Quarterbacks are both important and overrated.

Every time I turn around I see media sources often treating Quarterbacks like they are the only payer on the team. Yes they are team leaders, and yes they are offensive drivers. However, not including special teams there are 21 other guys on the field starting as well.

I was recently in the locker room at my local Gold's Gym in North Augusta between workouts. Colin Cowherd was on the TV. He was talking about how he's never consider certain position players for MVP in basketball and football. He took a stab at centers in the NBA, pretty much saying no center can be a MVP versus a forward. I'm guessing Mr. Cowherd does not believe in defense on the Basketball court. Then he compared NFL defensive ends in the same light. Mr. Cowheard has a history of making dumb remarks like this though.

My first thought was James Harrison. The huge defensive end for the Steelers. Remember Superbowl XLIII anyone? MVP was wide receiver Santonio Holmes. However let's not forget the true turning point. If this play had not happened. The Steelers would have lost the Super Bowl. They eventually won 27-23, that's a 4 point margin. The situation was like this, 1st and goal the half time clock was winding down. Steelers up 10-7. I still question why they did not run the ball instead. Maybe the coaches thought it would have been too predictable. We saw the Same thing happen to the Seahawks against the Patriots in 2015.

 The play in question was extremely rare. Not only did the Heavyweight, Harrison intercept a pass, but he hauled it all the way down the field. Keep in mind he is a heavyweight so he is far from the fastest person on the team. He made use of the stiff arm, juke, and hurdled a few people in this 100 yard run. Something you would never expect from a defensive end. Now let's imagine this didn't happen. Whether or not the Cardinals scored the halftime clock would expire with the score still being 10-7 or 10-13 or even 10-14 if they went for a two pointer it would be 10-15. Imagining all the other drives in the game still occurred as they did the closest the Steelers would have got to victory would have been a 4 point deficit. The James Harrison interception really made the difference for the Steelers. I think he was the real MVP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEIyUBf0X8E

As somebody who can't stand the Patriots, Superbowl XLII is my favorite. The MVP was Eli Manning, he did put up a good game, but defense anyone... For those who don't remember the 2008 Patriots were threatening the first perfect season since the 72 Dolphins. Tom Brady had a stalwart offense with many weapons that benefited his pocket passer style. To defeat the Patriots the offense needs to be shut down. The final score was 17-14, of special note is these two teams met before the playoffs that year and both teams scored in the 30s with the Patriots only winning by a field goal. Both defenses stepped up their game. However, Tom Brady was sacked several times by a strong blitz by defensive players like Michael Strahan and a forced fumble did not help matters for the Patriots. Most people look at the helmet catch as the most important moment and let's not take away from it, but let's not forget that the strong defense shut the Patriots down. Eli Manning and Tom Brady's QB stats nearly mirrored each other. It came down to which defense gave their quarterback a better situation. By smothering Brady the Giant's defense limited him from his true potential of 30+ points against them down to 14. In essence I think just about any defensive player deserves MVP before Eli Manning did.

Now to also play devil's advocate, and say what if. The offensive line is important. So what if there was a game where the backs were totally untouchable because the line let nobody by? Most successful Quarterbacks, like your Bradys, Mannings, Rodgers, Rothelsbergers, and many more are not known as duel threat quarterbacks but pocket pocket passers. Because their lack of hustle and scrambling ability, escaping the sack is tough, so it's very important to have a great offensive line. Many of these star quarterbacks are on the list of active leaders in the times sacked category. I want to stress they are smart passers but they often have more than enough time to stand in the pocket and scan the field for an open receiver. However when the line collapses they are most often sitting ducks. A strong blitz can smother a pocket passer much easier than a duel threat quarterback. John Elway and Brett Farve, both greats in many categories but both are the top two sacked Quarterbacks of all time. Their least successful games were games where they were sacked multiple times. Let's remember that when a quarterback is sacked it is not usually his fault, that is a failure of the offensive line.

Need anymore proof that a quarterback cannot win it all. Look no further than the Browns. They have been through nearly 30 QBs in a span of 17 years. Some could have very well blossomed into stars, however unlike Brady, Manning, Farve, Elway etc, these poor QBs had no team around them. Their front office pretty much looked at obtaining a QB as the holy grail and a turning point. At times they were not even smart in choosing their QB like when they got Johnny Football or when they drafted then 28 year old Brandon Weeden, a QB with only maybe 4 years shelf life at the most. Instead they could have drafted now 28 year old Russell Wilson. Good results not guaranteed of course because Wilson has a team with the Seahawks. The Browns put together such awful teams that I'm not convinced they could win if they cloned Bart Starr and made him their QB, looking at what he would have to work with.

I urge readers to think outside the pocket when considering a game MVP.