In June of 1948, Yankee Stadium was alive and roaring to watch an aging Joe Louis take on another aging boxer, Jersey Joe Walcott. Two years earlier, Louis — facing financial trouble — fought Walcott for 15 rounds and took an awful beating. When the decision was read by the public address announcer, giving Louis the win with a split decision, the fans booed loudly for five straight minutes. Now, Louis was determined to show the fans, he was still the greatest champion of all time and defeat Walcott soundly. Two aging heavyweights, once great, battled knocking each other to the ground and finally in the 11th round Walcott didn’t get up and Louis was the winner. Still, every one of those 42,000 fans who watched the fight knew this was a battle of two boxers who were past their prime and should walk away from the ring.
Many more than 42,000 fans watched the Colts battle the Broncos on Thursday night and I am confident everyone felt they were watching two former great quarterbacks who were past their prime, playing on instinct and feel with declining talent and the skill they once possessed. The boxing analogy is important, because quarterbacks are often like boxers, especially late in their careers. Their eye level comes down, they react slower to the punches thrown, they cannot escape or deflect the hard punch and their legs don’t have the same explosive moment. Both Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson look like they are past their prime, and it’s hard to imagine they can play beyond this season.
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For the Colts, Ryan’s decline places them on the quarterback search list of teams. This has been happening for the last three years in Indy, so it’s nothing new. For the Broncos, they are screwed — considering they clearly made one of the worst trades in NFL history by acquiring Wilson and have compounded that mistake by paying him. Both quarterbacks are scary bets moving forward. Do you trust either one to lead a comeback, or win the game? Not a chance.
Being a general manager in the NFL requires making two hard decisions. Everything else isn’t as important as who will be the quarterback and who will be the head coach. And so far, GM George has missed on both decisions, seemingly badly. Wilson looks like the Seattle QB of last season, only everyone made excuses for his inability to be the Russ we once remember. This doesn’t happen with old boxers, as fans can see them aging, see them miss punches and take too many hard hits. Boxers leave the game because they must leave. Old quarterbacks stay because there is always someone who believes the old magic will come alive. With aging quarterbacks in the NFL, we make excuses, blame the scheme and never believe their skill set might be declining. Wilson’s poor play was there on the tape last year, ask any Seattle fan. They knew Russ wasn’t cooking like the had in the past.
In a Denver Post column, Paton gave Post writer Ryan O’Halloran access into his thought process and decision making, presenting the reasons for Nathanial Hackett’s hiring. They interviewed 10 candidates (nine in person) and had a five-person selection committee who graded each candidate on 15 different traits, ranging according to the Post “from presence (ability to command, inspire and motivate), intelligence (expertise), character, communication, game management, adaptability/innovation, emotional consistency, preparation and culture-building ability.” Hackett was the clear-cut winner and became Denver’s coach.
After watching Hackett work for five weeks, it’s hard to imagine that his command, game management and adaptability were strong. Paton needs to re-examine his methods and the people who helped him do the grading. Hackett appears like a coach who is in over his head and doesn’t have the expertise to make the right decisions or prepare his team. He seems meek and mild and never offers confidence through his words, or actions. Besides all the game management mistakes, the Broncos are not tough offensively, don’t do the little things well and seem unprepared to handle the game when the game gets tough. After five weeks, Paton looks like he whiffed on the only two decisions that matter.
The Colts won the game, but are they really winners? They looked poorly coached, never adjusted offensively to their inability to protect Ryan and had they been playing any other team, would have been blown out. The Colts were 2-of-15 on third down, the Broncos were 4-of-16 and the game featured 15 penalties and 12 punts. It also featured further evidence to fade Indianapolis — its problems don’t appear fixable — and the Broncos — injuries continue to mount and their lack of attention to detail is striking – going forward.
QB RATINGS
One thing is for sure: Wilson and Ryan aren’t not in the top 10, top 15 or even in the top 20. Here are my quarterback rankings currently that are applied to my team power rankings. Numbers are important, but grading the game, is far more important.
