April 29, 2021 • 26 mins
Coach Billick moves beyond the draft and into the attributes that make a great NFL quarterback. These attributes go beyond the physical and to help illustrate this Coach gets perspective from a Hall Of Fame cornucopia of guests including, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Drew Brees, Randall Cunningham, Dan Fouts, John Elway, Len Dawson, Ozzie Newsome, Ron Wolf, and Bill Polian!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Brian Billick, and this is the Q factor. It's
noteworthy that as we visit with these Hall of famers,
none of them mentioned many physical traits height, weight, speed, vision,
or arm strength. They continually come back to the mental
and emotional traits coupled with work ethic and then drive
to be great. You know, for the most part, it
(00:20):
is an adjustment for a lot of guys just because hey,
the game is fast. Uh, you know, the stakes at
the quarterback position are magnifies, you know, at the NFL level,
um and it's just it just becomes a full time job,
and you know, it's a long season, and it takes
some getting used to. The game is faster, and when
you come in as a rookie, you're you're made acutely
(00:41):
aware as to how fast it is relative to the
college game. But then you go through a period and
for some it takes longer. But at some point, if
if you're going to make it in the league, the
game does tend to slow down. For me, it was
it was towards the end of my second year and
then into my third year. I really believe the system
makes the quarterback if you have smart offensive coordinators like
(01:02):
Joe Montana had. Joe Montana was a great quarterback. His
timing of the people that he had on his team
was impeccable. I mean, he had the great team, he
had the smart coaches, he had a great owner. At
the same time, it's hard to explain, you know, when
you let go of that pass and dang, and I
thought it was going to get in there and it
got intercepted. And you know what, unless you've been there
(01:24):
and know that you have to take chances, and you
know it might not have been the right time to
throw that ball, but you know, I still have my
belief in myself that I can do I can make
that throw. And they have somebody outside there tell you
you shouldn't have thrown that, Well, well, hell, I could
tell you that after I threw it. There's no position
in sports more important or challenging to fill than that
of an NFL quarterback. We propose to follow a small
(01:47):
group of prospects their skills, stats, and character traits, and
track their performance and circumstances to see if we could
uncover patterns of what separates great from merely very good
to an outright bust, and to determine why this process
has failed so often, maybe even identifying a formula that
translates into identifying quarterback types in fields beyond the football field.
(02:11):
This is the Q Factor, Episode four, What is it
about the Quarterback Position? We spent the first three episodes
of the Q Factor outlining the need and issues with
acquiring and developing the most important player on your team,
the quarterback. We've looked at the history of the process
a k a. The draft, the issues it presents, and
(02:32):
the many pitfalls that have tripped up so many organizations.
Let's now look at what are the key elements in
finding and developing the most important position on your football team.
We've already identified that coming up with a specific list
of attributes that it takes to play quarterback in the
National Football League is multidimensional and as multiple aspects. You
(02:56):
can bring this into sharp focus by sitting around with
a number of your friends and talk about each coming
up with the top ten quarterbacks of all time. Depending
upon the size of the group, you may come up
with twelve fourteen different names. Then sit and try to
isolate what made them great, what made them Hall of famers,
was that the unbelievable quick release of a damn Marino,
(03:19):
the athleticism in the pocket and accuracy of a Joe Montana,
the sheer physicality of a Troy Aikman, the unbelievable pure
stroke of Warren Moon, or maybe the pure intellect of
Peyton Manning. And what you recognize is each of these
athletes had attributes in different proportions that made each of
them great. I've often equated this process to that of
(03:42):
in a recording studio when you watch and you see
a documentary on some artists putting together an album or
a song, and in front of the engineer is this
huge board with multiple level levels to get the just
right balance of pitch, gain, ball, lens, base, all the
multiple things I couldn't even begin to identify that go
(04:04):
into creating the right sound. And if you were to
look at one song versus the next, each of those
levels is totally different, yet it still produces a great
piece of music. The same is true of the quarterback position.
If we were somehow able to establish the different bars
in different settings, as we look at our top ten
quarterbacks at all time, we would see each would have
(04:27):
different settings in different values of athleticism, intelligence, poise, confidence,
throwing ability, vision, all the attributes that it takes to
play quarterback in the National Football League. Let's begin with
Hall of Fame general manager Ron Wolf, who advises going
back to the film, particularly the big games, and identifying
(04:49):
that toughness, that mental toughness it takes to be a winner.
I felt, what did they do as a collegian as
a quarterback? Did they win the game? Were they did
(05:10):
a coach take the ball out of his hand at
a critical moment in the game, or did they let
the guy go ahead and quarterback? To me, those are
very very valuable things in assessing what or not a
guy can play. Because you've gotta go, you gotta look
at some tree. Now. I was very fortunate to be
(05:31):
able to trade for Brett Farbs. And there's a guy
who us just a little bit over five. But the
competition they played with remarkable. When he goes into ath
and Georgia for that Southern Mississippi team and beats the
University of Georgia, he goes into Auburn, beat Auburn Port
(05:52):
the state moved their homecoming game from their ballpark into
the Gator ball and Jackson. Don't guess what happens. He
beats them, so all those things enter into it, but it's,
as you know, it's how they perform at that particular
moment that determines whether or not they comply. Do they
(06:16):
have the wherewithal to withstand the pressure of the position.
I think one of the great things about about playing
the position is the where withal toughness these men possess
to perform at that at that level, at that position.
It's incredible. Uh you know, walking up a line of scriptage,
(06:39):
you've got five seconds to determine what you're gonna do
with a football, and just think about that, and it's
a remarkable the success these fells that and it's brilliant
displays the tremendous athletic ability it takes deploy of the
national for public. It was interesting when visiting with Hall
(07:02):
of famers Len Dawson, Joe Montana, Bill Polian, and future
Hall of Famer Drew Brees. They each immediately went to
the emotional and mental commitment to the game and handling
the distractions. It really is. I think when you see
college quarterbacks and they put up a lot of numbers.
