Mr. Magoo
Ayatollah of rock and rolla
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There has been a lot of talk on this board about how Henne is Parcells' "guy" (having drafted him) while Beck, having come from the past regime, and having played poorly his rookie season, is almost certain to be a backup and so on.
So, I decided, for some historical perspective, to analyze the pros and cons of QBs that Parcells has used in the past and compare their relative skill sets to our current crop in an effort to determine whether this is in fact true.
Now, I know we all overstate how much influence Parcells has on the day to day running of the team, but for the purposes of this general kind of argument, I think the fact that he handpicked most of the staff is an indication that their thinking along these lines at least somewhat coincides with his own, lending credit to this kind of analysis.
So, on to the QBs!
1. Phil Simms
Simms, as perhaps many of you don't know, was not drafted by Parcells. He was a holdover from the Ray Perkins regime who had been a first round pick despite completing only 48.9% of his passes in college (Bill Walsh had planned to draft him in the third round instead of Joe Montana). Simms' play was inconsistent his first several years, but once Parcells became the coach, he stuck with him anyway. Despite his great performance in Super Bowl, Simms was never a very accurate passer, never completing more than 62% of his passes in a season for a career average of 55.4%. Rather, Simms calling card was his tough, smart, gritty style of play. He was not particularly mobile and didn't have a particularly strong arm. He was also somewhat injury prone. But he stuck it out and didn't make too many big mistakes, and never complained about not passing a lot.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: CHAD HENNE
Henne, like Simms, is a good game manager. He probably has better arm strength than Simms, but he generally, like Simms, prefers to not try and do too much. Then again, to my mind, Simms was only an above average QB in the NFL who piggy backed on one of the great defenses ever -- sort of a better version of Trent Dilfer -- who managed to have the best game of his career in the Super Bowl. Henne also had pretty good teams at Michigan -- a great college running back, wide receivers and offensive line, who took the pressure off of him.
2. Drew Bledsoe
Bledsoe, at least in his early career, was seen as the second coming of Dan Marino. Both were big, had strong arms and only marginal mobility. Unlike with Simms, those early Parcells Patriot teams threw the ball a lot rather than relying on the running game, and as a result, Bledsoe attempted more passes in 1994 (691) than anyone ever has. However, in his later career, Bledsoe lost his some of his confidence and began to get sacked more and more, until the point when he was benched in favor of both Tom Brady and Tony Romo.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: CHAD HENNE
My pick of Henne in this situation is more of a reaction to the big arm/statuesque thing than anything else. There's no indication, from Henne's college performance, that he's up to the task of carrying an offense on his own, the way Bledsoe did in his early years. Henne also has a slower release than Bledsoe, whose semi-sidearm delivery was goofy but fairly quick. Also, Henne was much shorter than Bledsoe, who stood 6'5 (McCown, for example, stands 6'4).
3. Vinny Testaverde
Vinny was one of Parcells' most successful reclamation projects, taking him from the Browns (where he was coached, not coincidentally, by Bill Belichick, and was moderately successful). As a pro, what Testaverde eventually became for Parcells was the classic wily old veteran. His huge, thundering arm was not there anymore, and while he still made stupid mistakes, he had learned to play more like Simms, as a game manager.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: NONE
I write "none" here because Testaverde's situation with Parcells in New York reminds me both of McCown AND Henne. McCown is a veteran who plays relatively smart but not outstanding, with average arm strength and good height and bulk. McCown, however, is more of a scrambler, like Beck, than Henne, who as we all know is relatively flat footed.
4. Tony Romo
I probably don't need to go much into how Tony Romo plays, since we've all watched him on TV, but to me Romo is an anomaly among Parcells QBs. Romo is only of average height, and while possessing only an average arm, is a risk taker and a scrambler. Someone who can get in a groove and take over a game, a guy who can bring the team back in the closing minutes. None of the other guys on this list really had that. They were all mostly "within the gameplan" kind of guys. Romo's style of play can drive authoritarian coaches like Parcells nuts, but they can also be very successful.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: John Beck
McCown also comes to mind, but Beck is a better fit here, due to his more natural throwing ability, ability to scramble and make things happen (both good and bad, but generally good). Beck is also (and here we have to judge more from college than the pros) a good clutch QB; good at throwing on the run and leading a team back from behind. Beck has much better arm strength than Romo, but it's to be seen whether he has Romo's anticipation and clutch accuracy.
SUMMARY: This is a very crude exercise, to be sure. I'm sure many of you will disagree with my generalizations, and that's fine. It bears noting that I didn't start writing this to promote any particular agenda or player, though I am more fond of QBs who can make things happen on their own when called on (your Elways, Farve's, and Marino's) rather than by-the-numbers kind of game managers (your Simms', Otto Grahams', and Aikmans'). As a result, I tend to favor Beck, as I did Cutler, who was my favorite QB in his draft class. However, Henne was my favorite QB in this one, so go figure.
Aside from Romo, however, Parcells seems to favor QBs more of the Aikman/Simms genus, though it bears noting that McCown, who we signed this year, is more of a scrambler in the Ray Lucas mold than any of the other Parcells QBs on this list.
So at the end of the day, who knows? Dan Henning's offense requires a down-the-field, from-the-pocket, big arm kind of guy, and he went with Delhomme in Carolina, who fits that mold. This too, is more Henne's style of game.
So who knows? As Don Shula said, it's the responsibility of a coach to fit the system around the players, not the other way around. Parcells has never really seemed to believe that, preferring to bring his old players to whatever new team he gets involved with.
