We’ve collected the best Quarterback Quotes from the greatest minds of the world: Matt LaFleur, Jared Goff, Cris Carter, George Blanda, Oliver Luck. Use them as an inspiration.
1
You watch the great quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers. They all play so fast, but it’s under control because they know what the defense is presenting to them before it happens. It allows them to anticipate things a little quicker, and that makes all the difference in the world.
2
I don’t want to be a quarterback that has all these stats but didn’t win a lot of games.
3
4
5
Quarterback play is important for every level of football.
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Peyton is one of the best in the game, and I’ve been blessed to have him as my quarterback. I learned so much from him.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
It’s hard to play quarterback in professional football.
23
I don’t think Joey Harrington is good enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
24
25
There’s a lot of different ways of playing quarterback, and there’s a lot of different situations. So that’s why, for me, if I can keep my mindset the same, if I can stay consistent in how I prepare, then I’m good.
26
Everything gets thrown off depending on whether the Packers are playing. I grew up in L.A., and we had a terrible quarterback, Roman Gabriel. When I was 11 years old, I fired him, I fired the Rams, and I picked a quarterback I aspired to be. That was Bart Starr. That’s how long I’ve been a Packers fan.
27
28
The new CBA is hurting the league. It’s hurting quarterback play.
29
30
Some coaches and quarterbacks over-analyze things at times. Sometimes it can be pitch and catch, let the play-makers make plays.
31
There’s gonna be ups and downs throughout the season. And what defenses do to try and attack different quarterbacks, I mean, you can definitely see it. It’s how you respond to it. It’s how you get over that next step.
32
Honestly, being a 5’11” quarterback, not too many people think that you can play in the National Football League. And so for me, you know, I knew that my height doesn’t define my skill set, you know? I believed in my talent. I believed in what God gave me. I believed in the knowledge that I have of the game.
33
34
Quarterbacks are the leaders of the team, and I want to try to get guys going. That’s a job of a leader. That’s a job of a quarterback.
35
36
37
That’s the thing: To be successful in the NFL, you have to start by having a quality coach and a quarterback that can kind of lead the team. If you have the trust of the quarterback, then you can build everywhere else.
38
39
I think, between the tattoos, the way I dress, the way I talk, people don’t think it should go together with a franchise quarterback or someone that’s leading the team or representing the organization.
40
In the game of football today – whether it’s pro, college or even high school arguably – your quarterback play is determinative.
41
I have great respect for Greg Knapp, who was my quarterbacks coach in Denver for three years. He taught me so much about playing quarterback in the NFL and made me a better football player.
42
43
I like being with the quarterbacks. I like calling the plays.
44
45
There’s something to be said with your quarterback your leader being there on Day 1.
46
47
48
49
50
Third-string quarterbacks, fourth-string quarterbacks – they get their opportunities, and they shine.
51
52
Look at Baltimore back in 2000. They had an outstanding defense. They could run the ball, and they had a quarterback that didn’t turn it over that much. I think that is a plan that can bring you great success.
53
A quarterback is always going to be the most valuable player on a football field because he touches the ball every single offensive play.
54
55
56
57
I think Brian Hoyer is a good quarterback.
58
You have to be able to do everything as a quarterback, and that’s not necessarily taking care of your job but making sure you’re preparing everyone else to go out and play well. And make sure you have them in the right mindset when they step on the field.
59
60
Coach Knapp is a tremendous quarterbacks coach.
61
62
I never thought I would be the oldest quarterback in the National Football League at one point, not in a million years. I never thought I would play as long as I did, either, seventeen years from start to finish, with stops in Houston, Minnesota, Seattle, and Kansas City.
63
If you are going to be a starter in the NFL or a major-college program, you are going to have to beat out other great quarterbacks.
64
Quarterbacks like guys who try to do everything they can for them and put it on the line for them. So that’s what I try to do.
65
The quarterbacks who are picked in the first round and are declared – and I don’t like the word – busts, it’s not that the scouts were wrong about their ability or their potential. But commitment is such a huge part of it.
66
67
I played quarterback, and it was a leadership position, and even though I’m doing a solo thing now, a lot of my success is a part of assembling this team of people who are really, really talented, and their position doesn’t put them out front the way mine does, but it’s still a team effort.
68
69
The bottom line is that it’s the NFL, and there’s going to be competition wherever you go. That’s the way I look at it. I’ve had competition in high school. I’ve had competition in college, and that’s part of the game. That’s part of how you improve as a quarterback.
70
71
Peyton Manning is doing things that I think no other quarterback in the history of the league has done at the line of scrimmage… I just think they are a team right now that’s got a real chance to run the table.