For example, somebody is open in college football, he might
(07:23):
be opened by five yards right in professional football, he's
got a half a step on the guy, and so
the timing is really important and the margin of air,
you know, is really increased because you can't afford to
be late throwing the ball. The timing has to be
just right. And a lot of these young quarterbacks are
finding that out and there thinking and you know, their
(07:43):
head is dizzy. I can tell you that after you know,
three or four months of professional football and all the
things that they have to read and the adjustments they
have to make. The audibilization today you have to be
able to audibilize at the line of scrimmage and it
takes a young quarterback sometime, you know, to figure that out.
So it's it's a pretty complicated situation, particularly for a
(08:03):
young quarterback. You know, you talked to a rookie quarterback
after he's throwing that playbook in four or five weeks
in training camp, and you know, you don't even where
he is. I think they get too locked into it.
I mean, in some cases, I think with the way
that they look at it is that well, most guys,
our chances of success are better if if we have
these components. But it's hard to measure that part of it.
(08:25):
You don't know. I mean, you just don't know what
you get no matter what. You could have a guy
that had tremendous heart. Let's go to Ricky Williams. I mean,
here's the guy that just said, all right, I hadn't
I don't want to end up like Earl Campbell, you know,
and said, that's it. I'm done. You know, how how
do you make how do you know that? How do
you measure that? You can't? And then you got guys
like Doug Flutie said, guys said he's way too small
(08:48):
to ever make it. Now look at him, He's still
hanging around. They can't get rid of him. You know,
when you're involved in the sport and you're playing, you know,
there's so many things that can distract you. And the
biggest distraction on a day to day basis is the
media and not that it's a it just takes time
from your day as much as anything to where you know,
(09:09):
everybody's been hurt by one guy or another guy here
or there, and you eventually get over all that stuff.
But it's hard to focus on the game when you
have people outside the game telling you what you're doing
right and wrong, and you know, so I don't. I
don't know if it's a natural progression, but it's just
(09:29):
the pressure from where it started is gone. So you
don't have to deal with the um the sports part
of it, and so the relationship becomes different between yourself
and the media because you don't have you don't have
to answer to that, to that question where most athletes
think they shouldn't have to answer to the media, um,
(09:50):
because they don't understand really what the game was like.
You know, it's hard to explain, you know, when you
let go of that pass, it dang, and I thought
it was gonna get in there and it got intercept,
and you know what, unless you've been there and know
that you have to take chances, and you know, it
might not have been the right time to throw that ball,
but you know, I still have my belief in myself
(10:10):
that I can do I can make that throw. And
they have somebody outside there tell you you shouldn't have
thrown that, Well, well how I can tell you that
after I threw it, you know, but if it gets
in there, it's a different story. So, UM, I think
that's probably the toughest part, you know, and it's a
it's a fine line in there. And you know, we
we could never predict and I would never take credit
(10:31):
for anything that Peyton has done in his career. He's
done that all on his own. We thought that we
were getting a quarterback who could win for us in
the NFL. We didn't think we were getting a quarterback
for the ages. Uh but in in in in its
final uh iteration, Peyton Manning was was a winner because
(10:53):
of his so called intangibles. But if you if you
really looked into it, they were very tangent. Well, he
had the greatest work ethic of anybody I've ever been around.
He's a perfectionist. He wants to win above all. He
dedicates himself solely to football once the football season begins. Um,
he's a great teammate. He lockered with the offensive line
(11:15):
from day one, h knowing that uh uh, he wasn't
gonna put himself on any kind of special pedestal. He
was going to be one of the guys. Um he
remains so today. Um he's loyal. His life outside football
is really, in many ways, uh, made up of three things. Family,
(11:38):
his uh, commercial pursuits, which are not many, but but
you know they're varied and then ultimately, uh, good works
in the community. And I said at the time that
he left Indianapolis, no one has done more to change
the face of athletics in Indianapolis than Peyton Manning. Yeah,
it's uh, it's definitely the justment and uh, you know,
(12:01):
I think you just uh, it all depends on the
situation that you can, you know, fall into and but
for the most part, it definitely takes you three years
to three years. Is is kind of the curve. And
you know, you see guys, you know, like Tom Brady
or Ben Roethlisberger who you know, come in and have
success right away, and um, you know, obviously those are
(12:23):
great players and have great teams around them as well.
But you know, for the most part, it is an
adjustment for a lot of guys just because hey, the
game is fast. Uh, you know, mistakes at the quarterback
position are magnified, you know, at the NFL level. Um,
and it's just it just becomes a full time job,
and you know, it's a long season and it takes
some getting used to haul of famous Troy Aikman and
(12:45):
Joel Montana also talk about handling the speed of the
game and the mental toughness yeah, it was about my
third season, uh, when I really felt that I was
settling in and seeing things that you know, they the
game is faster, and when you come in as a
rookie year you're made acutely aware as to how fast
it is relative to the college game. But then you
(13:05):
go through a period and for some it takes longer.
But at some point, if if you're going to make
it in the league, the game does tend to slow down.
