The Football Quarterback

Everyone wants to play Quarterback!

The quarterback position is the most well known of all the different football positions.  That’s probably because the quarterback is the one player who controls the game. He calls all of the plays, and he either passes the football, hands it off to another player, or runs with it himself. There is more prestige attached to the quarterback position than to any other. Quarterbacks make the most money, get in the news most often, and win the most awards.

Although every quarterback is different, when looking for someone to fill the quarterback position, there are a number of general personality qualities that teams are often hoing to find in good candidates.  Leadership is usually at the top of the list. The person in the quarterback position is the leader of the team, and this involves taking on considerable responsibility. The quarterback is responsible for when the team wins and when they lose.  

Somewhat akin to leadership qualities but not exactly the same is confidence. The quarterback must have a lot of self-confidence.  He is the one the team most heavily counts on and his confidence must be almost inspirational to his teammates. Wanting to win is also a fundamental quality of the guy in the quarterback position.  He must not only want to win badly but when the team is down, he must take it upon himself to make the win happen. He must believe that he singly can make a win possible and actually relish being in that position. 

Someone who wants to be chosen for the quarterback position must also have a lot of natural athletic ability and a really good arm for throwing. While offensive and defensive strategies and formations can be learned, a great quarterback has to be able to throw into the end zone and he has to be able to throw accurately.  He also needs a certain amount of natural agility to angle through and around defenders, as well as the ability to outrun them. 

There have been a lot of really great players in the quarterback position over the years. The Heisman trophy for best college player is usually won by a quarterback, as is the most valuable player in the Superbowl. Every football fan has his or her own favorite NFL quarterbacks but there are some who have played in the quarterback position that have to be considered undeniably great. Many of them have proved that greatness by their Superbowl performances.

Joe Montana, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, started four different Superbowls and won them all as well as three Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.  Terry Bradshaw of the Pittsburgh Steelers started and won four Superbowls and two MVP awards. Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys started in the Superbowl quarterback position three times, and won all of them as well as one MVP award.  Tom Brady of the Boston Patriots has started four Superbowls in the quarterback position, winning three and two MVP awards.