72
As a quarterback, your job is to move the football and win games, to be a leader on the field.
73
74
75
76
With Tom Brady, quarterbacks are playing now until they’re about 60 years old.
77
A quarterback should be leaders of the team.
78
Your leader on the offensive line is your center, because the communication really takes place between him and quarterback.
79
80
81
I don’t want people to think you have to look a certain way or be a certain mold to be able to be a quarterback.
82
83
Warren Moon and Doug Williams really didn’t run that much. That’s the negative stereotype when it comes to African-American quarterbacks, that most of us just run. Those guys threw it around. I like to think I can throw it around a little bit.
84
What motivates me is being the best quarterback in the world.
85
It’s not always statistics that determine the best player, especially the quarterback.
86
It’s far different aging as a quarterback than aging as a tight end.
87
If you look historically at the draft at quarterbacks in the top 10, about half of them flame out very quickly.
88
I remember when I was 6 years old and my brother used to go seek out guys that were 13 to come over and play football against me while he was the ‘permanent quarterback.’ I didn’t know exactly what the age difference was, but I was already playing against older guys.
89
90
Some of the best quarterback play is when you’re able to move in the pocket and still make throws down the field because it’s not going to be clean every time.
91
Quarterback in the NFL is a public position.
92
93
94
95
I’m a firm believer that if you are not on the team, you ought not have input on who the quarterback is going to be.
96
I never want to make the quarterback feel like I’m being a distraction or I’ve got any negativity toward him.
97
Big Ben, he’s a great quarterback.
98
If you’re dating the quarterback and then you go out with the hockey player, you just go to the hockey games. I don’t think I’ll still go to the football games.
99
Obviously Eli Manning is a two-time Super Bowl MVP, so he is one of the best and a Hall of Fame quarterback. So I am just excited to be in the same quarterback room as him and we will see what happens.
100
101
Obviously Tom Brady is a great quarterback.
102
The quarterback has to get rid of the ball quickly, so there’s not a lot of time to make moves to gain separation.
103
The quarterback needs to know when he’s doing something wrong or how he can get better.
104
105
106
You know, quarterbacks, I think greatness in quarterbacks is taking what you’ve got, whether it’s a great team, a good team, or a struggling team and make them better.
107
If I’m Colin Kaepernick I have to prove myself. I would say, ‘I would love the opportunity to show that I am a championship-winning quarterback again, and I understand that I am not going to be handed anything and that I would love the opportunity to come back.’ If he said that it would open the ears of a lot of teams.
108
Even though you can hit a quarterback, it’s not always in your best interest.
109
110
Number one, I tell the quarterbacks, do your job. You’ve gotta do your job before you can even worry about anybody else or any other situation.
111
I know I’m a pretty good quarterback.
112
113
I think to be a great quarterback, you have to have a great leadership, great attention to detail, and a relentless competitive nature. And that’s what I try to bring to the table, and I have a long way to go. I’m still learning, and I’m still on a constant quest for knowledge.
114
115
I never intended to be a running quarterback.
116
I think the first thing that my sons will tell you, that I never tried to be their coach. And I didn’t give them as much advice as some people might think, being a former player myself and a former quarterback. If they asked, I gave them my opinion.
117
What quarterback doesn’t like some speed on the outside?
118
I never want to be a father figure to my quarterbacks. I’ve got my own kids. I want to be the cool uncle you’d like have a drink with.
119
You don’t want a quarterback like Eli Manning looking down the field, ever. Ever, ever, ever.
120
We are in a situation where we can have a developing backup quarterback because of the excellence of Tony Romo. We can have that behind him. To me, that’s what you’re ideally striving for.
121
122
123
Point guard is like the quarterback. It’s an IQ-judgment position. The great ones are not about themselves. They’re about the others.
124
It’s hard to win with rookie quarterbacks, as I know.
125
126
127
I don’t like the rules about you can’t hit the quarterback.
128
In football, it’s the ultimate team sport. You have to have good people around you as a quarterback for things to happen.
129
130
131
I think there’s something inherently interesting in the Monday morning quarterback: the guy who, you know, sits at one end of the briefing room and tells everyone what they should’ve done and how they’ve screwed up.
132
133
134
135
And my father didn’t have money for me to go to college. And at that particular time they didn’t have black quarterbacks, and I don’t think I could have made it in basketball, because I was only 5′ 11″. So I just picked baseball.
136
I know perfection in this game is very hard to do and pretty much impossible, but it’s what I strive for because I think it’s what you should do as a quarterback and as a leader.