For me, it was it was towards the end of
my second year and then into my third year, and
then you start seeing like different coverages and what defenses
are trying to do, and and when you get to
that point, it is a heck of a lot of
fun to be playing the position. Most of it it's
(13:27):
mental toughness and who can handle the mental part of
the game and the ups and downs and the criticism,
And it's not easy to get into. You know, your
your attitude also obviously, because you have to be accepted
in by that team, and if you can get accepted in,
that's a big, a big relief off your shoulders and
in the or at least cuts out a part of
(13:48):
the mental preparation that you need because you don't have
to worry about trying to always please somebody. You know
they you have their acceptance and you have them behind you,
and they're willing to work with you and for you,
and that that helps. And if you get off to
the wrong start, and like I think Ryan Leath did,
makes it tough. We've talked about the increased athleticism that's
(14:09):
required of quarterbacks today. Drew Brees and Randall Cunningham talk
about the footwork and the ability to run as being
part of your arsenal, and Ozzie Knew some talks about
the new athlete coming into the game, while Bill Polian
still stresses you've still got to be able to win
from the pocket, you know, for a guy like me,
who's uh, you know, not the not the tallest guy
(14:31):
out there, I think work becomes even more important because
you know, get back in the pocket, you know, be
able to read defenses, recoverage, kind of determine where you're
going to law, and then you know, move your feet
in order to find windows to throw through because a
lot of times you can't really throw over guys guys
are too big. You know, you gotta throw around him,
(14:51):
you know, And find windows. So especially for for shorter
guys like myself, that's uh becomes pretty important. Well, I'll
tell you what your mind is always run, that's the
first thing. And to block it out you have to
be so focused. I mean, you have to have had
a great practice during the week. During each day you
had to study the films and and and and dissect
the films. And I was a guy that when I
(15:12):
studied films, I didn't just watch the second daring the linebackers.
I watched the defensive line. I wanted to know who
the best defensive linement was. I wanted to know what
what whole I could escape out of if I had
to move. I wanted to know if I could roll
around to the right. So when I went into the game,
I had a game plan in my heart of what
I wanted to do, and I had a game plan
the coaches gave me, and then I had a game
plans with if if things fell apart, what was I
(15:34):
going to rely on? Was gonna rely on my legs
or wasn't gonna run on my smarts? I was gonna
rely on my arm And there were times I had
to rely on all three. Yeah, the smart running was.
I was always trying to run on third down and long.
I knew that if I dropped back, I could rely
on my arm, but they would be back there waiting.
And I ran during man to man situations. I knew
(15:54):
when a team would stunt and twist and do these
different things, and I knew if they turned their backs
and we're running with my receipt, it was and I
got through a hole, I can take a thirty yards,
which is a big gap. Well, I think it's dictated
by the athletes. I think that you know, coaches would
always just love to sit, you know, drop back and
have everything work out perfect. But with the athletes today
and the different defenses and the specialization of defenses and
(16:15):
offenses with personnel that there's so many different looks that
you can't you can't coach every look and so you
need a guy there behind the center that's a play
America can move around and make some place. Well, the
defensive players are still the same, I mean, they're just
getting bigger, bigger and faster, you know. You know, we
used to have a defensive end would be six five
(16:35):
to seventy five to eighty. Now you got outside linebackers
that are playing that way. You know, you got the
inside linebackers that you know two d fifty plus pounds,
but they're they're just as athletic and just as fast
as the smaller guys that played, you know, when I
played or when you were coaching, so that they just
didn't got bigger and faster and more athletic. Um so
(16:59):
because they they too have been in high school, they've
played against spread offenses. In college, they played against spread
so that they used to play in space a lot
more than a lot of the guys that we used
to get coming into the league, they probably never played
in space. So the the high schools and the colleges are,
(17:20):
for me to say it, are really dictating a little
bit to the way we have to play. And I
thought I would never say that. I believe that you
have to have a guy who can feat you from
the pocket. And there's a there's an asterisk with this.
There's no question. Bill Parcels said to me many years ago,
where captives of what the college has sent us. So
(17:42):
we're we're getting spread quarterbacks and you're right there. You know,
Lamar is a unicorn there there there's there's plenty that
that try to replicate him, but but none can. So
the bottom line is you can play with guys who
come out of the spread, and and the more that
they can move and the more they can throw on
(18:03):
different platforms, the better there are. But how many Lamars
are there, how many Russell Wilson's are there? I mean,
you can Kyler Murray maybe the only the only other
one that's in that conversation at this point in time.
But the fact of the matter is that when you're
in a situation where you have to come from behind
two minutes and you have to come from behind in
(18:26):
a big deficit, you've got to be able to make
the play from the pocket. You just have to be
able to. It's great to have the mobile quarterback, and
he's certainly, in this day and age viable, there's no
question about that. But I think in the end, when
it comes to winning it all, you've gotta be you
gotta be able to play from the pocket the way
(18:47):
Patrick Mahomes does. Through all the elements we talk about
in terms of the attributes it takes for someone to
succeed at the quarterback position in the NFL, still coaching
does matter. Hall of Famer Dan Fouts talks about his
relationship with Bill Walsh and when Bill Walsh came into
his career and what a difference it made in terms
of him evolving into a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Well,
(19:10):
the thing that Corill did is he looked at his
personnel and he saw athletes that could do more than
one thing. Like a tight end like Winslow. Sure he
could put his hand on the ground and blocked the
strong side linebacker, but he could also line up outside
as a wide receiver or wing back. Uh. He could
even throw the ball. We had Winslow throw the ball
at times, uh from from the flanker position. So I
(19:34):
think that Corriel's courage in throwing the ball number one
and then relying on his players to to make plays
and to see what talents they had and utilize those talents.
