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Why don’t NFL quarterbacks call the plays? Hall of Famers Tarkenton, Staubach, Kelly did
BY SAM FARMER
STAFF WRITER | https://twitter.com/latimesfarmer
SEPT. 22, 2023 3 AM PT
Chicago quarterback Justin Fields complains quietly: too much information in his ear.
The crowd in Pittsburgh complains loudly: get rid of Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
Through the first two weeks of the NFL season, a lot of confounded teams are groping for ways to move the football.
Cincinnati, two years removed from the Super Bowl, has scored just 20 points in two games. The longest reception by the lethal Ja’Marr Chase? Thirteen yards.
“Take a chance,” the exasperated receiver told reporters when asked about the down-the-field passing drought.
Is it time to cut quarterbacks loose and let them call the plays?
Once upon a time, they did.
The relative simplicity of football in the 1960s and ‘70s made it far easier for quarterbacks to call the plays. Football was less complex back then. Coaches didn’t have play sheets that looked like periodic tables. There were a few assistants, not today’s typical staff of two dozen coaches.
“I called all the plays,” Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton said. “I made sure I was prepared by the coaches to understand what defenses were doing and also to get their input on how do we attack a defense.”
Archie Manning called plays from his sophomore year at Ole Miss through the first half of his 14-year NFL career. When those duties were taken over by a coach, playing quarterback wasn’t quite as much fun for Manning.
“I kind of felt a little bit that instead of a quarterback, now I’m a guard,” Manning said. “I’m just running the play that’s called. Where before, that was 80% of my preparation. Home at night or after practice I was trying to think about all the situations that would come up in a game and what play I’m going to call.”
Hall of Famer Roger Staubach called the plays early in his career with the Dallas Cowboys, but was happy to hand over play-calling responsibilities to legendary coach Tom Landry.
“He said to me, `You need to do what you’re doing on reading defenses, but I want to call the plays,’ ” Staubach recalled. “It was a relief for me.”
By the early 1990s, there was at least one quarterback still calling plays: Buffalo’s Jim Kelly, who estimates he made 95% of the decisions but deferred to coach Marv Levy in short-yardage and goal-line situations. Both Kelly and Levy are in the Hall of Fame.
Kelly credits his quarterbacks coach, Jim Shofner, and his phenomenal cast of offensive teammates — Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, James Lofton, Don Beebe and the like — for making the Bills’ hurry-up system work, and especially Levy for entrusting him to call the plays.
“We didn’t have that many plays,” he said. “We had 25, 30 plays. But the thing is, if one play worked, we’d run it over five, six, seven times during the course of a game.”
But much has changed since the heyday of quarterbacks calling plays, most notably the number of personnel groupings on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
“When I came into the league, whoever those 11 guys who were out there on defense on first down, it was the same 11 when it got to be third-and-18,” said Manning, 74, a rookie in 1971. “We had a tight end, two wide receivers and two backs. We didn’t bring in a third receiver. We never had a second tight end except on short-yardage.
“If the coach trusted the quarterback to call plays, you could do it."
continued..
BY SAM FARMER
STAFF WRITER | https://twitter.com/latimesfarmer
SEPT. 22, 2023 3 AM PT
Chicago quarterback Justin Fields complains quietly: too much information in his ear.
The crowd in Pittsburgh complains loudly: get rid of Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
Through the first two weeks of the NFL season, a lot of confounded teams are groping for ways to move the football.
Cincinnati, two years removed from the Super Bowl, has scored just 20 points in two games. The longest reception by the lethal Ja’Marr Chase? Thirteen yards.
“Take a chance,” the exasperated receiver told reporters when asked about the down-the-field passing drought.
Is it time to cut quarterbacks loose and let them call the plays?
Once upon a time, they did.
The relative simplicity of football in the 1960s and ‘70s made it far easier for quarterbacks to call the plays. Football was less complex back then. Coaches didn’t have play sheets that looked like periodic tables. There were a few assistants, not today’s typical staff of two dozen coaches.
“I called all the plays,” Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton said. “I made sure I was prepared by the coaches to understand what defenses were doing and also to get their input on how do we attack a defense.”
Archie Manning called plays from his sophomore year at Ole Miss through the first half of his 14-year NFL career. When those duties were taken over by a coach, playing quarterback wasn’t quite as much fun for Manning.
“I kind of felt a little bit that instead of a quarterback, now I’m a guard,” Manning said. “I’m just running the play that’s called. Where before, that was 80% of my preparation. Home at night or after practice I was trying to think about all the situations that would come up in a game and what play I’m going to call.”
Hall of Famer Roger Staubach called the plays early in his career with the Dallas Cowboys, but was happy to hand over play-calling responsibilities to legendary coach Tom Landry.
“He said to me, `You need to do what you’re doing on reading defenses, but I want to call the plays,’ ” Staubach recalled. “It was a relief for me.”
By the early 1990s, there was at least one quarterback still calling plays: Buffalo’s Jim Kelly, who estimates he made 95% of the decisions but deferred to coach Marv Levy in short-yardage and goal-line situations. Both Kelly and Levy are in the Hall of Fame.
Kelly credits his quarterbacks coach, Jim Shofner, and his phenomenal cast of offensive teammates — Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, James Lofton, Don Beebe and the like — for making the Bills’ hurry-up system work, and especially Levy for entrusting him to call the plays.
“We didn’t have that many plays,” he said. “We had 25, 30 plays. But the thing is, if one play worked, we’d run it over five, six, seven times during the course of a game.”
But much has changed since the heyday of quarterbacks calling plays, most notably the number of personnel groupings on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
“When I came into the league, whoever those 11 guys who were out there on defense on first down, it was the same 11 when it got to be third-and-18,” said Manning, 74, a rookie in 1971. “We had a tight end, two wide receivers and two backs. We didn’t bring in a third receiver. We never had a second tight end except on short-yardage.
“If the coach trusted the quarterback to call plays, you could do it."
continued..
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