137
138
Defensive guys don’t really understand. It’s totally different for offense. Defensive guys are convinced they know us but they just don’t understand. Quarterbacks have so much that they have to read and adjust to. They have to look at everybody on the defense. It’s totally different for the offense.
139
It just makes me laugh, when you talk to people who are ‘typical‘ men, masculine, they watch sports and they can armchair quarterback, but they don’t do anything themselves and they judge your masculinity.
140
141
142
No quarterback ever won a championship that did it all by himself.
143
144
As a quarterback, you have to love it. As much as you like to turn around and hand the ball off – the whole traditional football game – as a quarterback, you gotta love putting it in the air.
145
Quarterback is not a position that you come in having not played it your whole life.
146
147
By running routes on air, with any quarterback, if I did routes on air with a D-II quarterback, I should catch most of the balls.
148
149
Colin Kaepernick had a… maybe he had an epiphany. Maybe he had a realization that ‘I have a higher calling the playing quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.’
150
I was a receiver until I was a freshman in high school. I didn’t play quarterback until I was a freshman.
151
Playing quarterback is hard enough.
152
Obviously, you have to have some physical ability to play quarterback in the NFL.
153
154
I’m playing quarterback, I’m playing football, and I don’t try to make it more than that.
155
The positions I played in football, being a quarterback and a defensive back, you had to kind of have a little independent thinking.
156
I think it’s really difficult for a young team to beat an experienced quarterback like Philip Rivers twice in one season.
157
158
159
160
161
162
If bad quarterback play is damaging to the XFL, I think it’s damaging to any league at any level.
163
164
165
People have assumed that I have to run the ball before I can throw it most all of my career, all the way back before high school. It’s a stereotype put on me for a long time because I’m African-American, and I’m a dual-threat quarterback.
166
That’s the key to defending any quarterback: to make them throw before they want to throw.
167
One of the reasons I loved playing quarterback was that I got to call the plays. The cancer put me in a position where I really wasn’t in control anymore.
168
169
I think as the quarterback of any NFL team, you put a tremendous amount of pressure on yourself to win ball games because that’s what you’re here to do and ultimately, that’s what you want to do.
170
At one point, there wasn’t a black quarterback in the NFL. When you start winning, then you start seeing more. Jumping up and down and screaming and calling people names is not going to change anything.
171
172
You have to have a great offensive line, great quarterback and guys around you that believe in you and help you.
173
Just being the best quarterback, best teammate, best leader that I can be. I just worked on doing that every day and getting better, and hopefully that leads to some accolades and success down the road.
174
I know I’m a franchise quarterback.
175
Tom Brady is the two best quarterbacks of all time.
176
177
178
179
180
It’s always good when the offensive head coach and the quarterback think like-minded. That’s a good thing.
181
It’s funny: a lot of roles I do read for mention physical presence – like, ‘built like a quarterback’ – and for me, it’s pretty boring because I don’t want that to be the most important thing. I’m not trying to be Dwayne Johnson.
182
Aaron Rodgers has always been one of my favorite quarterbacks.
183
184
I want to be the best quarterback at Texas Tech, the best quarterback in the Big 12.
185
186
187
As a wide receiver, you don’t want to feel that the quarterback is only going to throw you the ball if you’re wide open.
188
Drew Henson could go down as the greatest quarterback in the history of Michigan football.
189
190
191
192
Quarterback is the most scrutinized and publicized position in sports.
193
I wasn’t the most well-liked person in Canton. I was a coach’s son who played quarterback. It was tough at times.
194
I never had a job. My first job was quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.
195
196
I’m going to be a good quarterback, a great quarterback.
197
Anybody can be rattled. Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but at the end of the day, he is just a quarterback. It’s not like he is God.
198
I don’t believe that you can be too short as a quarterback. It’s not about height.
199
200
201
202
203
Every quarterback feels like he has something to prove.
204
It’s a quarterback-driven league, so quarterbacks get rewarded a lot of money.
205
I want every kid to go to college and be like a normal student. I want them to be able to go to a movie, go to a concert. I want them to be able to have that opportunity. But if you’re paying kids, are you going to pay a lineman less than you’re paying a quarterback? I don’t know how to explain that stuff.
206
I’m going to go out and be the best quarterback I can be and get the most out of my potential.
207
208
209
Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don’t get hit very often.
210
I like my kind of innate and natural ability in the pocket, and ability of anticipation, and all that stuff that’s important when it comes to playing quarterback.
211
212
213
One thing that translates from college to the NFL is winners, and, I think, being a quarterback, that’s the biggest thing: being recognized, winning games.
214
If I was going to play offense, I’d love to play running back. In high school I played quarterback and wide receiver, but I wouldn’t mind running over some folks.
