Black Quarterbacks Are Benched Twice As Often As Whites, Study Finds

Pacific Standard Magazine ^ | Nov 10, 2015 | Tom Jacobs

[trebb]

Funny how they never get into attitude and interpersonal relations with the team/coaching staff, etc. Or, the fact that winning is where the money is and a sub-performer can’t be boosted forever in the hopes of maturing into a productive/consistent QB...

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yeah, this whole accusation is stupid. In professional sports, there’s only one thing that matters—WINNING. You recruit, suit up, and play the guys that you think are going to win games, end of story. Are we really supposed to believe that teams are benching their best players to throw average guys out there on racial whims? That’s a great idea if the coach and GM want to find themselves unemployed real quick.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yeah, this is why Peyton Manning is sitting benched.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Exactly. The coach and front office are going to do what wins games, end of story. Any of them that don’t wind up being unceremoniously unemployed in short order.

[cherry]

black players are coddled about 100x more than white players...

a white player seen bashing his girlfriend and pulling her by the hair would be INSTANT no questions asked out of the sport...

they get away with thug behavior..all the time...

[dfwgator]

Well I guess we’ll find out if Steve Harvey comes back next year to host the Miss Universe Pageant.

[American Faith Today]

Here’s the football layman’s reality, or take.

There’s obviously nothing “racist” about it.

I would postulate that most, not all, blacks who become quarterbacks at the high school level become the quarterback because they are the best athlete on the team. And along with that, they have the strongest arm and what have you.

But they go through high school relying on athleticism as much as technique and proper passing mechanics, along with reading a defense, etc. It’s just God given athleticism and ability. At the high school level you still have more cases of the wishbone or the option or the Wing T or what have you to, to where they might not even throw the ball much more than 10-15 times a game to even start with.

From there, those good enough to play major college football and stay at quarterback in many cases play in a spread type offense that maybe even has a lot of read option in it. In which again, there’s not as much emphasis on proper passing mechanics, reading defenses, receivers often get open easier, the quarterback isn’t under center, etc.

Well then they get to the NFL, where SOME of these guys simply relied on being the best athlete on the field in high school, played in a spread in college, now they’re under center, even though there is more spread now in the NFL than there used to be as well. But more than anything, now receivers are covered much more tightly, now defensive coverage schemes and blitz schemes are much more complex, now every player on the field and on that defense was one of the best players in college rather than facing defenses that had maybe 2 or 3 guys who were NFL caliber, now there’s 11 guys who are in the NFL.

And again, a “lack” of black QB’s, it goes back to the whole thing of in many cases they never had to focus a ton on proper passing mechanics. It goes back to they might be one of the most dynamic athletes on the field, but that doesn’t mean they have enough natural arm talent or passing accuracy, or the ideal size to be an NFL QB. Guys like Antwaan Randle El, Kordell Stewart, Brad Smith, Terrelle Pryor, Braxton Miller, Vince Young, and others were some of the most dynamic athletes in college and great or good college quarterbacks. They get to the NFL and they either switch positions or flame out for some of those very reasons.

A guy like Russell Wilson succeeds because he played in pro style offenses in college and had to read defenses and play many times from within the pocket.

A guy like Colin Kaepernick from my 49ers unfortunately seemingly fails, or struggles mightily, because in large part he played football late in a run heavy offense in high school, in a successful but gimmick offense in college, and he has trouble at times with his accuracy in the NFL. He has trouble reading defenses or going through progressions in the NFL. He has problems being successful from the pocket in the NFL. And he gets benched. It really is in most cases that simple.