and college football.
This week, I'd like to dissect some of the NFL’'s most well known, well paid, and successful veteran quarterbacks. All have Super Bowl rings, and all have had various forms of "struggle" this year.
Tom Brady
If the No. 1 rule of Fight Club is to never talk about Fight Club, then the No. 1 rule for 31 NFL teams should be "Don't piss off Tom Brady." After serving his four-game suspension due to "Deflategate," Brady has looked like an MVP candidate in his first two games back. No player has ever won an MVP in the same year of a four-game suspension, but the numbers Brady has put up are nothing short of phenomenal.
Brady has always used his arm and his mind to be successful. He never had Russell Wilson's scrambling skills, or Aaron Rodgers' ability to make unbelievable throws off schedule. But his arm strength and accuracy have not decreased despite the fact he is the oldest starter in the league at 39. About a year ago, Brady said he wanted to play for 10 more years and most observers thought he was nuts. But because of his throwing motion, I've never doubted that this would be a real possibility. I can't really go into the details of his motion but as a part-time private quarterbacks coach, I train my young QBs to throw just throw like Brady.
His second and most important strength is his mind. Obviously, Brady is a smart quarterback. There are a lot of smart quarterbacks out there. But by having Bill Belichick, the greatest head coach in NFL history, I believe Brady understands the fine details of defense better than the rest. Football at the highest level is a very complex puzzle. Every defense has a weakness or two, and nobody is better at understanding that puzzle than Belichick. He has spent four decades dissecting every way possible to stop NFL offenses. Whether a team has a great running back, a top wide receiver, or an All-Pro tight end, Belichick has a formula to shut them down.
This knowledge has been passed down to Brady. As NFL teams continue to draft players to shut down the NFL's best wide receivers, Brady and Belichick stay one step ahead of the game. They've had a ton of success using tight ends the second half of Brady's career. Gronk is an almost unstoppable force. Since everyone knows Brady wants to get him the ball, the Patriots have had a strong No. 2 tight end as part of their business strategy. First it was Aaron Hernandez, (who's talent was undeniable) and now it's Martellus Bennett. If an opponent's top safety is lined up over Gronk, that leaves a linebacker to cover Bennett. Advantage: Patriots. If you play two over the top of the tight ends, the Pats have added running backs who are dangerous receivers out of the backfield.
Watching the Patriots week by week is like taking a course in football strategy. Belichick may be the brilliant old professor, but Tom Brady is his brightest student.
Aaron Rodgers
What is wrong with Aaron Rodgers? That is the question on every Packer fan's mind this morning. Troy Aikman brought it up multiple times in the telecast on Sunday. A-Rod, who in my opinion has been the best quarterback in the NFL the last few years, has looked fairly average this season. He hasn't broken the 300-yard mark yet in a game and his quarterback rating is the lowest it's been since he became the Packers' starter almost a decade ago.
To answer that question, you have to look at how teams are playing Rodgers. In the Week 2 matchup against the Vikings, Mike Zimmer's defense played the majority of the game in various forms of man-to-man coverage. Though this is what the Vikings play against most teams, it has caused Rodgers plenty of headaches since Zimmer's arrival in Minnesota. Other teams have now caught on and are playing the Packers in a similar fashion.
Though I love Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, the Packers lack depth at the wide receiver, tight end, and running back position to get separation in the passing game. They haven't had a top-tier tight end since Jermichael Finley and the Eddie Lacy/James Starks backfield combo are not a threat in the passing game. The Packers may have one of the best, if not the best, throwers in the NFL. But they don't have the weapons to match.
Because of this, and the fact the Packers' defense has been fairly average the last few years (though they are much improved in 2016), the pressure for Rodgers to carry this team has been high. Over time, this will take a toll on any player. We've seen how the Patriots built their team to compete without Tom Brady, but the Packers would be completely lost without Rodgers. The pressure to play great week-to-week can cause a quarterback to miss a throw or make a "rookie" mistake. The interception he threw yesterday proved to me how much Rodgers is pressing.
On that play, the Cowboys played Cover-4 and the backside safety, who ended up making the interception, had nobody to cover on the play. The X receiver didn't threaten his zone and he was free to roam the middle of the field. Sometimes you just don't see a defender, and Rodgers didn't see Barry Church. But the pass concept which was called against the undisguised defense of the Cowboys should have eliminated the possibility of throwing the ball to Randall Cobb. Of his five options on field, the one Rodgers chose was hands down the worst.
This makes me think Rodgers is pressing. He just doesn't make mistakes like that one. He may need to change his mindset and allow his team to help him out. His defense is better this year and it can run the ball. Sometimes when you are in a slump, it's good to rely on your teammates to do their job and just focus on doing yours. Rodgers has had to play like Superman for the Packers to win these last few seasons. The Packers' dependence on him to play this way has taken a toll. It's time they help him out a bit.
Eli Manning
For the first 10 years of Eli Manning's career, he ran one offense. During the last two Super Bowl runs, Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride ran an offense which included many run-and-shoot concepts. This required the receivers to read the coverage and adjust their routes accordingly. The West Coast offense of Ben McAdoo doesn't have that type of route-changing flexibility. Having played in both styles of offenses, making the adjustment to the West Coast system has been a challenge for Manning.
NFL offenses have a lot of similarities and some major differences. Whether it's the way they install the plays, the languages used, the route combinations, or the responsibility of the quarterback, no two offensive systems are alike. While some are almost the same but just use different languages (Norv Turner's versus Gary Kubiak's), the difference between Eli's first system and his second is a stark contrast.
Gilbride's system is like no other in the NFL. The quarterback and receivers must read the defense on the move and be in sync together. "Feeling" your wide receiver's body language and trusting he will run the right route are at a premium. These situations can create footwork that isn't always perfectly in sync, but despite this, Eli showed a special ability to stay in balance and let his weapons work.
In a West Coast system, everything is about precise timing. Every hitch is important as receivers have little flexibility in their route responsibility. Despite being in the league for such a long time, Manning struggled in his first two years under this system. Old habits are hard to break, and Manning has a decade of habits to overcome.
He has played better each year in Ben McAdoo's system. With Sunday's big win versus Baltimore, Manning is showing his ability to adapt. The question is whether the rest of this team is good enough (and mature enough) to catch the streaking Dallas Cowboys in the very competitive NFC East.