The QB is the most important position in all of team sports.

[kcsu]

Dino calls it, called Eric " the straw that stires the drink". It is the most important position in all of team sports. No other team sport has any one position that comes close to the importance of that of the QB in football. Not baseball, basketball, soccer, or hockey. Sure there are other important positions. Point guard, goalie, catchers and closers but nothing comes close to that of the QB.
As we head into another season of our team there are many positive signs. For me the most positive is that in Eric we have a truly dominant QB. A player who has proven that he alone makes a huge difference. He is one of those that can single handedly change a game. This year i believe we have in Tommy another potential game changer. There are very few teams in football that have one and we might have two. It is for this reason that i predict a breakout year. I realize that we have to replace our LBs and WRs but with two straws on board im predicting a big year. Go Cuse!

 

[TexanMark]

He just has to limit stupid interceptions early in the contests. I think he must be "over-dosed on adrenaline" the first 2-3 series.

My favorite QB since McNabb and before that Hurley.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Dino calls it, called Eric " the straw that stires the drink". It is the most important position in all of team sports. No other team sport has any one position that comes close to the importance of that of the QB in football. Not baseball, basketball, soccer, or hockey. Sure there are other important positions. Point guard, goalie, catchers and closers but nothing comes close to that of the QB.
As we head into another season of our team there are many positive signs. For me the most positive is that in Eric we have a truly dominant QB. A player who has proven that he alone makes a huge difference. He is one of those that can single handedly change a game. This year i believe we have in Tommy another potential game changer. There are very few teams in football that have one and we might have two. It is for this reason that i predict a breakout year. I realize that we have to replace our LBs and WRs but with two straws on board im predicting a big year. Go Cuse!

I would generally agree, but a hot goalie in the Stanley Cup playoffs has the biggest impact.

 

[SoBristol]

A couple of those early interceptions were predictable throws, predictable patterns, to a predictable target. The defender jumped the pass. Think we need more balance -- which seems likely.
QB may be the most important position, but Babers has also talked about the importance of line play. Pressure and contain the opponents' QB, run the ball and protect your QB, you win.

 

[Ish88888]

I would generally agree, but a hot goalie in the Stanley Cup playoffs has the biggest impact.

Spot on, that was gonna be my argument too. In the NHL, 1/2 the league makes the playoffs like the NBA. Difference is, 8 seeds beat 1 seeds, unlike the NBA. The reason is a hot and seasoned goalie. NHL goalies are right there with qbs. There are plenty of teams that have made a deep run and/or won it all in the NFL with mediocre qbs.

 

[upperdeck]

were the throws that predictable or were those bad reads by the QB?

 

[Pearl309]

Ugh this thread reminded me of Miami last year.
Ugh thanks mark

 

[SoBristol]

were the throws that predictable or were those bad reads by the QB?

Could look at it either way. Dungey was making a throw to Ishmael, primary target - don’t recall if a secondary target was open.

 

[Chip]

He just has to limit stupid interceptions early in the contests. I think he must be "over-dosed on adrenaline" the first 2-3 series.

My favorite QB since McNabb and before that Hurley.

I love Dungey, but he’s not in the Marvin Graves territory for me yet. Probably Donnie Mc for many as well but he was a little before my time. Graves was a sophomore when I started this sometimes unhealthy addiction He’s often forgotten, but he was great.

 

[upperdeck]

you can make the correct throw but make it too late too.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Dino calls it, called Eric " the straw that stires the drink". It is the most important position in all of team sports. No other team sport has any one position that comes close to the importance of that of the QB in football. Not baseball, basketball, soccer, or hockey. Sure there are other important positions. Point guard, goalie, catchers and closers but nothing comes close to that of the QB.
As we head into another season of our team there are many positive signs. For me the most positive is that in Eric we have a truly dominant QB. A player who has proven that he alone makes a huge difference. He is one of those that can single handedly change a game. This year i believe we have in Tommy another potential game changer. There are very few teams in football that have one and we might have two. It is for this reason that i predict a breakout year. I realize that we have to replace our LBs and WRs but with two straws on board im predicting a big year. Go Cuse!

Generally agree, unless you are Wisonson, Bama, and maybe a few others who have great lines /RB's and can get by with average QB play.

 

[CousCuse]

I love Dungey, but he’s not in the Marvin Graves territory for me yet. Probably Donnie Mc for many as well but he was a little before my time. Graves was a sophomore when I started this sometimes unhealthy addiction He’s often forgotten, but he was great.

Dungey > Graves.

 

[Sudano]

Spot on, that was gonna be my argument too. In the NHL, 1/2 the league makes the playoffs like the NBA. Difference is, 8 seeds beat 1 seeds, unlike the NBA. The reason is a hot and seasoned goalie. NHL goalies are right there with qbs. There are plenty of teams that have made a deep run and/or won it all in the NFL with mediocre qbs.

NHL goalie is up there. Now that NBA is positionless a top player in the NBA playing any "position" can single handedly change the balance of power in a game or season. Particularly being 1/5th of a team and 1/10th of a game being played.

 

[GooseMutt]

Could the defensive back possibly be athletic and talented and making a great read

 

[UnknownOrange]

I got a good chuckle that you included closer up there with goalies and quarterbacks. IMO it’s a very overrated position. Sure, you need to have a certain size of stones when it’s a one run game... but give me a break on “preserving” a 3 run lead.

No offense to you I just hate closers for the most part haha.

Dungey is a very very important piece to our team. The most important individual but he can only control so much. The defense and offense have got to help him and they all succeed

 

[Ish88888]

I got a good chuckle that you included closer up there with goalies and quarterbacks. IMO it’s a very overrated position. Sure, you need to have a certain size of stones when it’s a one run game... but give me a break on “preserving” a 3 run lead.