215
I’ve played with some of the best that have ever played, obviously. I don’t know if there is anybody that is a better technician than Peyton Manning. Tom Brady is another quarterback that I was fortunate enough to play with for a bunch of years.
216
217
Sometimes, quarterbacks just get hurt. So do running backs, so do linemen, so do wide receivers. Blaming innovative schemes for these injuries is shortsighted.
218
What’s the worst thing that can happen to a quarterback? He loses his confidence.
219
Everybody goes through situations like this. A tipped ball, a shoe-string tackle on a third-down scramble by the quarterback where he has 40 yards to run.
220
I think there’s a special relationship between the center and quarterback.
221
For me, as a pocket quarterback, there wasn’t much adjustment as I got older.
222
223
I think everybody individually does things a little differently. As a quarterback, every quarterback has their strengths and their weaknesses.
224
As a quarterback, you have to be able to nickel-and-dime down the field.
225
226
I’ve played with at least 10 quarterbacks.
227
If you’re the quarterback and want to be the best on the field, you’ve got to act like it.
228
My philosophy on quarterbacks is, first and foremost, you’ve got to keep them healthy and on the field.
229
230
Since I was a D-team backup quarterback in seventh grade, I’ve loved the game.
231
Everyone knows quarterback is a position where it takes a while to really start playing well.
232
I think the only time I doubted myself was my senior year in high school. I was not offered a Division I scholarship. I remember a scout from Ohio State coming in and looking at my film. He was all excited to meet me. Then he met me and I was 5’10” and he said that I was not a Division I quarterback.
233
That’s why I play football… to be the quarterback, to be the guy with the ball in his hands.
234
I think there are different kinds of quarterbacks, and if you look at any offense, there are different kind of quarterbacks, but you play to the strengths of whoever the quarterback is for the team.
235
I’m kind of like the quarterback: being able to orchestrate a lot of things out there on the field and being able to run different schemes and coverages.
236
It’s hard to throw the football when you have some instability at quarterback or if you don’t have the weapons around you.
237
Kids are doing more in their offseason. That’s what the college quarterbacks, the pro quarterbacks do. That’s how you get better.
238
I do feel like the quarterback of the defense is pretty important, so not having that piece would put a damper on the defense.
239
The quarterback is an extension of the coach and has a certain type of swagger mentality, on and off the field.
240
Tom Brady is a great quarterback, he’s a great player, and what you’ve seen with him is he’s gotten better every year.
241
We always think we can get to the quarterback, put pressure on him.
242
Our quarterbacks were getting hurt; a couple got kicked out of school. The coach asked who wanted to try out for QB. I went and tried out, and from there on, I was a quarterback. I was ineligible in 10th grade until spring, so I did baseball. I started in left field and pitched.
243
It means a lot to me as a quarterback if my receivers think I’m a good quarterback. It doesn’t really matter what everybody else thinks, but it means a lot to me when I feel like those guys trust me.
244
If I believe that I became the best quarterback that I could possibly be, the best football player that I could possibly be… That’s how I’m going to measure my career as a success or not.
245
It’s one thing as a quarterback to sit there and warm up. And there’s one thing to throw routes. And there’s another thing when you drop back in the pocket and, when a guy comes open, to really be able to urgently – bam – all of a sudden. That guy’s open; your body has to do what your mind’s telling you.
246
You don’t want to read about your quarterback in the newspaper every day of the week.
247
248
When people talk about me, they talk about just the arm and that I have a big arm. I want to be able to change that mindset to, ‘He’s a great quarterback who just happens to have a great arm.’
249
People have assumed that I have to run the ball before I can throw it most all of my career, all the way back before high school. It’s a stereotype put on me for a long time because I’m African-American, and I’m a dual-threat quarterback.
250
My advice to the next quarterback that misses an entire year is to understand there is a little difference going out on the road again. You miss that. When you’re hurt, you do not feel like you are part of it.
251
We need to let the referee‘s sole thing be to protect the quarterback and get those late hits out of there. They even have a stat on television that says ‘knockdowns.’ Knockdowns means that you knock him down after he throws the ball. The assumption is, if it’s legal, we’ll make excuses for them.
252
The team only goes as far as their quarterback takes them.
253
So, there’s no guarantee in the NFL that if you’ve got the No. 1 pick or you’ve got a top-five pick, that you’re going to be able to draft a franchise quarterback.
254
255
It’s not a ton of fun being a backup quarterback.
256
257
Well, that’s the question we have to answer as coaches. Is our franchise quarterback here? Is he on the roster? Is he being developed, or is he somewhere else?
