In the eternal words of Kelly Rowland “Oh no, oh no, can’t nobody do it like me”
Okay, I admit, when Queen Kelly put those words on the track she probably didn’t have in mind the likes of Russel Wilson, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick or Dak Prescott. But somewhere in the mix of black vernacular, polyrhythmic 808s, and her urgent R&B dance melody is the very spirit that makes the men I mentioned earlier a force that is taking the NFL – and football at every age level – by storm. To understand the Black quarterback, it may be best to start with that age-old tradition of music that is central to Black American life. From the moment Black people landed in America music was crucial in maintaining and passing cultural traditions from Africa that were central to Black identity. These traditions included emotional urgency, emphasis on individual expression, and the ability to perpetually improvise. These characteristics were passed down, form by form, through musical traditions we call our own all the way up to today’s Hip-Hop. It’s the emotional potency of blues, formed by long curling blue notes which were developed in the field hollers of the plantation. The ability for jazz artists to make their instruments sing and dance as if they had a life of their own. Or of course the powerful (and sometimes bizarre) hollers and screams, hops and skips, we see when gospel combined with the power of the Holy Spirit hits us in our core – praise JESUS hallelujah! But music was not the only place where we used these key characteristics to define ourselves. Look at any dance floor today filled with black people and you will see these same things; all of our moves are improvised on the spot, individual expression – everybody hits dem folks with their own swagger – and of course emotional urgency, you better!!! Its these same things that make the athletes we love great. Take for example Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest American athlete of all time and certainly the greatest NBA player ever (LeBron is on his way but that’s a different essay). What made MJ magical was his ability to do those things nobody else could do. His ability to stop on a dime and elevate for a jumpshot without thinking, his ability to improvise mid-air and twist and turn his body in a way to get the ball in hoop, and that emotional drive which he used to will himself over the mountaintop when his team needed him most, in the process creating some of the most iconic clutch moments in recent sports memory. He epitomized what it meant for a black body to create on a basketball court. To this day that emphasis on creativity and individual expression is the standard for evaluating NBA superstars; from Steph Curry to James Harden our favorite players are those who do things never seen or done before, just look at Harden’s latest Adidas commercial which ends “I’m here to create”. In the same way, we can look at football as a cultural expression. It should be no surprise that football is perhaps the most popular sport in America. The goal of the game is to conquer; at any point in the game one army is trying to conquer the field 10 yards at a time while the other is trying to defend territory. At the center of the offense is the quarterback, for all intensive purposes he is the general. The head baller shot caller. Traditionally his job has been to manage personnel, read the defense, stand tall in the pocket, and deliver the ball on time and on target. Rinse, wash, repeat. This model leaves little room for improvisation, individual expression, emotional urgency outside of the occasional scramble situation. What makes the Black Quarterback so revolutionary is his ability to completely deconstruct that model. Russel Wilson won the hearts of fans not because his ability to rigidly succeed in his offense – though he is certainly one of the most cerebral quarterbacks in the league. What makes him special is what he does outside of the pocket on the run. I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody who can twist, turn, sprint, stop, start again all while keeping his eyes downfield and eventually make a perfect throw. What’s amazing is that Wilson does this time and time again. All while looking calm, almost serene, as if he planned to work in chaos. The other day I watched him step up into the pocket and sprint left. “Surely” I thought “He’s going to have to tuck and run the ball.” After all he’s a right-handed quarterback and throwing while sprinting left is nearly impossible. But then as if to defy physics he reaches his arm all the way back and flicks the wrist, delivering a dart to his tight end. My jaw dropped, but what truly put me into a state of awe was that when they showed the replay Wilson threw the ball to a spot on the field where nobody was at: he literally threw his tight end open. It’s this individual, improvisational magic which makes Black Quarterbacks so special. As Joe Buck said in exasperation “there’s just no defending that.” And just like with blackness wherever you look, no two black quarterbacks are alike. Dak Prescott leads with youthful invigoration and