Big Arm QBs with Poor Decision Making (1 Viewer)

[SSOG]

Chad Pennington is the definition of this. Mark Brunell and Troy Aikmen also come to mind.

Other than that, I'd say pretty much the majority of backup QB's in the league presently fit this bill. Good enough for an emergency fill in when needed due to their smarts and accuracy with a paired down playbook, but not enough upside to invest as your franchise starter.

When did Aikman's arm become poor?

Aikman never had a really great arm, just great decisions and very accurate.ETA - I see a few ppl jumped on this to defend him already. Not too surprising. However, most people forget that Jimmy Johnson who got stuck with the old regimes draft plan in 89 went out and drafted Steve Walsh in the supplemental draft a few months later to compete with Aikman. Aikman was not "the greatest QB prospect since Elway."

What? Every so often a QB comes out who is a "once-in-a-generation" prospect who all future prospects get measured against. Elway was one such prospect. You hear a lot of people say "he's the best prospect since Elway". Aikman was another such prospect. Aikman was hailed as the best prospect since Elway, and plenty of subsequent prospects have in turn been hailed as the best prospect since Aikman (until Peyton Manning, who was the next milestone QB who current prospect frequently get compared to).When ESPN did an all-time mock draft of every prospect coming into the league, knowing only what we knew about them coming into the league, Elway was selected #1 overall, and deservedly so- he's widely regarded as the best QB prospect of all time. But Troy Aikman was the second QB off the board. So... yeah, he was, in fact, considered the greatest QB prospect this side of The Duke.

 

[5-ish Finkle]

I think most of you need to re-read the initial post...

Has there ever been an NFL QB who has failed not because he couldn't handle the mental aspects of the game... but because he failed at the physical aspects?

This thread, outside of a couple entries, sounds like a litany of guys who succeeded in spite of optimal arm strength/physcial challenges, overcoming it with their ability to read and react.Gannon, Brunell, Pennington, Kosar, et al were 'failures?' Ummm.....okay. Those guy didn't fail, they were just fine until age or injury broke them down.

Throwing out names like Tarkenton and Aikman, as failures, is laughable. Citing Joe Montana as 'the epitome of this thread' is beyond even that. Again....how did any of those three guys, all HOFers, mind you, fail? (Pro tip: They did not. They did the exact opposite.)

Best example so far in the discussion is probably Ty Detmer. There's a guy who absolutely was a failure, and it was almost certainly due to his physical limitations.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Gary Kubiak? I have no idea what his arm strength was like, but he's obviously a very sharp guy.

 

[Road Warriors]

Major Applewhite seems to fit the bill... he was given a sniff of the NFL despite having none of the physical tools necessary to be a successful QB solely based on his football smarts and college success. It was pretty quickly proven out that his mental acumen wasn't enough to overcome his physical limitations at the top level, and he moved on to coaching immediately.

 

[SSOG]

Gary Kubiak? I have no idea what his arm strength was like, but he's obviously a very sharp guy.

I think there's a difference between live-action decision making and white-board decision making. Kubiak had the latter in spades, but that doesn't necessarily mean he had the former. When you're drawing up a play, you can take hours and hours to run through every possibility to make sure everything's good. When you're running a play, you've got 3 seconds to make the right decision.

 

[Donnybrook]

Has there ever been an NFL QB who has failed not because he couldn't handle the mental aspects of the game... but because he failed at the physical aspects? IE: Not having a strong enough arm; but being decisive enough to make the correct reads.

Isn't that the knock on Colt McCoy? I guess we get to see if he can handle the pressure tomorrow.

 

[Babu Bhatt2]

Jeff Garcia.

 

[pizzatyme]

Another question. Has there ever been any QB's that have a moderate arm, was half german, half spanish, had questionable ability to read the defenses, AND could run 4.4 or better. Plus likes soup for dinner as well.

 

[pizzatyme]

Jim Sorgi

 

[Late225]

I'll second Ken Dorsey. He was undefeated (is this right?) in college and made very few mistakes. His knock coming in was his physical skills. He wound up starting for the 49ers in his first or second year [due to injuries], but ended up losing the job and getting cut.

Granted I come from a Rugby background, not a football background, but I don't understand why physical skills is such an issue. Don't these guys spend loads of time in the weight room getting bigger? What's the issue here?

 

[pizzatyme]

I'll second Ken Dorsey. He was undefeated (is this right?) in college and made very few mistakes. His knock coming in was his physical skills. He wound up starting for the 49ers in his first or second year [due to injuries], but ended up losing the job and getting cut. Granted I come from a Rugby background, not a football background, but I don't understand why physical skills is such an issue. Don't these guys spend loads of time in the weight room getting bigger? What's the issue here?

Mechanics and footwork have a lot to do with it. Several are strong enough to make the deep pass, but cannot make the precise short and intermediate passes on a rope.Vince Young is a prime example for me.

 

[Zow]

Bubby Brister?

Koy Detmer is a good call

More recently, I'd say Timmy Chang (guy outta Hawaii), also Ryan Fitzpatrick (hey, he went to Harvard)