258
Any time you have one-on-one time with any quarterback, it’s very valuable.
259
As a rookie, I had changed positions. In college, I was a quarterback, and I had never played other positions.
260
There probably isn’t another position in all of team sports that I can think of that has the same level of import as the quarterback.
261
The quarterback gets plenty of protection in the pocket, and he picks up protection out of the pocket; he’s got protection down the field on his slides.
262
263
264
That’s what I love the most about being a quarterback. Everybody looks to you to make a play. They look to you to say something that’s going to spark the team. I take full pride in that every single day.
265
We did all the strategy right on the field. Today, the coaches call all the plays, so all the quarterbacks have to do is perform. They are more or less programmed.
266
267
268
I just want to be a complete professional quarterback, and that’s going to take time.
269
270
I love the Buffaloes and I want to be the quarterback for the 2016 season.
271
It’s hard to be a leader right away, but playing quarterback, you have to.
272
I think early in my development as a quarterback, before I ever got a Division I college offer or anything, my brother was in the spotlight, first-round draft pick. People expected me to be him, but I was underdeveloped, undersized, unrecruited… so it was tough at that point.
273
You name the sport, I’ve played it. I was quarterback for a football team one year, played volleyball, played softball – you name it.
274
275
The only model to me that correlates with big success in the NFL is having a Hall of Fame franchise quarterback.
276
I’ve always kind of been even-keeled. I think that’s a good trait for a quarterback to have.
277
278
279
My job is to make the quarterback position as easy as we can.
280
281
282
A quarterback has to trust the quarterback coach. And the quarterback coach has to trust him.
283
284
285
Everything falls on the quarterback.
286
287
288
There aren’t 32 of them in the world that I think can be quarterbacks of Super Bowl champion teams. Supply is short.
289
290
Andrew Luck is a great quarterback.
291
When you’re a quarterback, and you’re dropping back, I can’t watch what the receivers are doing.
292
293
294
A lot of the CTE stuff, you see in football, and that’s because of the constant collision. These guys are doing it every week, and it’s not like the running back is getting this problem, or the quarterback, it’s the guys on the front line that keep going into each other. It’s those guys.
295
The No. 1 stat is wins. As a quarterback, you get evaluated on winning.
296
My entire career, you can’t say Travis Kelce without Alex Smith. He’s been my quarterback, he’s been the guy. I owe a lot of my success to him.
297
If you want to run the read option with your starting quarterback that’s had two knee surgeries, that’s on you.
298
You’ve got to protect your quarterback.
299
Any time you see your quarterback hurt, your heart drops for a second.
300
301
I definitely feel like I have the skills to play quarterback at a high level in the NFL.
302
303
304
305
At the end of the day, I want to have an opportunity to play quarterback in the NFL.
306
307
I think when you get Robert Griffin, one of the most explosive quarterbacks to ever play the position, in a Mike Shanahan-type system, the possibilities are very exciting, I think, with Mike Shanahan’s imagination.
308
Dez Bryant isn’t a quarterback. He’s not a leader. He’s a talented, high-maintenance wide receiver.
309
310
No one’s taking quarterbacks, for the most part, in the first round that haven’t had a lot of success.
311
I definitely wanted to be playing the quarterback position.
312
Quarterbacks will make plays; they always do. But I think the team that runs the ball the best will win.
313
I love getting after that quarterback! That’s my deal: sacking the quarterback.
314
I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Washington even though I was all-city in basketball, even when I signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Washington State.
315
I think, as quarterback and as a football player, you always want to get better.
316
317
318
I’ve always known being a professional athlete is tough, let alone being a quarterback in the National Football League. There’s a lot on you, a lot of pressure on you to succeed. You take the glory and you take the falls, but that’s what I signed up to do.
319
Who cares if they throw a football that has no air pressure? What does it matter? Why don’t we let the quarterbacks do whatever they want to the football? I don’t understand why there’s any rules.
320
When I got drafted, I was a spread-option quarterback. It was, ‘OK, you’ve got to get under center, throw to the fullback, throw to the tight end. You’ve got to learn to be a pro quarterback.’ And there was a learning curve there, and I did have to learn some of that.
321
322
When you play quarterback in San Francisco, not much goes under the radar.
323
324
Drew Brees, Kyle Orton, Curtis Painter – the recent legacy of quarterbacks at Purdue speaks for itself. I think it’s ‘Quarterback U.’ The facilities are just beautiful. I didn’t expect them to be as great as they were.
325
Most young quarterbacks are on the field because their team stinks.
326
I’m not a 25-interception quarterback, I know that.
