Blaine Gabbert – Becoming Elite

Earlier this week, The Hof pointed out the similarities of the early criticism about Eli Manning and Blaine Gabbert.  It’s really quite brilliant, you should read it.  While a lot of the credit goes to the wonderful reporting, research, and humility of the great Vic Ketchman, a big thanks to Hof for finding the diamond in the rough over at Packers.com.

Jen Floyd Engel over at FOXsports also had some notes about not giving up on your QB early.

This is an important lesson that coaching staffs and general managers all need to learn.

Too often a player is written off right away because he didn’t somehow manage to make as much of an impact as expected.  But is that really their fault?  Or is the fault of the coaching staff not capitalizing on the potential seen by the general manager (or head coach depending on how much power they have)?  Perhaps it’s simply because the talent evaluation was off.  Whatever the case, there’s a pretty good chance that your QB will show the skills you saw in some games.  How can someone get a quarterback to show his talent on a continuous basis?

That comes with time and coaching and lots and lots of practice.

In Vic’s response to the question about Eli Manning, he mentioned how Eli comes alive during clutch moments, when it really matters. As great as that is, I can’t see that as truly becoming elite.  When you look at elite, you look at Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.  Those two men ran the score up in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters.  They don’t have to come from behind because they put their team in a position to just kneel the ball day in and day out.

That is elite.

But how does Gabbert get there?

To be honest, I don’t really know.  All I know is that Mike Mularkey and co. really need to develop him during their time with him.  But coaching can only do so much.  It really comes down to our favorite Goldilocks look alike, Blaine Gabbert.

– Luke N. Sim