Either way, it should make for an interesting camp.
So, I decided, for some historical perspective, to analyze the pros and cons of QBs that Parcells has used in the past and compare their relative skill sets to our current crop in an effort to determine whether this is in fact true.
Now, I know we all overstate how much influence Parcells has on the day to day running of the team, but for the purposes of this general kind of argument, I think the fact that he handpicked most of the staff is an indication that their thinking along these lines at least somewhat coincides with his own, lending credit to this kind of analysis.
So, on to the QBs!
1. Phil Simms
Simms, as perhaps many of you don't know, was not drafted by Parcells. He was a holdover from the Ray Perkins regime who had been a first round pick despite completing only 48.9% of his passes in college (Bill Walsh had planned to draft him in the third round instead of Joe Montana). Simms' play was inconsistent his first several years, but once Parcells became the coach, he stuck with him anyway. Despite his great performance in Super Bowl, Simms was never a very accurate passer, never completing more than 62% of his passes in a season for a career average of 55.4%. Rather, Simms calling card was his tough, smart, gritty style of play. He was not particularly mobile and didn't have a particularly strong arm. He was also somewhat injury prone. But he stuck it out and didn't make too many big mistakes, and never complained about not passing a lot.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: CHAD HENNE
Henne, like Simms, is a good game manager. He probably has better arm strength than Simms, but he generally, like Simms, prefers to not try and do too much. Then again, to my mind, Simms was only an above average QB in the NFL who piggy backed on one of the great defenses ever -- sort of a better version of Trent Dilfer -- who managed to have the best game of his career in the Super Bowl. Henne also had pretty good teams at Michigan -- a great college running back, wide receivers and offensive line, who took the pressure off of him.
2. Drew Bledsoe
Bledsoe, at least in his early career, was seen as the second coming of Dan Marino. Both were big, had strong arms and only marginal mobility. Unlike with Simms, those early Parcells Patriot teams threw the ball a lot rather than relying on the running game, and as a result, Bledsoe attempted more passes in 1994 (691) than anyone ever has. However, in his later career, Bledsoe lost his some of his confidence and began to get sacked more and more, until the point when he was benched in favor of both Tom Brady and Tony Romo.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: CHAD HENNE
My pick of Henne in this situation is more of a reaction to the big arm/statuesque thing than anything else. There's no indication, from Henne's college performance, that he's up to the task of carrying an offense on his own, the way Bledsoe did in his early years. Henne also has a slower release than Bledsoe, whose semi-sidearm delivery was goofy but fairly quick. Also, Henne was much shorter than Bledsoe, who stood 6'5 (McCown, for example, stands 6'4).
3. Vinny Testaverde
Vinny was one of Parcells' most successful reclamation projects, taking him from the Browns (where he was coached, not coincidentally, by Bill Belichick, and was moderately successful). As a pro, what Testaverde eventually became for Parcells was the classic wily old veteran. His huge, thundering arm was not there anymore, and while he still made stupid mistakes, he had learned to play more like Simms, as a game manager.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: NONE
I write "none" here because Testaverde's situation with Parcells in New York reminds me both of McCown AND Henne. McCown is a veteran who plays relatively smart but not outstanding, with average arm strength and good height and bulk. McCown, however, is more of a scrambler, like Beck, than Henne, who as we all know is relatively flat footed.
4. Tony Romo
I probably don't need to go much into how Tony Romo plays, since we've all watched him on TV, but to me Romo is an anomaly among Parcells QBs. Romo is only of average height, and while possessing only an average arm, is a risk taker and a scrambler. Someone who can get in a groove and take over a game, a guy who can bring the team back in the closing minutes. None of the other guys on this list really had that. They were all mostly "within the gameplan" kind of guys. Romo's style of play can drive authoritarian coaches like Parcells nuts, but they can also be very successful.
DOLPHINS COMPARISON: John Beck
McCown also comes to mind, but Beck is a better fit here, due to his more natural throwing ability, ability to scramble and make things happen (both good and bad, but generally good). Beck is also (and here we have to judge more from college than the pros) a good clutch QB; good at throwing on the run and leading a team back from behind. Beck has much better arm strength than Romo, but it's to be seen whether he has Romo's anticipation and clutch accuracy.
SUMMARY: This is a very crude exercise, to be sure. I'm sure many of you will disagree with my generalizations, and that's fine. It bears noting that I didn't start writing this to promote any particular agenda or player, though I am more fond of QBs who can make things happen on their own when called on (your Elways, Farve's, and Marino's) rather than by-the-numbers kind of game managers (your Simms', Otto Grahams', and Aikmans'). As a result, I tend to favor Beck, as I did Cutler, who was my favorite QB in his draft class. However, Henne was my favorite QB in this one, so go figure.
Aside from Romo, however, Parcells seems to favor QBs more of the Aikman/Simms genus, though it bears noting that McCown, who we signed this year, is more of a scrambler in the Ray Lucas mold than any of the other Parcells QBs on this list.
So at the end of the day, who knows? Dan Henning's offense requires a down-the-field, from-the-pocket, big arm kind of guy, and he went with Delhomme in Carolina, who fits that mold. This too, is more Henne's style of game.
So who knows? As Don Shula said, it's the responsibility of a coach to fit the system around the players, not the other way around. Parcells has never really seemed to believe that, preferring to bring his old players to whatever new team he gets involved with.
Either way, it should make for an interesting camp.
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