A Quarterback!
This is the fourth in what has rapidly become a season preview series for the 2024 WSU football season. My third dream for the season can be found here.
Dream 4: A Quarterback
I’ve written and rewritten a piece about the WSU quarterback situation for this upcoming season three or four times now, and honestly I’m at the point where I’m not sure what I’ve said publicly, what I’ve only made my friends read and which words haven’t even escaped the constant search for meaning going on between my ears.
So, with clarity and practicality front of mind, let’s talk about five(ish) ways to know what kind of quarterback we’ve got calling the shots this fall.*
*For what it’s worth, Mateer struck me as the clear option for the position in the spring game. That could change this fall, but as I’m not in camp I can’t predict how people have played or grown over time.
1) Are they an effective traffic cop?
[John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com] / USA TODAY NETWORK
You know how sometimes, when a head coach is on the hot seat but not yet fired, there is always someone who says ‘what people don’t understand is how great this guy is six days of the week. That will be difficult to replace.’ I feel like people say this about Andy Reid all the time too, maybe because he spent most of his hall of fame career being the ‘everything but the title’ coach. Anyway, that is more true than people can understand, and it applies to quarterbacks too.
Not necessarily in a Sunday-Friday way, but in a play-to-play way. The first job a quarterback has to do is make the trains run on time. They call the play, operate motions, check that the team is lined up correctly, and call the snap count. They also touch the ball every play, so even on run plays they control the means of production*.
*Which means that unlike Barbie, quarterbacks are fascists. Definitionally anyway.
So the first thing you need to know about a quarterback is if they can do all that. Does the offense run smoothly? Are we able to lineup in time, and correctly, every time? Do we get pre-snap penalties? Everyone gets some, but an offense that gets a lot probably has a pretty crap traffic cop for a quarterback.
Does the coach call pre-snap motions? Do we ever run no huddle? How fast does the defensive line get off the ball (which would show how often we’re changing the snap count)? These are all indicators of whether an offensive coordinator thinks the quarterback is a good traffic cop or not.
While not the most glamorous aspect of quarterbacking, it is the first that coaches typically look at. It’s easy to wax poetically about how a QB can elevate an offense’s ceiling, but it’s prudent to consider their ability to raise it’s floor and provide a foundation for the other 10 players on the field to operate as well.
2) Are they an F1 driver?
I could, if I were a petty offensive lineman, say that this is about how much of a prima donna the quarterback is. But I’m above that.
What I mean by this question is ‘can they operate a system, or do they just tell people where to go’? Traffic cops tell people when they’re allowed to drive, but fundametnally everyone is doing their own thing. You listen to the traffic cop because you want to drive safely, not because they’re some traffic maestro. Inversely, Louis Hamilton makes tens of millions of dollars a year because he is a genius. F1 drivers take a piece of machinery that hundreds of people have played a role in and make it sing. The designers, builders and planners can understand why something should go fast, but only the drivers can make it go to its limit. F1 drivers aren’t facilitating the car around the track, they’re dictating it. The ones who do it well, such as Louis Hamilton, practice alchemy. Where the greats find the extra time I have no idea, but everyone can see when one teammate outpaces the other -who ostensibly has the exact same car- again and again and again.
You can also tell when a driver has no alchemy and is much closer to a facilitator than anyone is comfortable with (sorry Logan Sargeant, I’m sure you’ll do great in IndyCar next year).
Quarterbacks practice the same kind of alchemy. I’m not talking about their throwing accuracy or deep ball. I’m not talking about their running ability, their escapability, or their stature. I’m talking about their understanding of the offense.
Their ability to change the play on the line of scrimmage when it’s clear the defense has guessed right in the huddle. I’m talking about a QB’s ability to read a defensive and skip to their third read because they know that will be open. I’m talking about the thousands of hours they spent watching film, talking with the play caller, and throwing with their receivers that lets them know that the route will need to be just a hint more vertical this time, or the ball just a bit lower.
Some quarterbacks are so good at pulling the right levers that they even call the pass protection scheme, and check into different ones when they see a problem.
But it’s all hidden to us on the outside. Even someone immersed in it for a lifetime can’t see this aspect of quarterback play almost immediately after leaving the room where it happens. Think about the way Tony Romo called NFL games that first year, and how he calls them now, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
So if the point of quarterback alchemy is that you can’t see it from the outside, how do we know if Mateer (or whomever takes the snap for us this fall) has it? You look to the trees to see the wind, my sweet summer child.
How open are our receivers? How often do they walk back to the huddle in confusion? What’s the season long score of ‘my bad’ chest pats, QB vs WRs?
How do you feel when the quarterback makes a quick decision? Confident? Excited? Or the way you felt when Russel Wilson used to three step drop and fire a long fade in 2021?
My favorite way to read how a quarterback is affecting the trees right now is to see what they do against a zone blitz look. This is where a defense brings pass rushers from unusual places and play a zone coverage behind the blitz. Defenses typically play man-to-man coverage when they blitz, but the zone blitz changed football* not because it got more sacks, but because it forced quarterbacks to check the ball down to receivers quickly and had defenders ready to tackle them for a small gain. It’s a great third and long defense because it forces QBs to throw the ball short of the first down and keeps defenders in a great position to make the tackle short of the line. A quarterback well skilled in the alchemical arts will see this and find a way to throw the ball to an open receiver past the first down line anyway. A quarterback facilitating the offense down the field will throw the three-yard hook and the offense will punt.
*I believe, if you choose to trust my lying memory, specifically to stop the Run n Shoot Houston Oiler offenses.
3) Are they the ground, or the apple?
Gravity exists, and while I’m borrowing a metaphor more aptly applied to basketball savants like Steph Curry, the point is kinda the same. Is this player warping the defense?
In order to be effective, offenses need a troublemaker. A player (preferably players) who make the defense cheat in order to slow them down. A devastating receiver might force defenders to start their safeties higher up the field. A great offensive line might force a team to play more big, slow linebackers rather than fast defensive backs, or simply put more people by the line of scrimmage to stop the run. If we think of defenses like a big net, standout offensive players force that net to weaken some parts of itself to strengthen others.
This is often the quarterback. A QB who can use their offensive system the way John Wick uses a pencil can check into plays the defense can’t anticipate- making them more simple and easier for his teammates to take advantage of. A QB who can throw a great long ball can force a defense to play an extra deep safety, making the run game easier. A QB with pinpoint accuracy can throw players open against man coverage, forcing a team into zone. A quarterback who can run the ball for touchdowns can prevent defenders from crashing down on runs quickly, allowing for the RB to break more tackles and run for more yards. As one of only two players who touch the ball every play, it is wildly helpful to have a quarterback that defenses have to cheat to slow down in some way.
Jack Ellis/CougCenter
So how will we know if we’ve got a player that exerts gravity on a defense? How do we know if something is art, or is a bit more debauched than that? Like Justice Potter Stewart said in 1964 “I know it when I see it”.
Meaning it really is evident. Their EA rating isn’t a bad shorthand either. Can they throw a deep ball as far as the ocean blue? Do they dodge, duck, dive, dip and dodge their way past rushers and complete a pass for a first down? If it makes you stand up and notice, I promise that the defense notices too.
4) To be determined.
Listen, I put the ‘ish’ next to five(ish) for a reason. Plus we’ve got a few more weeks before Portland State. Maybe we’ll work our way back to the last two before then, or after. Honestly that might be more fun. Anyway, let me know what you think of these three; or what you would add for the last two!