As New York City debates if the Jets should bench Mark Sanchez and start Tim Tebow, another USC alum, Matt Cassel, is struggling to keep his job in Kansas City and the Raiders have found themselves stuck with two more failing quarterbacks, Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart, both Heisman trophy winners from the University of Southern California. Is this just a coincidence? Or was there something at the University of Southern California that made these players awesome- that was lost- once these elite quarterbacks were drafted.
Although each of the quarterbacks listed above has had some bright spots in their professional careers, they all seem to have seen their best days. Mark Sanchez, who led the Jets to back to back playoff births, is about to lose his job to Tim Tebow, who many of his own Jets teammates think is terrible. Matt Cassel runs the offense of the worst team in the NFL, and many want him replaced by another terrible quarterback, Brady Quin, a man who couldn’t beat Tim Tebow for the starting job in Denver. In Oakland, Heisman trophy winner, Carson Palmer, is backed up by Heisman trophy winner, Matt Lienart, both of whom were seen as saviors for the teams that drafted them, only to struggle after entering the NFL. So why does this happen? Why do these USC quarterbacks, who are so decorated and have so much promise, seem to collapse in the NFL?
In reality the success of these quarterbacks in college is a result of one man’s system, a system that kept these men at their highest level of competition in college. This man is the legendary USC head coach Pete Carrol – the Prince of Los Angeles and the current head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
While at the University of California, Pete Carrol created a very competitive system that forced players to constantly compete for their starting positions. Every Tuesday Pete Carrol and company would let the backup players challenge the starters for their jobs. Every week, players would play their best knowing that if whoever did not, might not be playing the next week.
It seems that the main reason these quarterbacks do not play well at the professional level, is because once they enter the NFL, they are almost guaranteed a lucrative contract and a starting job in their respective teams. This is reasonable, because no franchise is going to give a player an extremely large sum of money and not start them. But this job security also creates a noticeable problem, a lack of competition among these players. Currently Mark Sanchez is one of the worst passers in the NFL, yet every week Rex Ryan tells the media Sanchez will not be replaced. As a result, Mark Sanchez knows that no matter how bad he plays, he will keep his job.
Also, the teams that do put performance over salary seem to find more success after their USC alum are no longer playing. Matt Lienhart was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals only to be replaced by Kurt Warner, who led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. Carson Palmer was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals but had little success turning around the organization. After refusing to resign before the 2011 season, the Bengals started rookie Andy Dalton who lead the team to a playoff birth in 2011, with a shot at making the playoffs again this year.
So what is the solution to the post USC collapse of NFL quarterbacks? Simple, rip off Pete Carrol’s formula. In Seattle, Pete Carrol brought his sense of competition with him. He did not care what a player is paid or what he has done in the past. Recently, the Seattle Seahawks acquired Matt Flynn from the Green Bay Packers in hopes of having a new starting quarterback. And the result? Pete Carrol ignored Matt Flynn’s salary and gave the starting job to the then unknown rookie Russel Wilson. A decision based on talent and on field performance. Since then the Seattle Seahawks have surprised the NFL and lead his team to a 6-4 start, in one of the toughest conferences in the NFL.
NFL coaches need to treat their starting quarterbacks like any other player. If Mark Sanchez and Matt Cassel continuously throw interceptions and do not lead their teams to win, they should be replaced by a player who can win; yet their respective coaches are resiting. The worst of whom is Rex Ryan, who does not want to bench Mark Sanchez even though he is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league and continuously performs poorly on game day. If Sanchez played this bad in his college days, Pete Carrol would have benched him long before the season was lost.