327
328
I want to be remembered as the greatest quarterback who ever played. You have to go out and prove it first, and then you have to go out and work hard.
329
I’ve said publicly, and it’s true, I’ve had a lot of wonderful things come my way. But personally, the greatest thing I ever accomplished was when I was named the starting quarterback at Ole Miss. That was my childhood dream, as it was thousands of kids in Mississippi.
330
What’s the worst thing that can happen to a quarterback? He loses his confidence.
331
I’ve always had visions of being a starting quarterback. That’s why I come to work every day.
332
Of course, in pro ball, they never hit the quarterback in practice.
333
My high school coach was a big Clemson fan, and I told him, ‘As long as I’m the starting quarterback here, I’m not going to lose to South Carolina.’
334
In football, if you don’t have the best O-line or receivers, maybe you’re not as good of a quarterback as you can be. And it goes vice versa. If you’re an average quarterback and you have a great O-line and great receivers, your play gets lifted.
335
I’ve never really gone for the razzle-dazzle types: no quarterbacks, no flashy guys, and no Prince Charmings.
336
No matter who’s at quarterback, you’ve got to be prepared and be ready to help out the team.
337
As you progress high school, college into the league, you can tell the difference between quarterbacks with their timing and the way the ball comes out of their hand.
338
339
Are there things you can do with the rest of your personnel or are things you can do schematically to help a quarterback? I think so. But at the end of the day, that quarterback still has to be a driving force of your team, especially if you want to be a consistent winner over time.
340
Quarterback play starts with your eyes and feet. Those have to be in the right place and have to be on time.
341
I was a quarterback in college. I hoped to go to the NFL, and I didn’t get drafted. I then became a free agent. I could sign with whoever I wanted to, and I ended up going to Pittsburgh.
342
It is relatively easy… to determine whether or not a blow to a quarterback was deemed excessive or incidental. So I’m discouraged that there have been a number of games that are influenced – not that the outcomes are in question – but a number of games influenced based on the protection of the quarterback.
343
344
If your quarterback wants a deflated football, your soccer-style kicker is going to want it kind of full. If your quarterback wants it really full, your straight-on kicker is going to want less air in it. It’s a regulation football; let them use it however they want to. You use your own ball.
345
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, you could hit the quarterback low, you could hit the quarterback high. You could hit him pretty much late.
346
Playing the scout-team quarterback in practice really helped develop my game.
347
The better quarterbacks are real consistent. Rookie quarterbacks are not.
348
If you’re a quarterback and you keep throwing interceptions, you change quarterbacks.
349
350
To show my quarterbacks how much I believe in them, I let them pick their favorite plays that we’ll run in the game. On the nights before a game we’ll sit down in a hotel conference room and we’ll have six third-down calls for certain distances.
351
352
I’ve said for many, many years, as long as I can ever remember, when I’m asked, ‘Hey, what do you look for first in a quarterback?’ The first thing I look for is accuracy, because the rest of it doesn’t matter.
353
No quarterback ever won a championship that did it all by himself.
354
Everybody’s watching when you’re the quarterback. The other players see how much you want it.
355
356
You compare a goalie position to a quarterback to a pitcher. You’re going to make that decision of what’s gonna happen to you. They’re a high-pressure position. They’re fun just for that.
357
358
Being a quarterback, the way I believe is there’s always so much room to improve. Any little detail. I always cut up the film and try to watch what I can improve on, whatever little detail it is.
359
I killed many a quarterback. I felt like I scored when I took their head off.
360
I wouldn’t be the first quarterback from California to go to cold weather. I think Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are doing pretty well and been able to do it.
361
I’m a backup quarterback at the University of Dayton. I was a one-year starter in high school. I think I got the job in high school because our quarterback left and went to another school.
362
363
Game day can be emotional, and there are a lot of ups and downs throughout a game, but as a quarterback, you have to be able to see the bigger picture, steady that ship, get all the guys focused in on the task at hand, and keep the thing moving.
364
365
As an Oklahoma quarterback, you learn to perform under pressure.
366
There are some sacrifices you have to make being a quarterback in the National Football League.
367
From the standpoint that you try to adjust your offense to your quarterback, you try to adjust your football team around your players. You do the best you can with the hand that you have, and you’ve got to add some parts along the way.
368
When you play quarterback in the NFL, you’re going to get scrutinized.
369
Head coach and quarterback have a record attached to them. And I have always felt a great responsibility to help lead our team to win games, the division and ultimately the Super Bowl.
370
I got a small window of time to be an NFL quarterback. Some day when I’m done playing I can sit back and look at what we accomplished, or how does it feel, or what’s it like.
