I was having a conversation the other day with former Eagles running back Keith Byars. I was interviewing him for a book I am working on.
Big Keith is now the head football coach of Boca Rotan High School, which is located in Florida, just outside of Miami.
We started talking football and Byars commensed to attacking the media coverage of quarterbacks. He was hitting on one of my hot buttons.
Byars, who was taught to the play the game in much the same way that I was, has a major problem with how sportswriters have begun treating quarterbacks like pitchers in baseball.
He mentioned how they have started giving quarterbacks a won-loss record. He talked about how dependent the quarterback is to his offensive line, running backs and receivers.
The former Ohio State Buckeye, who was a Heisman Trophy runner up, got into how the quarterback can't even begin to do his job if his teammates don't do theirs.
Keith talked about how some quarterbacks can't move the ball without a running game, while other quarterbacks have to play their entire career without one.
He also said some quarterbacks have to win without a defense while other quarterbacks have a defense that not only stops the other team, but also scores on its own.
Byars played a number of years with a guy who many believe was the greatest quarterback of all-time, Dan Marino.
Keith says Marino is the best he ever played with, but he wasn't able to lead the Dolphins to a championship because the team wasn't good enough. Many times Marino had to lead a team that didn't have a running game or a defense.
Some people think I'm biased in favor of Donovan McNabb, when my main argument against all the criticism he receives is that a quarterback is only one part of a championship team.
The heart of my argument is that "teams win and teams lose". More than the other sports, football is a team sport. All of the players are dependent upon their teammates to win.
Yes it's true that McNabb hasn't performed at his best in those championship games, but it's also true that he was playing with some awful receivers; the Eagles running game never got going; and their defense hasn't played their best games in the championship games.
Not ony should we ask why McNabb doesn't play his best in those championship games, we should also ask why the defense doesn't play their best and doesn't get turnovers in those championship games.
We also have to ask why we can't run the ball in championship games. Last year we had an injured Brian Westbrook, before that we had a offensive line that couldn't run block against the top defenses.