yet uncharacteristic patience, Colin Kaepernick loves to just fling the ball around the field, stepping up sometimes and flinging downfield and other times just taking off towards the sideline and dancing around would be tacklers. RG3 dances around while still inside the pocket often throwing dimes while off balance or on his back foot. Tyrod Taylor loves to use uncanny plays; speed option and read option, plays which require quarterbacks to read defensive players and make split second decisions on whether to keep the ball or give it away. Jameis Winston prefers the classic style of play, stays in the pocket, and just throws people off his back, every now and then calling his own number and using a play in which utilizes his size and speed to barrel downfield at defenses, essentially turning himself into a fullback. This type of individual expression was traditionally reserved for wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, players whose job it was solely to catch and carry the ball up field. Adding the Quarterback to this arsenal is a change that is going to take years for the league to adjust to. To truly understand how dynamic the change in play has been these last 4 years or so one need look no farther than perhaps the biggest black star quarterback in the league – Cam Newton. In 2015 Cam and his Carolina Panthers enjoyed monumental success, going 15-1 in the regular season, and nearly winning the Superbowl against the Denver Broncos who had arguably one of the great defenses in NFL history and also had Peyton Manning at the helm – not too shabby. Cam and the Panthers gained the national spotlight not just because of their on-field success but also because of the personality of the team and the way they were winning and celebrating their victories. Cam created a lot of pop culture controversy when he popularized the dab as a celebration. Towards the end of the year the team would take pictures midfield after wins with everybody posing doing the dance move. Some, myself included, loved it. Others complained, saying that there was no room for dancing, suggestive gestures, etc. It’s hard to argue that America’s bias against Cam wasn’t only that he was black, but also that he was performing an explicitly black form of dance to celebrate. In fact, Cam might be the blackest of quarterbacks yet. He never erases his giant, ear to ear grin off of his face, celebrates flamboyantly after major plays, and even compared the Panthers slow growth to greatness to collard greens. However, the true revolutionary value of Cam Newton was in his on-field play. When you look at his stats, you wouldn’t guess that he’d be one of the great game changers in the NFL. His pass completion percentage, just over 58%, is average at best. His yards per attempt, passing yards per game, and touchdown to interception ration are similarly run of the mill. This baffled analysts all year; how is this offense so dominant with a quarterback who on paper is just, well, normal? The fascinating thing about all of this is that time and time again Eurocentric evaluation standards fail to capture the value of those things that make black quarterbacks, well, black. Cam Newton’s greatness isn’t in his ability to rigidly apply his offense, it’s in his ability to make plays when they break down. He’s average yes, but every game he has plays where instead of taking a sack he’s able to extend the pocket and at least throw the ball away, or even better gain five or ten yards and keep a drive going. His willingness to call himself a designed run from time to time creates matchup problems for defenses, and on third down and short – the most clutch and crucial moments in any close football games – his dual threat prowess makes defensive playcalling nearly impossible. On top of that he has a certain mental toughness that can only come from his confidence in the ability to create when all seems lost. Finally, there is an emotional energy that radiates from him in big spots; something about him gets crowds and his teammates fired up, especially with the game on the line. And with the game on the line, much like MJ he delivered moments which left you speechless; I specifically remember him diving over the top of two defenders into the endzone superman style to give his team the lead with less than a minute left and I just thought “this guy is out of his damn mind.” These things, impossible to measure the true value of, meant that Carolina would come out on top in close game after close game. In many ways, he WAS the Carolina Panthers. This means for the NFL and all football leagues moving forward there are two big challenges. 1) how do you design an offense which captures all this new potential in the most efficient way? 2) How in the hell do you stop an offense with a quarterback who adds completely new elements to the game? THIS is why I get so excited to turn on the t.v. and watch football. The plane of possibility in the sport has never expanded so rapidly. Its new, it’s exciting, and once again it’s all thanks to black people.
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October 2018
Matt BruceViva DSM!! |