No offense to you I just hate closers for the most part haha.

Dungey is a very very important piece to our team. The most important individual but he can only control so much. The defense and offense have got to help him and they all succeed

Closer might be the most overrated position in all of sports. The specialization of pitching from the 5th inning on is ruining the game. The "save" is a very overrated stat that meant something back in the day when closers came into the game in the 8th with first and third and one out, got out of that jam and then pitched the 9th. These days, these closers start the 9th with a clean slate, its not what it used to be.

 

[Chip]

Dungey > Graves.

I can’t imagine anyone thinking this at this point but I guess we’ve just been so starved for so long at QB.

I won’t push it too far because this board will label me a Dungey hater in no time.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Put Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson on the mound and a bunch of clowns could play the field. Koufax would go several years in a row with an era under 2.0. Gibson used to start 3 games in a seven game world series. In 1968 his era was 1.1 One could argue that they were the single most important players in any team sport, at least on the day that they played. MJ, Bill Russell and Tom Brady could make a strong case. Someone must have, or should, do some fancy statistics to figure out who had the greatest impact.

 

[TheCusian]

I can’t imagine anyone thinking this at this point but I guess we’ve just been so starved for so long at QB.

I won’t push it too far because this board will label me a Dungey hater in no time.

Dungey hater

 

[bevosu]

Put Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson on the mound and a bunch of clowns could play the field. Koufax would go several years in a row with an era under 2.0. Gibson used to start 3 games in a seven game world series. In 1968 his era was 1.1 One could argue that they were the single most important players in any team sport, at least on the day that they played. MJ, Bill Russell and Tom Brady could make a strong case. Someone must have, or should, do some fancy statistics to figure out who had the greatest impact.

Koufax at his peak could dominate like no other position player in any sport.

 

[AlaskaSU]

I would look mainly at the difference in winning percentages when the star player was missing. The problem is that some of these all-time greats took longer to peak than others. Maybe just use stats from each players five best consecutive years. The sample size would be smaller but the data would be more meaningful. Brady would be knocked out of the running. His team won without him. Better yet, just use the last year the star player played compared to the first year that the team played without their star?

 

[AlaskaSU]

Gibson can make a case for being the most dominate player for his 1968 season.

"Gibson was at the forefront of pitching dominance. His earned run average was 1.12, a live-ball era record, as well as the major league record in 300 or more innings pitched. It was the lowest major league ERA. Gibson threw 13 shutouts, three fewer than fellow Nebraskan Grover Alexander's 1916 major league record of 16 (dead ball era). He won all twelve starts in June and July, pitching a complete game every time, (eight of which were shutouts), and allowed only six earned runs in 108 innings pitched (a 0.50 ERA). Gibson pitched 47 consecutive scoreless innings during this stretch."

The 1968 Cardinals only had one .300 hitter, while the team-leading home run and RBI totals were just 16 and 79, respectively. He took them to the World Series where he set the all-time one game Series strike out record, 17 K's.

Koufax was more consistent over a longer period but Gibson in 68 was nuts; one of the greatest all-time runs in sports history. both his slider and fastball were impossible to hit. Can't imagine facing a late breaking Gibson slider without being scared of life and limb.

 

[kcsu]

Gibson can make a case for being the most dominate player for his 1968 season.

"Gibson was at the forefront of pitching dominance. His earned run average was 1.12, a live-ball era record, as well as the major league record in 300 or more innings pitched. It was the lowest major league ERA. Gibson threw 13 shutouts, three fewer than fellow Nebraskan Grover Alexander's 1916 major league record of 16 (dead ball era). He won all twelve starts in June and July, pitching a complete game every time, (eight of which were shutouts), and allowed only six earned runs in 108 innings pitched (a 0.50 ERA). Gibson pitched 47 consecutive scoreless innings during this stretch."

The 1968 Cardinals only had one .300 hitter, while the team-leading home run and RBI totals were just 16 and 79, respectively. He took them to the World Series where he set the all-time one game Series strike out record, 17 K's.

Koufax was more consistent over a longer period but Gibson in 68 was nuts; one of the greatest all-time runs in sports history. both his slider and fastball were impossible to hit. Can't imagine facing a late breaking Gibson slider without being scared of life and limb.

I agree that if you cherry pick players you can find a bball center such as Wilt or a pitcher or goalie. But as a position of importance QB tops all other positions. Pitchers cant be considered as they dont play each game nor do they usually play a full contest. I think the closest has to be a hockey or soccer goalie.

 

[OttoMets]

Put Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson on the mound and a bunch of clowns could play the field. Koufax would go several years in a row with an era under 2.0. Gibson used to start 3 games in a seven game world series. In 1968 his era was 1.1 One could argue that they were the single most important players in any team sport, at least on the day that they played. MJ, Bill Russell and Tom Brady could make a strong case. Someone must have, or should, do some fancy statistics to figure out who had the greatest impact.

Yup. Give me an early '60s Koufax or 1968 Gibson or 1985 Doc Gooden over any other team-sport athlete at any position. Those are one-man game-winners.

 

[OrangePA]

I love Dungey, but he’s not in the Marvin Graves territory for me yet. Probably Donnie Mc for many as well but he was a little before my time. Graves was a sophomore when I started this sometimes unhealthy addiction He’s often forgotten, but he was great.

For me, and I love Marvin Graves, Eric is better.

Marvin had more talent around him.

Eric is out there by himself too often.

He is a great player and if he stays healthy this year will be a legendary Syracuse Football player.