The NFL and Black Quarterbacks

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

The Bills were on the cusp of playoff berth and benched a good QB not for some top rated QB with a high draft pedigree, but for a 5th rounder. And while the Bills had struggled in their previous games, it bears noting that their defense has gone to hell at right around the exact time they dealt Dareus to JAX. McDermott had been preaching all season that he wanted to control turnovers, and Taylor's got only 3 INTs on the entire year.

The Taylor benching made no sense at all when it was announced and the results made things exponentially worse. Either McDermott has no idea what to look for in a QB, in which case the Bills are screwed, or the orders to bench Tyrod came down from ownership, in which case the Bills are screwed.I am 100% with Tony C in that something was rotten in the state of Denmark with that move.

It was the most bewildering QB move the franchise has made since benching Flutie for Rob Johnson in the Music City Miracle game.

For whatever reason, I am wondering if McDermott really wants to go to the playoffs this year.

 

[InstaFace]

If he does go, it buys him 2, maybe even 3 years of job security.

Of course, I thought that about Romeo Crennel going 10-6 (But not making the playoffs) for the Browns in 2007, and he was canned after 2008. And the last Cleveland coach to make the playoffs - Butch Davis in 2002 - was fired after following up that 9-7 WC season with a 5-11 season.

What Bills fans really want though is a home playoff game, and he's a Tom Brady injury away from getting that anytime soon - which is to say, a long way away.

 

[Eddie Jurak]

Before drafting Bortles the Jags let David Garrard start 76 games.

I'm sympathetic to the idea that black QBs are discriminated against. But the idea that every black QB has to produce immediately or get tossed aside is demonstrably false.

Well, of course. If there’s discrimination (I would bet that there is) it’s not absolute. It’s, on average, more chances for white QBs.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Well, of course. If there’s discrimination (I would bet that there is) it’s not absolute. It’s, on average, more chances for white QBs.

Yup, I agree. The article is overstated but there absolutely could still be significant discrimination against black quarterbacks in the NFL. Given everything we know about the NFL and race more generally (the poor track record hiring black coaches and GMs, who the owners are, etc), I'd be surprised if there wasn't.