My kids found a tub of old videos the other day with VHS tapes of my playing days. They haven't seen them and I hadn't seen them in a long time. As I train youth QB's day in and day out, I am very particular about their A, B, C's-Alignment, Balance, and Control (specific body parts). I teach throwing differently than the way I threw it then (I am looking for players to be much better than I ever was, but I never had anybody tell me how to improve the technical aspect of throwing).
As I train my sons to throw "perfectly", they were quick to point out the deficiencies in my motion (although many of my passes were beautifully perfect completions--I must point out).
So the 2009 version of Jeff Carlson's throwing motion is much better than the 1991 version on the videotape. As the tape went on, a receiver got pushed out of bounds about 10 yards down the field and my oldest said, "That's pass interference!!" I said, "Not back then". That made me think hard to the point of comparing QB's over the years, like Montana to Brady or Dan Fouts to Peyton Manning. Are today's QB's that much better prepared through programs like my "America's Best Quarterback" training or did the rule changes help open up the game like never before. The answer is yes to both. Players are better prepared and the rules make it that if you don't jam at the line, there is virtually no contact to wide receivers until they catch the ball. And defensive ends used to unleash on the QB's high, low or late. Now defensive ends have to think about a 15 yard penalty on every play that involves the QB.
I say all this to say that there is no way to compare QB's through different eras, especially by stats alone. I don't think QB's are "juicing" on steroids, but with all of the 4,000 and 5,000 yard passers these day, their statistics say they are playing in the "live ball" era.
No comments:
Post a Comment