371
When I was a kid, my father brought home the autobiography of Sid Luckman, the great Chicago Bears quarterback – probably an extra copy from the sports department where he worked. It was the first sports biography I ever read.
372
373
If you ask any great player or great quarterback, there’s a certain inner confidence that you’re as good as anybody. But you can’t say who is the absolute best. To be considered is special in itself.
374
I think when you look at the quarterback position, and this mastery of the craft we talk about, it really is an advanced degree. It’s like going to med school, or law school, or getting your PH.D. It really is that type of educational effort, on the field and off the field.
375
I know I’ve got a lot of flaws as a quarterback.
376
It’s a challenge for all quarterbacks, though: You want to make the big play; you want to throw a touchdown every single play. But at the same time, you have to know that it’s a process.
377
Any team, if you can rattle the quarterback you have an opportunity to win the game.
378
You add a good receiver and that will take pressure off your quarterback.
379
If anybody should be a judge of quarterbacks, I’ve played with the most quarterbacks in NFL history throughout my first four years.
380
I don’t play too much into the color game, because I don’t want to be the best African American quarterback, I want to be the best quarterback.
381
Any defensive coordinator is worried about two things: a running quarterback and a deep ball. You know, don’t get beat deep and don’t let the quarterback run, because a big part of your defense can’t account for the quarterback as a runner, so he gets a free run.
382
Look, you can never have enough quarterbacks.
383
384
385
What a humbling experience, being an NFL quarterback.
386
The quarterback position gets a lot of attention.
387
I just don’t think you pass on a great quarterback if you have the opportunity. If need be, you can trade it away.
388
I want to know what everyone is doing on every play, all the way from protection to tailback to progressions of quarterbacks.
389
I played every position, from right tackle to quarterback and everything in between.
390
Playing quarterback in the National Football League, getting to the Super Bowl is an incredible challenge.
391
392
My mindset is I’m a quarterback. But I love being on the field.
393
Alex Smith is – I think he is a winner, and he’s a smart quarterback, and I’m a fan of his.
394
No quarterback goes out there and plays well on his own.
395
Being a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers would be a dream. I have a lot of respect for the black and gold.
396
When you play quarterback, you have to process information quickly, get the ball out of your hand to the right guy.
397
The Super Bowl is like a movie, and the quarterback is the leading man.
398
399
You learn, across the league, with very successful quarterbacks, nobody does it by themselves.
400
I think as a play-caller, you have to just go out there, rely on your guys that you have that are out there, rely on the fact that they have ability. And as a quarterback, you have to go out there and just go through your reads.
401
When you look at the best of the best, those quarterbacks played with one team. And if you point at a couple guys who didn’t, who changed teams, it really was against their will.
402
The question of many college quarterbacks is can they operate in the pro game, in the pro system. Can they not only function under the early, especially with our game, but can they do it efficiently?
403
404
I’m really impressed with Kolb there in Philadelphia. He’s a very talented quarterback.
405
My favorite quarterback is Donovan McNabb. I think he’s a complete quarterback. I love the way he can scramble and throw on the run. He can do it all. He can control a game.
406
When you really think about it and look at the number of quarterbacks who come through the league, not many of them have Super Bowl careers.
407
If you look around, there are very few really super quarterbacks. There are just very few. If you’re lucky enough to have one, lucky enough that one of these Andrew Lucks is available when you have the top pick, then that’s just a matter of luck. You can’t attribute that to anything else.
408
I’ve been playing this position since I was about 9 years old. For me, it’s just, ‘Come out here and be the best quarterback I can be.’
409
You don’t have to go out there and fit the mold of what a quarterback is supposed to be. Make your own mold and do the best at each role. If you can run with the best and throw with the best, you can be the best quarterback in your own version of the position.
410
If any other part of your body has some weakness, you go, ‘Well I can probably manage.’ But when you’re a quarterback, and it’s your right hand, you’re certainly concerned far as being able to do your job.
411
412
I loved the idea of playing quarterback on Friday Night Lights in high school, that whole experience. I wanted to be a Division I quarterback, that became my goal growing up, other than being a professional hockey player.
413
You don’t throw your quarterback under the bus, the guy who makes you who you are.
414
415
I assume everybody thinks they’re a top-five quarterback. I mean, I think I’m the best. I don’t think I’m top five, I think I’m the best. I don’t think I’d be very successful at my job if I didn’t feel that way.
416
As a quarterback, I appreciated the passer rating whether you threw the ball a majority of the time or if you didn’t throw it as much. You were judged on a level playing field, and I thought teams should be ranked similarly.