And then then there were a number of innovations that
he brought to the game UH and contributions, including on
the defensive side of the ball. When you had to
(19:55):
try to stop us, you had to use five and
six defensive backs. And before that we had heard of
a nickel defensive back or a dime defensive back. Well,
when Bill got there was my fourth year in San Diego,
and we've had three offensive coordinators in my first three years,
so but he was really, uh the guru. I mean,
he knew so much about the passing game, about playing
quarterback and the timing between the quarterbacks drops and the
(20:19):
receiver's routes, and he built my game up from the
floor and uh, it really gave me a foundation of
how to read defenses and how to deliver the ball
and in all the things that he's taught all his
great quarterbacks that I was lucky enough to be there
with him for one year, but what what he did,
uh really set the stage and helped me when Corey
(20:41):
Ll got to San Diego. Because one of the things
corey Ll did is he saw a number of things
that we did with Bill Walsh's offense, and he knew
that I liked those things, so he kept him in
his offense so we would change the name of of
certain plays, but the concepts would be the same. And
that was, you know, really important to me because I
knew how good Bill's training was and his teaching, and
(21:02):
it meshed so well with core El. You know, you
had to be smart, number one. You had to be
able to figure out reading defenses and and uh, trusting
your receivers and and just the small things about you know,
this step here and that step there, and how to
escape the rush. And you know, when you think of
the quarterbacks that he had, I mean Greg Cook, if
(21:23):
he never had gotten hurt, nobody would have ever heard
of Kenny Anderson and Bill Walsh probably would have never
have left Cincinnati, and you wouldn't have heard of Dan
Fouts and they maybe not even Joe Montana, Steve Young.
I mean, that's how the dominoes fell for Bill. But
when you think of the you know, the fact you
had three Hall of famers, uh and and potentially you know,
(21:45):
Kenny Anderson deserves his shot at the Hall of Fame.
And Greg Cook. We all agree, all all of us
that have played for Bill, that Greg Cook was the
finest of all. Marrying these unique talents with the right
coaching is encompassed in the overall system that a player
comes to, and that's so important in terms of the development.
(22:05):
No better example than Lamar Jackson going to the Baltimore Ravens.
John Harbaugh the head coach and Greg Roman the offensive
coordinator totally embraced the unique talents of Lamar Jackson and
crafted an offense that was unique and specific to him.
Quite a juxtaposition from what they had won with with
Joe Flacco, Len Dawson, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana,
(22:27):
and Randall Cunningham. All speak to the importance of being
in the right system, utilizing the right talents of these
gifted quarterbacks. I was fortunate that Hankstram had studied that position.
He knew the importance of the quarterback. He knew the
fundamentals and the techniques of that position. So's Bill Walsh,
and you know he took ahold of the Joe Montana
(22:47):
and you know, developed in him into the best quarterback
that's ever been. You know, I think it's a little
bit of both. Uh. You know, I've often said that
at the collegiate level, I think if you have great coaching,
you can win a fair number of games. If you
don't and have great coaching, but yet you have great players,
I think you can wear win a fair amount of games.
At the NFL level, I really think you have to
(23:07):
have both. And uh, you know, you can take a
great quarterback that's not put in a very good system
and he's gonna struggle. And you can take a great
system and put it with a not so good quarterback
and the system is not gonna look real good. And
so I really think the to go hand in hand,
and speaking from experience. Uh. In fact, I said it
last year in my Hall of Fame speech that in
my third year, when North Turner came in as our
(23:29):
offensive coordinator, he turned my career around and a number
of other players as well, and in the process we
went on to win two World championships in his three seasons.
And I think that that's important. You know, I don't know,
I tell you the truth. I you know, I don't
think I could have gone in and started right away,
not in that offense. Um, maybe if you cut down
(23:50):
a lot of the things that were involved in it.
But I mean when the easiest way you can explain
this is we went into the Pro Bowl in one
year and Joe thisman was the other quarterback on the team,
and Bill put in thirty plays the first thirty passes
the first day, and he's so happy he can't stand.
He goes, Wow, we got all the past plays in
(24:11):
one day. And I go I start laughing. He goes,
what are you laughing about I said, he'll put plays
in all the way to Saturdays, maybe Sunday morning if
he want, and he goes, no way, he can't do that.
And sure, I mean, and that's just a cut down
version of what we had to learn. And I don't
think you can you can gather that much and jump
right in. And some systems are a lot easier to operate,
(24:32):
uh than others. And you know, I can't speak for
what Peyton was running, but he obviously was ready to
make that jomp. I really believe the system makes the
quarterback if you have smart offensive coordinators like Joe Montana had.
Joe Montana was was a great quarterback. His timing of
the people that he had on his team was impeccable.
I mean, he had the great team, he had the
(24:52):
smart coaches, he had a great owner. At the same time,
I think when you have a great owner that's willing
to spend and do what he has to do to
win games, it's gonna be great. You look at a
coach like Phil he knows that he's a great coach
and he knows how to win games. If you put
an average team around him, and then you bring in
the Michael George. He's gonna win championship after championship after championship.
(25:14):
But I'll tell you what, when you look at one player,
you look at the greatest football player in the history
of the National Football League, Barry Sanders. He was the
most exciting and everyone remembers him, but he never had
the complete team with him to win. It's noteworthy that
as we visit with these Hall of famers, none of
them mentioned many physical traits height, weight, speed, vision, or
arm strength. They continually come back to the mental and
(25:37):
emotional traits coupled with work ethic and then drive to
be great. And a long list of bus at first
round misses at the quarterback position, from Tim Couch to
Jamacus Russell to Ryan Leef, Achille Smith, the list goes
on and on. All had the sheer physical attributes to
be successful in the NFL. So whether it's the player,
the coach, or the general manager or even our business
(26:00):
professional in charge of acquiring talent, it all comes down
to establishing the priorities you're looking for, marrying them with
the right coach within the right system, and not negotiating
your way into overlooking what should be obvious In regards
to the marriage of a player's ability and the core
principles of your system. In the next episode of The
Q Factor, we'll look at what we're calling Billick's extrapolations.
