A good QB must be acompetent game manager, but the word is often used to describe a player with limited ability.
This four year old article is very illustrative.
http://www.flakmag.com/sports/cook040209.html
Bob Cook's weekly ruminations on sports appear Mondays in Flak.
The big question that swirled around the NFL's Pro Bowl on Sunday  other than why bother gathering the league's stars for a half-assed game in which the object appears to be not getting injured  was "
Why wasn't two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady picked to play?"
To be Socratic about it, let's answer that question with a question. When the top CEOs join the gathering for the World Economic Forum, do they invite the manager of your local Wal-Mart?
That's what Brady is as an NFL quarterback: a good manager. That's not me saying it. That's his teammates, coaches and recent Super Bowl opponents, the Carolina Panthers. The Patriots have won two Super Bowls in the past three years, and
Brady has gotten the MVP award for each of those, essentially, for not screwing up.
"I knew it was going to be an uphill battle because Tom Brady is such a good
game manager," Carolina receiver Ricky Proehl told reporters after the Super Bowl, referring to how Brady lucked out by starting New England's game-winning drive from its own 40-yard line because the Panthers' John Kasay had shanked the kickoff out of bounds.
(snip)
A few quarterbacks have overcome these handcuffs. Peyton Manning generally gets the final word on play-calling, which is why he does all that chicken-dancing at the line of scrimmage.
Steve McNair and Donovan McNabb can leave you breathless with their ability to salvage a broken-down play. And, of course, there's the new fan god,
Michael Vick. All of these quarterbacks were in Hawaii Sunday except for Vick, who would have been had he not missed most of the 2003 season with a leg injury.
But most quarterbacks are molded into game managers, and why not? It seems to work. Here are the Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in the new millennium  Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson and Tom Brady (twice).
All game managers, all types who are assigned to read "Who Moved My Cheese" along with the playbook. No doubt, coaches like game managers because merely not screwing up can bring a team wild success, but unless you're a fan of a particular manager's team, who cares?
(snip)
