If you ever watched the HBO show “Entourage” before it became a melodramatic bromance, recycling the same joke over and over again (Wait, it was always like that? Guess it just took me three years to notice), you might remember one of the funnier scenes involving Hollywood agent Ari Gold.
He is being interrogated by a marriage counselor about recent erratic behavior when, all of a sudden, he snaps into an epic monologue that begins with just two words.
“Everybody, stop!”
It was one of those rare moments when the show was actually, you know, funny, but I bring it up for an entirely different reason. As I listened to reporters pepper Chip Kelly with questions this past weekend about whether Bryan Bennett or Darron Thomas would start at quarterback against Washington and then turned the television on later to see grinning news anchors ask, “Does Oregon have a quarterback controversy on its hands?” I felt a bit like Ari Gold, simmering closer and closer to a boiling point.
Everybody. Stop.
This whole “controversy” is completely ridiculous, an example of 24/7 sports talk at its most nonsensical. Darron Thomas is, and should be, the quarterback of this team. Plain and simple. To conclude otherwise would be both rash and misguided.
It has been a rough few weeks for Thomas. No one can question that. He got hurt on a nasty tackle against Arizona State, then watched as Bennett led the team to a comeback victory. The injury kept him out of the Colorado game and Bennett once again shone with two touchdowns in a 45-2 rout. Thomas returned this week against Washington State, but was replaced in the second half after throwing two interceptions (neither of which were his fault). With each passing week, Bennett’s momentum has built, while Thomas’ name grows ever the more blemished.@@I don’t like that sentence…@@
Based on the information above, you might be inclined to nod along with the pro-Bennett crowd. The raw facts don’t favor Thomas and Bennett certainly passes the “eye test” with flying colors.
But you would be forgetting about a key component of this debate, one that cannot be measured by statistics or the tightness of Bennett’s spirals.
Leadership.
Ask any member of the Oregon football team who their leader is and I’d bet serious money that the answer, without any hesitation, would be Darron Thomas. Earlier in the year, when Thomas was setting single-game touchdown records and everyone still loved him, I specifically remember offensive lineman Carson York saying that the junior quarterback had taken great strides as the team’s unquestioned leader. He was vocal on the sidelines and backed it up on the field. He was the total package.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1550510@@
The injury was the only thing that slowed him down and the decision to miss even one game wasn’t his. He wanted to be out there, as he says, with his teammates, just as LaMichael James did after dislocating his elbow against California. Funny, I don’t hear anyone clamoring for James to be replaced by Kenjon Barner, or De’Anthony Thomas, even after some spectacular performances in his place.
The quarterback position is strange in that way; more often than not, it seems to provoke irrationality even among the most even-keeled of fans and commentators. It doesn’t help that Thomas’ style is anything but conventional: His throwing motion is labored, drawn out; when he runs, he often looks to be caught in quicksand (even as defenders drop at his feet).
Contrast that with Bennett, who throws with ease, his spirals damn near perfect. His runs are also easier on the eyes and he just looks more comfortable in the pocket. Where Thomas’ play can best be described as organized chaos, Bennett’s is more serene and predictable.
Read into that what you will, but don’t forget the most important measurement of a quarterback: wins. Thomas is 17-2 as a starter for Oregon, his only two losses coming against Auburn and LSU (two pretty good teams, by the way). Bennett’s stellar play has come against Arizona State (good), Colorado (barely D-I) and Washington State (better than Colorado, but so is my high school team). Let’s wait for him to throw for 363 yards in the national championship game (as Thomas did, in case you forgot) before we crown him the “next big thing.” @@upstyle Next Big Thing?@@ @@http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/pac12/oregon.htm@@ @@http://azstarnet.com/sports/football/college/article_8c0c09f2-a8b9-585c-bd60-b49fb56759fe.html@@
There was a moment in the first half against Washington State that perfectly encompassed everything that makes Darron Thomas great. The play broke down and he was flushed out to his right, those quicksand steps somehow eluding defenders. He made it all the way to the sideline before lofting the ball across his body, just before a defender drilled him below the waist. It was a perfect throw, almost 50 yards down the field and into Lavasier Tuinei’s arms for the touchdown. Organized chaos at its finest.
So all together now, one more time.
Everybody. Stop.