Struggling QBs should be yanked sooner

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/06/2012 (4844 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Training camp has come to a dramatic conclusion in Bomberland, but should the mentality and rationale behind it carry over into the regular season?

In my debut last week as a colour analyst on team Irving and Zalnasky, I got into my first debate with “The Voice,” the man who has been covering the Bombers almost as long as I’ve been alive.

My contention was that with as good and as deep as the Bombers roster of quarterbacks is this year — I can honestly say that in 11 years in Winnipeg we never had two pivots look this good, let alone four — shouldn’t the training camp mentality continue through the regular season? If one of them shows poorly by the halfway point of a contest, should the coaches be quicker on the trigger to make a change and adjust the variables in the game, because of this depth and the benefits of competition?

CJOB’s Bob Irving countered by suggesting that the rules for starting quarterbacks differ from the masses for a reason. He suggested that once a determination is made on the starter, especially if he is an incumbent of stature, decisions should not follow that are based on knee-jerk reactions from a half a game, or even a single-game performance, and that quarterbacks play better if they aren’t one throw away from a controversy, or have their replacement nipping at their heels.

While this premise is most definitely the standard of head coach and quarterback diplomacy, I think it is contrary to ingrained football intuition.

Every year when training camp rolls around, you hear the same one-liner from each and every head coach: “We’re going to have competition at every single job in camp because it brings out the best in the players, no one has a guaranteed spot on this team, and blah, blah, blah.”

The reason this is said, whether it is true or not at most positions (it isn’t) is because it is a fact that football players, athletes in general, in fact everybody in general, are motivated by fear of loss.

Training camp is the swift kick in the butt that footballers get on an annual basis that reminds them not to get complacent, that their job is coveted by others, and that they can and will be replaced if they are not playing up to snuff.

But what has frustrated me for some time is how pivots get a far longer leash and more leeway during the regular season than anybody else.

It is my argument that if these principles of competition and job insecurity are so vital to performance, why do we drop the mentality and start caring so much about delicate sensibilities once we shift gears into the regular season?

When Odell Willis, one of the CFL’s best pass rushers the past several years, wasn’t playing the run well last year, or within the framework of the scheme, he was introduced to the bench. When the coaches wanted to see whether the offensive line play would improve with a new centre, Obby Khan was told to step back for a couple of games.

Yet when a quarterback, the undisputed most-important player of every game, is for some reason out of rhythm, or maybe just having a bad day, more often than not, he stays in there and is given chance after chance to “work through it,” often resulting in giving up an insurmountable lead, instead of just changing the pace and matchups of the game by trying someone else.

I honestly think that sometimes coaches won’t swap out a QB because they are afraid of the ramifications and perceptions of such a move, subbing out the assumed team leader. But in my mind it doesn’t have to be interpreted that way.

First of all, if it’s not an Anthony Calvillo, who has won more CFL MVPs than his backups have thrown TDs, it shouldn’t be such a big deal to try option No. 2 or No. 3 after the half. Just because you were sat at half-time, doesn’t mean you don’t get to start the next game and have lost your starting job. It just means that you weren’t on that day, and well, there are only 18 games in a season, and the team couldn’t stand by and watch you try to work through it.

If the principles of competition are so necessary and vital to push athletes to new levels in training camp, then when you transition into the regular season, where the difference between one touchdown pass and one interception could determine your playoff fate, doesn’t it make sense to put feelings and security aside and just go with whatever works on any given day?

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays and game days in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97