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This was posted in another thread by someone who can't start his own threads. Please note: if all you have to say is "We have TFB. /thread", don't bother. [If nothing else, TFB needs backup(s).]
I think it's an interesting topic for discussion, and there was already one response:
Hey I have a question, what do you guys think of having a mobile quarterback? Seeing that this is the new Era that the NFL is heading towards to.Someone like Michael Vick, Joe Webb, Tim Tebow? Do you think a mobile quarterback will fit into our system, you have to remember, BB and TB are not going to be here forever.
I think it's an interesting topic for discussion, and there was already one response:
Hmmmm. Well, I'll admit that I was impressed with Webb's performance last night - his success as a pocket passer with his running ability thrown in more as a "bonus" than a focus - meaning that the Vikes didn't appear to use special blocking schemes or route patterns built around Webb's running/scrambling, at least not often.
What Webb showed was certainly similar to what Vick and the Eagles have done in several games this season (and it seems kind of odd that the Eagles weren't better at defending it). I'm not confident that Tebow is quite there yet on the pocket passer end of things, though I'm not saying he can't get there. Cam Newton appears to have the ability to perform out of the pocket at least as well a Vick and Webb (based on the ONE Webb performance, of course), but I'm not willing to go so far as to proclaim the beginning of any "New Era" in the NFL in which mobile QBs largely supplant dropback pocket passers, if that's what you meant.
WRT a mobile QB "fitting our system", that might be a little complicated, at least in transition. I feel that Brady is almost a "pure" pocket passer. He doesn't even rollout or scramble very much. The gameplans, reads, routes, blocking and (most important) practice reps are all built around that - and there are only so many practice reps to go around. I'm not sure how a team successfully manages such a radical transition. Maybe you install special wildcat-style packages at first, but I'm not confident that's been all that good a technique. Maybe it's better to groom the guy as a pocket passer first, ease him in that way, and then use his running ability as a bonus rather than making it a feature from the get-go.
Not saying it can't be done by the Pats, just starting to explore the "how."