(26:23):
By definition, it means forming an opinion or reaching a
conclusion through reasoning and information. What it means to me
is using what you know to tell you what you
don't know. The Q Factor and The Q Factor Audiobook
are available online and wherever books are sold.
I'm Brian Billick, and this is the Q factor. It's
noteworthy that as we visit with these Hall of famers,
none of them mentioned many physical traits height, weight, speed, vision,
or arm strength. They continually come back to the mental
and emotional traits coupled with work ethic and then drive
to be great. You know, for the most part, it
(00:20):
is an adjustment for a lot of guys just because hey,
the game is fast. Uh, you know, the stakes at
the quarterback position are magnifies, you know, at the NFL level,
um and it's just it just becomes a full time job,
and you know, it's a long season, and it takes
some getting used to. The game is faster, and when
you come in as a rookie, you're you're made acutely
(00:41):
aware as to how fast it is relative to the
college game. But then you go through a period and
for some it takes longer. But at some point, if
if you're going to make it in the league, the
game does tend to slow down. For me, it was
it was towards the end of my second year and
then into my third year. I really believe the system
makes the quarterback if you have smart offensive coordinators like
(01:02):
Joe Montana had. Joe Montana was a great quarterback. His
timing of the people that he had on his team
was impeccable. I mean, he had the great team, he
had the smart coaches, he had a great owner. At
the same time, it's hard to explain, you know, when
you let go of that pass and dang, and I
thought it was going to get in there and it
got intercepted. And you know what, unless you've been there
(01:24):
and know that you have to take chances, and you
know it might not have been the right time to
throw that ball, but you know, I still have my
belief in myself that I can do I can make
that throw. And they have somebody outside there tell you
you shouldn't have thrown that, Well, well, hell, I could
tell you that after I threw it. There's no position
in sports more important or challenging to fill than that
of an NFL quarterback. We propose to follow a small
(01:47):
group of prospects their skills, stats, and character traits, and
track their performance and circumstances to see if we could
uncover patterns of what separates great from merely very good
to an outright bust, and to determine why this process
has failed so often, maybe even identifying a formula that
translates into identifying quarterback types in fields beyond the football field.
(02:11):
This is the Q Factor, Episode four, What is it
about the Quarterback Position? We spent the first three episodes
of the Q Factor outlining the need and issues with
acquiring and developing the most important player on your team,
the quarterback. We've looked at the history of the process
a k a. The draft, the issues it presents, and
(02:32):
the many pitfalls that have tripped up so many organizations.
Let's now look at what are the key elements in
finding and developing the most important position on your football team.
We've already identified that coming up with a specific list
of attributes that it takes to play quarterback in the
National Football League is multidimensional and as multiple aspects. You
(02:56):
can bring this into sharp focus by sitting around with
a number of your friends and talk about each coming
up with the top ten quarterbacks of all time. Depending
upon the size of the group, you may come up
with twelve fourteen different names. Then sit and try to
isolate what made them great, what made them Hall of famers,
was that the unbelievable quick release of a damn Marino,
(03:19):
the athleticism in the pocket and accuracy of a Joe Montana,
the sheer physicality of a Troy Aikman, the unbelievable pure
stroke of Warren Moon, or maybe the pure intellect of
Peyton Manning. And what you recognize is each of these
athletes had attributes in different proportions that made each of
them great. I've often equated this process to that of
(03:42):
in a recording studio when you watch and you see
a documentary on some artists putting together an album or
a song, and in front of the engineer is this
huge board with multiple level levels to get the just
right balance of pitch, gain, ball, lens, base, all the
multiple things I couldn't even begin to identify that go
(04:04):
into creating the right sound. And if you were to
look at one song versus the next, each of those
levels is totally different, yet it still produces a great
piece of music. The same is true of the quarterback position.
If we were somehow able to establish the different bars
in different settings, as we look at our top ten
quarterbacks at all time, we would see each would have
(04:27):
different settings in different values of athleticism, intelligence, poise, confidence,
throwing ability, vision, all the attributes that it takes to
play quarterback in the National Football League. Let's begin with
Hall of Fame general manager Ron Wolf, who advises going
back to the film, particularly the big games, and identifying
(04:49):
that toughness, that mental toughness it takes to be a winner.
I felt, what did they do as a collegian as
a quarterback? Did they win the game? Were they did
(05:10):
a coach take the ball out of his hand at
a critical moment in the game, or did they let
the guy go ahead and quarterback? To me, those are
very very valuable things in assessing what or not a
guy can play. Because you've gotta go, you gotta look
at some tree. Now. I was very fortunate to be
(05:31):
able to trade for Brett Farbs. And there's a guy
who us just a little bit over five. But the
competition they played with remarkable. When he goes into ath
and Georgia for that Southern Mississippi team and beats the
University of Georgia, he goes into Auburn, beat Auburn Port
(05:52):
the state moved their homecoming game from their ballpark into
the Gator ball and Jackson. Don't guess what happens. He
beats them, so all those things enter into it, but it's,
as you know, it's how they perform at that particular
moment that determines whether or not they comply. Do they
(06:16):
have the wherewithal to withstand the pressure of the position.
I think one of the great things about about playing
the position is the where withal toughness these men possess
to perform at that at that level, at that position.
It's incredible. Uh you know, walking up a line of scriptage,
(06:39):
you've got five seconds to determine what you're gonna do
with a football, and just think about that, and it's
a remarkable the success these fells that and it's brilliant
displays the tremendous athletic ability it takes deploy of the
national for public. It was interesting when visiting with Hall
(07:02):
of famers Len Dawson, Joe Montana, Bill Polian, and future
Hall of Famer Drew Brees. They each immediately went to
the emotional and mental commitment to the game and handling
the distractions. It really is. I think when you see
college quarterbacks and they put up a lot of numbers.
