The World Needs To Start Showing More Respect To "Game Manager" Quarterbacks
Mitchell Leff. Getty Images.The term "game manager" gets thrown around there like a scarlet letter. If you refer to an NFL starting quarterback as a "game manager", that's like a borderline slur.
But if you watched the NFL wild card round, you probably noticed a pretty common theme. The LA Chargers season is over because Justin Herbert threw 4 interceptions. The Green Bay Packers season is over because Jordan Love threw 3 interceptions. The Minnesota Vikings season is over because Sam Darnold threw an interception and lost a fumble. 3 quarterbacks who went out there this weekend and gave the game away.
Then you get to guys like Jalen Hurts. The conversation around Jalen Hurts has always been "can he be THE guy to go out there and win you a big game in the playoffs". The answer to that question, in all honesty, is still up in the air. And listen--I get it. This is the world we live in today where people need to have hot take debates like this in order to drive up ratings. It is what it is. But at the same time, it's a stupid fucking question. It's so far removed from the right question that needs to be asked when it comes to Jalen Hurts. That question is, "is Jalen Hurts the type of quarterback who is going to go out there and lose you a game?".
The answer to that question is absolutely not. There's a good chance that Jalen Hurts can beat almost anybody (besides the Bucs for some reason) with his arm. However, he rarely has to show that he's capable of doing that. Because he knows the Eagles already have enough home run hitters. He knows that Saquon Barkley and the offensive line are going to hit home runs every game. He knows that Quinyon Mitchell and Jalen Carter and Zack Baun and the rest of the defense are all going to hit home runs every game. Because of that, he knows he doesn't need to swing for the fences every time he drops back with the ball. He's just out there hitting for contact and moving guys around the bases.
Every once in a while he'll hit one of his own. But he knows his job is to take care of the ball. He's not going to force something that's not there to pick up 20 yards, because he knows that Saquon can just break off a 30 yard run on the next snap. He's not going to put the ball in harm's way because he knows the defense is just going to get him the ball back a couple minutes later.
There is a small handful of quarterbacks in this league who can single-handedly win you football games. But there are also way more quarterbacks in this league who can single-handedly lose you football games. Game managers are somewhere in the middle, but they're way closer to the guys who are going to win you a game than they are to the ones that end up losing you the game. There's an art to having the self-control to not take unnecessary risks when the ball is in your hands every single play, and Jalen Hurts has it down to a science. If that makes him a "game manager", then that sounds like something that more quarterbacks should strive to be.