417
The best thing for any team is to make the quarterback feel pain. You’ve got to be respectful of the rules of the game and honestly you don’t want to hurt anybody, but to make him feel you is to bring his eyes down.
418
When you lose a good player, it’s like losing a quarterback.
419
420
I set the bar high, and I’ll do anything, whatever it takes to win. I care more about this game than most people ever will. When you mix a lot of those things with a winning mentality, it’s a good thing to have as a franchise quarterback.
421
You love for a quarterback to sometimes make the decision as the rush is coming and make the decision as the play, as opposed to where that computer is hitting it fast and he’s knowing where to go with the ball at the right time.
422
423
I’ve had a different career than a lot of different quarterbacks, but this has been a career that I’ve loved and a position that I like being in.
424
425
426
Sometimes you can have the quarterback and no system. Sometimes, you can have a system with an average quarterback and do well.
427
If you play against a Peyton Manning, that’s a great quarterback, but I’d rather have that quarterback that stays still. You have a better chance of getting to him. The mobile quarterbacks, they do a lot of different stuff.
428
I feel I’m my own quarterback and have accomplished my own things.
429
430
431
You’ve got to find the quarterback. Once you find the quarterback, you can fix the other things.
432
I have a lot of empathy for quarterbacks.
433
434
435
Quarterbacks can still have good bodies. I’m always conscious of the stereotype. I want to change what people think. There’s a lot more to it than what you see on the field.
436
When you are a free agent like I was, it definitely makes a big difference when you know there’s stability at the quarterback position.
437
438
When you play quarterback your whole life, you’re kind of taught to sit in the pocket. If you want to get out of there quick, you probably shouldn’t play quarterback.
439
This is the ultimate team sport, and I really feel that the quarterback position is the epitome of that.
440
441
No one ever dreams about being a backup quarterback.
442
With any rookie quarterback, the more help you can get the better.
443
I think at times I have to be careful not to stick my foot in my mouth and not to have the pedal to the metal at all times, because that can hurt me as a quarterback.
444
I’m a big believer in your offensive limitations come from your quarterback.
445
My goal was to be the starting quarterback at Texas Tech and I didn’t reach that goal.
446
Matthew Stafford, I think he’s straight. I don’t think he the best quarterback out there. But he do what he gotta do.
447
448
People say how unbelievable and enjoyable this whole thing must be. But watching your children play quarterback, putting themselves on the line every game, getting smacked around and bloodied up… it’s very, very hard.
449
I don’t believe I was meant to be a professional quarterback. I was meant to have these life experiences and be an impact on others who’ve struggled. That’s what I’m meant to do.
450
The heartbeat of a football team is the quarterback position and I think everyone who has any intelligence about the game understands you must have consistency at that position to be a championship team.
451
452
Quarterbacks are leaders; it is what it is.
453
454
455
If there’s one perk, it’s being the quarterback of America’s team and being able to make a difference off the field.
456
There are a lot of guys who play in pro-style offenses who are not prepared when they come out of college. Either you’re coaching the quarterback to be a quarterback, or you’re not.
457
458
I have tremendous respect for both John Elway and Peyton Manning as people and as quarterbacks in the NFL, but I was not concerned one bit with playing in their shadow.
459
I’m getting better as a quarterback. A lot of that is an understanding of the game, of myself, of who I’m playing against.
460
461
I was a quarterback in pee-wee football. I always wanted to be quarterback. They’re the leaders, they make the calls. It didn’t work out because I didn’t have the arm. I also played wide receiver my senior year in high school.
462
I’m pretty much a .500 quarterback in my career so far and I don’t think that’s where you want to be, and that’s not why you are brought in or people or excited about you.
463
At the quarterback position I would say mental is just as important as physical. Then there’s that emotional component too.
464
Of course, anyone would want Marshawn Lynch. Any quarterback in the NFL.
465
Coaches are well aware, especially at quarterback, that it’s not the system but the player who comes first.
466
467
When things go well, the quarterback is the one who sees all the attention. When things go wrong, they are the ones who get criticized the most.
468
469
We were talking about how old quarterbacks can’t throw before 10 am… Practice starts too early for us. Wake me up in the middle of the night and I can throw. I can throw anytime.
470
It all goes through the quarterback.
471
That’s how I judge a quarterback: Either you make plays or you don’t. I don’t even want to talk about mechanics.
472
If you take a step back and you look at the overall picture, there’s a lot of teams in this league that could use a quarterback of Colin Kaepernick’s ability.
473
474
Many quarterbacks have won throughout their career and had a lot of success… and have a lot of wins, but were not able to win that Super Bowl… But that is the ultimate goal.