For example, somebody is open in college football, he might
(07:23):
be opened by five yards right in professional football, he's
got a half a step on the guy, and so
the timing is really important and the margin of air,
you know, is really increased because you can't afford to
be late throwing the ball. The timing has to be
just right. And a lot of these young quarterbacks are
finding that out and there thinking and you know, their
(07:43):
head is dizzy. I can tell you that after you know,
three or four months of professional football and all the
things that they have to read and the adjustments they
have to make. The audibilization today you have to be
able to audibilize at the line of scrimmage and it
takes a young quarterback sometime, you know, to figure that out.
So it's it's a pretty complicated situation, particularly for a
(08:03):
young quarterback. You know, you talked to a rookie quarterback
after he's throwing that playbook in four or five weeks
in training camp, and you know, you don't even where
he is. I think they get too locked into it.
I mean, in some cases, I think with the way
that they look at it is that well, most guys,
our chances of success are better if if we have
these components. But it's hard to measure that part of it.
(08:25):
You don't know. I mean, you just don't know what
you get no matter what. You could have a guy
that had tremendous heart. Let's go to Ricky Williams. I mean,
here's the guy that just said, all right, I hadn't
I don't want to end up like Earl Campbell, you know,
and said, that's it. I'm done. You know, how how
do you make how do you know that? How do
you measure that? You can't? And then you got guys
like Doug Flutie said, guys said he's way too small
(08:48):
to ever make it. Now look at him, He's still
hanging around. They can't get rid of him. You know,
when you're involved in the sport and you're playing, you know,
there's so many things that can distract you. And the
biggest distraction on a day to day basis is the
media and not that it's a it just takes time
from your day as much as anything to where you know,
(09:09):
everybody's been hurt by one guy or another guy here
or there, and you eventually get over all that stuff.
But it's hard to focus on the game when you
have people outside the game telling you what you're doing
right and wrong, and you know, so I don't. I
don't know if it's a natural progression, but it's just
(09:29):
the pressure from where it started is gone. So you
don't have to deal with the um the sports part
of it, and so the relationship becomes different between yourself
and the media because you don't have you don't have
to answer to that, to that question where most athletes
think they shouldn't have to answer to the media, um,
(09:50):
because they don't understand really what the game was like.
You know, it's hard to explain, you know, when you
let go of that pass, it dang, and I thought
it was gonna get in there and it got intercept,
and you know what, unless you've been there and know
that you have to take chances, and you know, it
might not have been the right time to throw that ball,
but you know, I still have my belief in myself
(10:10):
that I can do I can make that throw. And
they have somebody outside there tell you you shouldn't have
thrown that, Well, well how I can tell you that
after I threw it, you know, but if it gets
in there, it's a different story. So, UM, I think
that's probably the toughest part, you know, and it's a
it's a fine line in there. And you know, we
we could never predict and I would never take credit
(10:31):
for anything that Peyton has done in his career. He's
done that all on his own. We thought that we
were getting a quarterback who could win for us in
the NFL. We didn't think we were getting a quarterback
for the ages. Uh but in in in in its
final uh iteration, Peyton Manning was was a winner because
(10:53):
of his so called intangibles. But if you if you
really looked into it, they were very tangent. Well, he
had the greatest work ethic of anybody I've ever been around.
He's a perfectionist. He wants to win above all. He
dedicates himself solely to football once the football season begins. Um,
he's a great teammate. He lockered with the offensive line
(11:15):
from day one, h knowing that uh uh, he wasn't
gonna put himself on any kind of special pedestal. He
was going to be one of the guys. Um he
remains so today. Um he's loyal. His life outside football
is really, in many ways, uh, made up of three things. Family,
(11:38):
his uh, commercial pursuits, which are not many, but but
you know they're varied and then ultimately, uh, good works
in the community. And I said at the time that
he left Indianapolis, no one has done more to change
the face of athletics in Indianapolis than Peyton Manning. Yeah,
it's uh, it's definitely the justment and uh, you know,
(12:01):
I think you just uh, it all depends on the
situation that you can, you know, fall into and but
for the most part, it definitely takes you three years
to three years. Is is kind of the curve. And
you know, you see guys, you know, like Tom Brady
or Ben Roethlisberger who you know, come in and have
success right away, and um, you know, obviously those are
(12:23):
great players and have great teams around them as well.
But you know, for the most part, it is an
adjustment for a lot of guys just because hey, the
game is fast. Uh, you know, mistakes at the quarterback
position are magnified, you know, at the NFL level. Um,
and it's just it just becomes a full time job,
and you know, it's a long season and it takes
some getting used to haul of famous Troy Aikman and
(12:45):
Joel Montana also talk about handling the speed of the
game and the mental toughness yeah, it was about my
third season, uh, when I really felt that I was
settling in and seeing things that you know, they the
game is faster, and when you come in as a
rookie year you're made acutely aware as to how fast
it is relative to the college game. But then you
(13:05):
go through a period and for some it takes longer.
But at some point, if if you're going to make
it in the league, the game does tend to slow down.
