The Perspective of a 6-Foot Quarterback (old Steve Young article)

[NAS]

Not sure if this has been posted before but I found it interesting.  Of course it will be an even bigger challenge for Bryce who is 2" shorter, but I think the perspective of what Steve had to do to be an effective QB in the NFL at his height.  I'd say he did pretty well.    One thing he talks about is "throwing by faith" which is essentially known as anticipation and that is Bryce Young's biggest strength.

Wikipedia and his official height says 6'2" but Steve himself says that he was only 6 foot. 

Quote

Like a 6-foot quarterback blinded by the view on the field, we must learn to throw by faith.

When I retired from football in 2000, I had not sat in the stands to watch a football game in my whole life. I had only played or watched on TV. A couple years later I went back to San Francisco’s Candlestick Park to watch a game, and I heard all the comments. You know: “Throw it there!” “What are you looking at?” “It’s obvious!” And I thought to myself, “It is obvious! What is he looking at? You’ve gotta be kidding me! Throw it now! Move! Turn! Jump! What are you doing?!” All my playing days I wondered why everyone was so sure that I should have played better. But watching from the stands, it became obvious to me that the view was very different on the field.

I’m only 6 feet tall. My football card says 6-foot-2, and in shoes I really am 6-2, but it was a dream to be 6-2 because “6-foot” and “quarterback” don’t go together well in the NFL because everybody else is 6-5, 6-6, 6-7. Many times I would drop back to pass, look for Jerry Rice, and see nothing but bodies in front of me. So I would start to run around to get visibility. And then, inevitably, I would be tackled and sacked for a loss. And the coach would say, “Steve, Jerry Rice was open. You were protected. Why didn’t you throw the ball?”

“Couldn’t see him.”

And then the great comment back: “You’d better start seeing him.”

It was really all about perspective, or lack of perspective, and how I had to learn to throw it blind. I wasn’t going to grow. I couldn’t put springs on my feet. There were no stilts, no high heels. The perspective was what it was. So I dealt with it by saying to myself, “I just saw Jerry Rice. I know where he’s going. I’m going to throw it anyway.”

 

https://magazine.byu.edu/article/the-perspective-of-a-six-foot-quarterback/

 

 

 

 

[chknwing]

[Jon Snow]

We know, everyone knows Young short. He's an anomaly in the nfl. I personally do not see him doing well at this level but I'm not a professional at this stuff. It is what it is.

[rippadonn]

7 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

We know, everyone knows Young short. He's an anomaly in the nfl. I personally do not see him doing well at this level but I'm not a professional at this stuff. It is what it is.

[mav1234]

49 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

We know, everyone knows Young short. He's an anomaly in the nfl. I personally do not see him doing well at this level but I'm not a professional at this stuff. It is what it is.

Here's hoping to us both being wrong and showing why us fans aren't in an NFL front office, haha

[Jon Snow]

6 minutes ago, mav1234 said:

Here's hoping to us both being wrong and showing why us fans aren't in an NFL front office, haha

I agree.  It's funny because I've been a supporter of his during his college years.  He was my favorite for a long time until I started to consider how his size would translate to the nfl. In reality the choices are not great at qb but much better than last year.  All of them have concerns and I could list them all for each if I took the time. It seems we are going with Young which I should be thrilled about since I've been a fan of his for years. But I just can't get excited until he makes it through a full season and can play well against nfl defenses. Here's to hoping he proves me wrong and balls out.

[Ricky Spanish]

1 hour ago, Jon Snow said:

We know, everyone knows Young short. He's an anomaly in the nfl. I personally do not see him doing well at this level but I'm not a professional at this stuff. It is what it is.

Bryce or Steve?

But for real, is he an anomaly because height bias, or because short QBs can't actually play QB?

I'm inclined to believe it's bias since there have been quite a few shorter QBs having some levels of success in the NFL, especially recently (Brees, Wilson, Murray, etc.). As the game evolves, conventional wisdom gives way to actual wisdom, and height really doesn't seem to be an actual issue with QBs, it's more a narrative built up by the type of scouts who won't draft a guy because his girlfriend is ugly. 

Kind of like how they wouldn't let the athletic kids play QB back in the day, they switched them to another position. Now we have human highlight reels like Newton, Jackson, Allen, and potentially Richardson that can throw as well as run, adding a new dimension to offenses that older generations never would have even believed was possible.

I dunno, I'm inclined to believe Bryce. He is super thin though. Gonna need to add some meat to his frame.

[rayzor]

1 hour ago, NAS said:

Not sure if this has been posted before but I found it interesting.  Of course it will be an even bigger challenge for Bryce who is 2" shorter, but I think the perspective of what Steve had to do to be an effective QB in the NFL at his height.  I'd say he did pretty well.    One thing he talks about is "throwing by faith" which is essentially known as anticipation and that is Bryce Young's biggest strength.

Wikipedia and his official height says 6'2" but Steve himself says that he was only 6 foot. 

https://magazine.byu.edu/article/the-perspective-of-a-six-foot-quarterback/

Good share. If it weren't for the work BY puts into not just knowing but helping put together an offense and then his presnap reads and faith in knowing where everyone is supposed to be at any given point during a play, his height would be more of an issue. 

Steve Young had to learn to adapt as a pro to compensate. Bryce Young already has.

[joemac]

1 hour ago, rippadonn said:

Doctor said I need a backiotomy

[Mother Grabber]

1 hour ago, rippadonn said:

so you’d be legit upset if we had the next steve young/drew brees for 10-15 years? wtf?

[rippadonn]

13 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I agree.  It's funny because I've been a supporter of his during his college years.  He was my favorite for a long time until I started to consider how his size would translate to the nfl. In reality the choices are not great at qb but much better than last year.  All of them have concerns and I could list them all for each if I took the time. It seems we are going with Young which I should be thrilled about since I've been a fan of his for years. But I just can't get excited until he makes it through a full season and can play well against nfl defenses. Here's to hoping he proves me wrong and balls out.

Waving the white flag early?

 

The clock hasn't run out yet and the MOST concrete info we've received IS indeed from TD.

They are indeed enamored with AR AND he then had a high S2 on top of that.

Don't believe everything you hear. Listen to what the right people say.

[rippadonn]

2 minutes ago, Mother Grabber said:

so you’d be legit upset if we had the next steve young/drew brees for 10-15 years? wtf?

He's not. Stats aren't there. He's a scrambled pocket passer and that's it. If DCs figure that out in the modern NFL he's not Kyler he'll be coverage sacked into oblivion. 

He can't run the rock. In today's NFL that's old school as heck and he's the mouse of this draft.

It's AR folks.

[rippadonn]

14 minutes ago, joemac said:

Doctor said I need a backiotomy

True story, I was almost Dave Chappelle. Exactly one year apart.

I look much younger though. Winning!

[Ricky Spanish]

1 minute ago, rippadonn said:

He's not. Stats aren't there. He's a scrambled pocket passer and that's it. If DCs figure that out in the modern NFL he's not Kyler he'll be coverage sacked into oblivion. 

He can't run the rock. In today's NFL that's old school as heck and he's the mouse of this draft.

It's AR folks.

Man, I don't know why you keep harping on college stats for Young then saying AR is the next GOAT because reasons even though his stats aren't good. 

The cognitive dissonance is ridiculous.