Passing Yards Per Game
I've documented it before but I feel it's worth mentioning again and extrapolating on. If you analyze all of the quarterbacks with enough snaps to qualify, you'll find that ALL of the blacks with the exception of Griffin are in the bottom 1/3 of passing yards per game. Griffin only keeps off the list by putting up a large portion of his yards after the game is out of reach, as we've feverishly documented on the weekly NFL threads. This has lead me to the conclusion that the current crop of black quarterbacks are all game managers, ranging on different degrees of success.
Wilson and Newton would be the successful game managers. Both average merely 215 yards per but are doing a good job of throwing for touchdowns (even if the running game or defense puts them in position) and limiting turnovers. Wilson has a very low interception rate and Newton's is good enough. Both benefit for a good running attacked, some of which they themselves contribute to. Both have very good defenses. Both have had favorable schedules.
Kaepernick would fall into average game manager. His passing yards per game are laughable at 180 but his TD to INTO is 2 to 1. He isn't leading his team to victory but he's generally not causing them to lose either. San Fran may make the playoffs but only if Colin isn't asked to do too much.
Manuel, Pryor, Smith and Griffin all fall into the poor game manager category. Smith and Pryor are terrible in every conceivable way, neither throw for any scores and both turnover the ball at extraordinary rates all the while not passing for many yards. Griffin is the definition of a game manager when the game is close, throwing nothing but screens and "safe" passes. However, he still can't pick up 1st downs, fumbles and throws some picks. His team falls far behind and then pads his stats against soft defenses late in the game. Measured by success, his season has been a major failure even considering the defense isn't that good.
Manuel is an interesting example. His numbers are very similar to Kaep, he's just played in less games. However, Manuel is a failure because Buffalo are not a good enough team to employ this conservative style at quarterback. Effectively, Buffalo is choosing to lose games rather then open up the offense which could expose Manuel to turnovers. For example, in their 23-10 loss to Pittsburgh Manuel put up this bizarre stat line. 39 passing attempts with a decent completion rate of 56% but only 155 yards for an average of 3.97. Considering they trailed all game, when was the coaching staff going to stop calling short passes? Or maybe they did but Manuel takes the check down far too often? They are playing to lose by either codling their quarterback or starting an incompetent not fit to power an offense to victory.
If the goal of every franchise is to win the Super Bowl, then drafting these game managers is like trying to win the lotto. Sure a Trent Dilfer wins once in awhile but usually it's the Brady, Mannings, Brees, Roethlisberger types who can single-handedly carry their teams to victory in big games who hoist the trophy. This leads one to think GMs and coaches are either hopelessly foolish and naive or more interested in social engineering than winning.