For me, it was it was towards the end of
my second year and then into my third year, and
then you start seeing like different coverages and what defenses
are trying to do, and and when you get to
that point, it is a heck of a lot of
fun to be playing the position. Most of it it's
(13:27):
mental toughness and who can handle the mental part of
the game and the ups and downs and the criticism,
And it's not easy to get into. You know, your
your attitude also obviously, because you have to be accepted
in by that team, and if you can get accepted in,
that's a big, a big relief off your shoulders and
in the or at least cuts out a part of
(13:48):
the mental preparation that you need because you don't have
to worry about trying to always please somebody. You know
they you have their acceptance and you have them behind you,
and they're willing to work with you and for you,
and that that helps. And if you get off to
the wrong start, and like I think Ryan Leath did,
makes it tough. We've talked about the increased athleticism that's
(14:09):
required of quarterbacks today. Drew Brees and Randall Cunningham talk
about the footwork and the ability to run as being
part of your arsenal, and Ozzie Knew some talks about
the new athlete coming into the game, while Bill Polian
still stresses you've still got to be able to win
from the pocket, you know, for a guy like me,
who's uh, you know, not the not the tallest guy
(14:31):
out there, I think work becomes even more important because
you know, get back in the pocket, you know, be
able to read defenses, recoverage, kind of determine where you're
going to law, and then you know, move your feet
in order to find windows to throw through because a
lot of times you can't really throw over guys guys
are too big. You know, you gotta throw around him,
(14:51):
you know, And find windows. So especially for for shorter
guys like myself, that's uh becomes pretty important. Well, I'll
tell you what your mind is always run, that's the
first thing. And to block it out you have to
be so focused. I mean, you have to have had
a great practice during the week. During each day you
had to study the films and and and and dissect
the films. And I was a guy that when I
(15:12):
studied films, I didn't just watch the second daring the linebackers.
I watched the defensive line. I wanted to know who
the best defensive linement was. I wanted to know what
what whole I could escape out of if I had
to move. I wanted to know if I could roll
around to the right. So when I went into the game,
I had a game plan in my heart of what
I wanted to do, and I had a game plan
the coaches gave me, and then I had a game
plans with if if things fell apart, what was I
(15:34):
going to rely on? Was gonna rely on my legs
or wasn't gonna run on my smarts? I was gonna
rely on my arm And there were times I had
to rely on all three. Yeah, the smart running was.
I was always trying to run on third down and long.
I knew that if I dropped back, I could rely
on my arm, but they would be back there waiting.
And I ran during man to man situations. I knew
(15:54):
when a team would stunt and twist and do these
different things, and I knew if they turned their backs
and we're running with my receipt, it was and I
got through a hole, I can take a thirty yards,
which is a big gap. Well, I think it's dictated
by the athletes. I think that you know, coaches would
always just love to sit, you know, drop back and
have everything work out perfect. But with the athletes today
and the different defenses and the specialization of defenses and
(16:15):
offenses with personnel that there's so many different looks that
you can't you can't coach every look and so you
need a guy there behind the center that's a play
America can move around and make some place. Well, the
defensive players are still the same, I mean, they're just
getting bigger, bigger and faster, you know. You know, we
used to have a defensive end would be six five
(16:35):
to seventy five to eighty. Now you got outside linebackers
that are playing that way. You know, you got the
inside linebackers that you know two d fifty plus pounds,
but they're they're just as athletic and just as fast
as the smaller guys that played, you know, when I
played or when you were coaching, so that they just
didn't got bigger and faster and more athletic. Um so
(16:59):
because they they too have been in high school, they've
played against spread offenses. In college, they played against spread
so that they used to play in space a lot
more than a lot of the guys that we used
to get coming into the league, they probably never played
in space. So the the high schools and the colleges are,
(17:20):
for me to say it, are really dictating a little
bit to the way we have to play. And I
thought I would never say that. I believe that you
have to have a guy who can feat you from
the pocket. And there's a there's an asterisk with this.
There's no question. Bill Parcels said to me many years ago,
where captives of what the college has sent us. So
(17:42):
we're we're getting spread quarterbacks and you're right there. You know,
Lamar is a unicorn there there there's there's plenty that
that try to replicate him, but but none can. So
the bottom line is you can play with guys who
come out of the spread, and and the more that
they can move and the more they can throw on
(18:03):
different platforms, the better there are. But how many Lamars
are there, how many Russell Wilson's are there? I mean,
you can Kyler Murray maybe the only the only other
one that's in that conversation at this point in time.
But the fact of the matter is that when you're
in a situation where you have to come from behind
two minutes and you have to come from behind in
(18:26):
a big deficit, you've got to be able to make
the play from the pocket. You just have to be
able to. It's great to have the mobile quarterback, and
he's certainly, in this day and age viable, there's no
question about that. But I think in the end, when
it comes to winning it all, you've gotta be you
gotta be able to play from the pocket the way
(18:47):
Patrick Mahomes does. Through all the elements we talk about
in terms of the attributes it takes for someone to
succeed at the quarterback position in the NFL, still coaching
does matter. Hall of Famer Dan Fouts talks about his
relationship with Bill Walsh and when Bill Walsh came into
his career and what a difference it made in terms
of him evolving into a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Well,
(19:10):
the thing that Corill did is he looked at his
personnel and he saw athletes that could do more than
one thing. Like a tight end like Winslow. Sure he
could put his hand on the ground and blocked the
strong side linebacker, but he could also line up outside
as a wide receiver or wing back. Uh. He could
even throw the ball. We had Winslow throw the ball
at times, uh from from the flanker position. So I
(19:34):
think that Corriel's courage in throwing the ball number one
and then relying on his players to to make plays
and to see what talents they had and utilize those talents.
