2008 Woodie Awards
Do black quarterbacks receive more criticism?
Callaway
Chris Callaway
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
No! Upon hearing Donovan's recent remarks, I was immediately asking myself, Why did he need to say that? First, I thought there was no real good answer to the question that wouldn't draw criticism from at least somebody.
Flash back to 2006. The most criticized person in the NFL, possibly the country (outside of our President) was probably Rex Grossman. Granted he deserved just about every word of it, it still came just about every week. In 2005 even Brett Favre was criticized for leading the league in interceptions (a whopping 29) as the Packers stumbled to 4-12.
As I was popping in my copy of Madden 2008, I realized who was on the cover. A black quarterback. This got me to thinking. Since 2001, a black player has been featured on the cover every year. Included in these are 4 quarterbacks; Daunte Culpepper in 2002, Michael Vick in 2004, McNabb in 2006, and Vince Young in this year's edition. Granted making the cover of a video game doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot, if anything at all, but it goes to show that these players are receiving plenty of praise as well.
I also think there isn't enough of a focus group to fairly answer this question. Entering the season, there were six black starting quarterbacks. Two are unproven youngsters (Tarvaris Jackson and David Garrard), two are coming into their own (Jason Campbell and Vince Young), and the other two (McNabb and Steve McNair) are proven vets. With that said, if one of those six takes a good amount of criticism, it will reflect more on the other five than if one of the 24 white quarterbacks takes flak.
Do I think McNabb had somewhat of a point? Yes I do. Was it a tough question to answer? Of course. But I think anyone who is not playing up to their potential will get plenty of criticism, especially in the stats-happy, fantasy-crazed football fans that are out there today.
Flash back to 2006. The most criticized person in the NFL, possibly the country (outside of our President) was probably Rex Grossman. Granted he deserved just about every word of it, it still came just about every week. In 2005 even Brett Favre was criticized for leading the league in interceptions (a whopping 29) as the Packers stumbled to 4-12.
As I was popping in my copy of Madden 2008, I realized who was on the cover. A black quarterback. This got me to thinking. Since 2001, a black player has been featured on the cover every year. Included in these are 4 quarterbacks; Daunte Culpepper in 2002, Michael Vick in 2004, McNabb in 2006, and Vince Young in this year's edition. Granted making the cover of a video game doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot, if anything at all, but it goes to show that these players are receiving plenty of praise as well.
I also think there isn't enough of a focus group to fairly answer this question. Entering the season, there were six black starting quarterbacks. Two are unproven youngsters (Tarvaris Jackson and David Garrard), two are coming into their own (Jason Campbell and Vince Young), and the other two (McNabb and Steve McNair) are proven vets. With that said, if one of those six takes a good amount of criticism, it will reflect more on the other five than if one of the 24 white quarterbacks takes flak.
Do I think McNabb had somewhat of a point? Yes I do. Was it a tough question to answer? Of course. But I think anyone who is not playing up to their potential will get plenty of criticism, especially in the stats-happy, fantasy-crazed football fans that are out there today.
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