Last week reports of an anonymous defensive coordinator bashing three prominent Black quarterbacks was released.
In this anonymous DC’s take he bashed Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray, three young, pretty successful signal callers. The anonymous coordinator seemed to really come for Mahomes, saying he’s a one-read, off-schedule quarterback only. Said he scrambles and plays “streetball.”
Mahomes referred to the comment as “weird,” and it became the talk of all sports platforms.
Earlier this week, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner gave his take on the situation and he seemed to defend the anonymous defensive coordinator.
During an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Warner a two-time NFL MVP spoke candidly about it.
“What I believe that coordinator was really saying was, we’ve got to figure out how do we stop Patrick Mahomes. So how we stop him is we try to take the first or early reads away, and we try to force him to try to make some of those special plays.
“Does he make them? Yes. Do they lose often? No, but when they do lose, I believe that coordinator was saying this is why they lose … is because teams are able to take first read away from him and force him to do other things. Every coordinator is going to have a book on a quarterback and go, no matter how great they’ve been, this is what we need to get that guy to do. And then we have a chance.”
Warner wasn’t done defending the anonymous source:
“I don’t think that coordinator was ever saying, hey this guy’s not any good at this. If we just do this, Patrick Mahomes is never going to win a game. Now, he’s a great quarterback that does so many things well. We’re just trying to force him to get to this point, because now that gives us a chance to win.”
This anonymous source has a lot to say, but it’s only about Black quarterbacks who’ve all had success in their young NFL careers.
Who’s @kurt13warner’s most intriguing team entering 2022? pic.twitter.com/HEJrkLWgMu
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) July 30, 2022
Why not talk about what some of the their Caucasian counterparts don’t do well?
Mahomes Showed Marked Improvement In The Areas The Source Speaks Of
At times throughout his four-year tenure as the Chiefs starter, Mahomes has shown a propensity to lean heavily on his off-schedule abilities.
In fact, the Chiefs benefited greatly from that style, which is so hard to defend. But after tossing eight interceptions early in the season, Mahomes adjusted his playing style and became a better decision-maker and played the position more from the neck up.
That change helped elevate the Chiefs from barely in the playoff picture to a fourth consecutive AFC Championship Game. Mahomes grew leaps and bounds as a passer, leader and his understanding and processing information was the best it’s been since he became the starter in 2018.
https://twitter.com/outkick/status/1554533922746376193?s=21&t=FOwtoerIfgZXV8RlXTsm8w
Dual-Threat QB Is Taking Over The League
Gone are the days of the 6-foot-4 and 225 pound prototype quarterback with a big arm and limited athleticism. Now you have the sometimes undersized, dual-threat who’s capable of throwing or running it 50 yards on any given play. That seems to be bothersome for many around the league, and most of those type QBs being Black doesn’t sit well with the way defensive coordinators want to play defense. That type of signal-caller makes coordinators look bad even when the perfect defensive call is made, and from the sound of it this critical DC is one whose been torched by Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes has just broken Kurt Warner's record for the most passing yards by an NFL QB in their first 50 starts (14,372).
It only took him 47 games to do it. pic.twitter.com/Z9byEVvRlY
— SB Nation (@SBNation) September 12, 2021
While he makes some valid points, those rang true before Mahomes changed his style last season. Now it looks like he’s hating and probably speaking for many of the defensive coordinators around the league.
Hate to tell him this, but don’t expect it to get any bettter. He needs to step his defense up and focus on what he can control