And then then there were a number of innovations that
he brought to the game UH and contributions, including on
the defensive side of the ball. When you had to
(19:55):
try to stop us, you had to use five and
six defensive backs. And before that we had heard of
a nickel defensive back or a dime defensive back. Well,
when Bill got there was my fourth year in San Diego,
and we've had three offensive coordinators in my first three years,
so but he was really, uh the guru. I mean,
he knew so much about the passing game, about playing
quarterback and the timing between the quarterbacks drops and the
(20:19):
receiver's routes, and he built my game up from the
floor and uh, it really gave me a foundation of
how to read defenses and how to deliver the ball
and in all the things that he's taught all his
great quarterbacks that I was lucky enough to be there
with him for one year, but what what he did,
uh really set the stage and helped me when Corey
(20:41):
Ll got to San Diego. Because one of the things
corey Ll did is he saw a number of things
that we did with Bill Walsh's offense, and he knew
that I liked those things, so he kept him in
his offense so we would change the name of of
certain plays, but the concepts would be the same. And
that was, you know, really important to me because I
knew how good Bill's training was and his teaching, and
(21:02):
it meshed so well with core El. You know, you
had to be smart, number one. You had to be
able to figure out reading defenses and and uh, trusting
your receivers and and just the small things about you know,
this step here and that step there, and how to
escape the rush. And you know, when you think of
the quarterbacks that he had, I mean Greg Cook, if
(21:23):
he never had gotten hurt, nobody would have ever heard
of Kenny Anderson and Bill Walsh probably would have never
have left Cincinnati, and you wouldn't have heard of Dan
Fouts and they maybe not even Joe Montana, Steve Young.
I mean, that's how the dominoes fell for Bill. But
when you think of the you know, the fact you
had three Hall of famers, uh and and potentially you know,
(21:45):
Kenny Anderson deserves his shot at the Hall of Fame.
And Greg Cook. We all agree, all all of us
that have played for Bill, that Greg Cook was the
finest of all. Marrying these unique talents with the right
coaching is encompassed in the overall system that a player
comes to, and that's so important in terms of the development.
(22:05):
No better example than Lamar Jackson going to the Baltimore Ravens.
John Harbaugh the head coach and Greg Roman the offensive
coordinator totally embraced the unique talents of Lamar Jackson and
crafted an offense that was unique and specific to him.
Quite a juxtaposition from what they had won with with
Joe Flacco, Len Dawson, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana,
(22:27):
and Randall Cunningham. All speak to the importance of being
in the right system, utilizing the right talents of these
gifted quarterbacks. I was fortunate that Hankstram had studied that position.
He knew the importance of the quarterback. He knew the
fundamentals and the techniques of that position. So's Bill Walsh,
and you know he took ahold of the Joe Montana
(22:47):
and you know, developed in him into the best quarterback
that's ever been. You know, I think it's a little
bit of both. Uh. You know, I've often said that
at the collegiate level, I think if you have great coaching,
you can win a fair number of games. If you
don't and have great coaching, but yet you have great players,
I think you can wear win a fair amount of games.
At the NFL level, I really think you have to
(23:07):
have both. And uh, you know, you can take a
great quarterback that's not put in a very good system
and he's gonna struggle. And you can take a great
system and put it with a not so good quarterback
and the system is not gonna look real good. And
so I really think the to go hand in hand,
and speaking from experience. Uh. In fact, I said it
last year in my Hall of Fame speech that in
my third year, when North Turner came in as our
(23:29):
offensive coordinator, he turned my career around and a number
of other players as well, and in the process we
went on to win two World championships in his three seasons.
And I think that that's important. You know, I don't know,
I tell you the truth. I you know, I don't
think I could have gone in and started right away,
not in that offense. Um, maybe if you cut down
(23:50):
a lot of the things that were involved in it.
But I mean when the easiest way you can explain
this is we went into the Pro Bowl in one
year and Joe thisman was the other quarterback on the team,
and Bill put in thirty plays the first thirty passes
the first day, and he's so happy he can't stand.
He goes, Wow, we got all the past plays in
(24:11):
one day. And I go I start laughing. He goes,
what are you laughing about I said, he'll put plays
in all the way to Saturdays, maybe Sunday morning if
he want, and he goes, no way, he can't do that.
And sure, I mean, and that's just a cut down
version of what we had to learn. And I don't
think you can you can gather that much and jump
right in. And some systems are a lot easier to operate,
(24:32):
uh than others. And you know, I can't speak for
what Peyton was running, but he obviously was ready to
make that jomp. I really believe the system makes the
quarterback if you have smart offensive coordinators like Joe Montana had.
Joe Montana was was a great quarterback. His timing of
the people that he had on his team was impeccable.
I mean, he had the great team, he had the
(24:52):
smart coaches, he had a great owner. At the same time,
I think when you have a great owner that's willing
to spend and do what he has to do to
win games, it's gonna be great. You look at a
coach like Phil he knows that he's a great coach
and he knows how to win games. If you put
an average team around him, and then you bring in
the Michael George. He's gonna win championship after championship after championship.
(25:14):
But I'll tell you what, when you look at one player,
you look at the greatest football player in the history
of the National Football League, Barry Sanders. He was the
most exciting and everyone remembers him, but he never had
the complete team with him to win. It's noteworthy that
as we visit with these Hall of famers, none of
them mentioned many physical traits height, weight, speed, vision, or
arm strength. They continually come back to the mental and
(25:37):
emotional traits coupled with work ethic and then drive to
be great. And a long list of bus at first
round misses at the quarterback position, from Tim Couch to
Jamacus Russell to Ryan Leef, Achille Smith, the list goes
on and on. All had the sheer physical attributes to
be successful in the NFL. So whether it's the player,
the coach, or the general manager or even our business
(26:00):
professional in charge of acquiring talent, it all comes down
to establishing the priorities you're looking for, marrying them with
the right coach within the right system, and not negotiating
your way into overlooking what should be obvious In regards
to the marriage of a player's ability and the core
principles of your system. In the next episode of The
Q Factor, we'll look at what we're calling Billick's extrapolations.
(26:23):
By definition, it means forming an opinion or reaching a
conclusion through reasoning and information. What it means to me
is using what you know to tell you what you
don't know. The Q Factor and The Q Factor Audiobook
are available online and wherever books are sold.
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