Winter QB warning

I swear, there are a couple of things that really can get my blood pressure boiling. Impatient people, people who bitch about service at restaurants, and the d#$khead that thinks it’s cool to tailgate you while driving; are just a few of the things that make the cut. Now, there are some that can easily make the cut that fans say about the Buffalo Bills:

1) “If Jim Kelly says that Tim Tebow can play, then that’s good enough for me.”

2) “Why don’t the Bills hire Thurman Thomas as the GM and then have Steve Tasker coach special teams.”

3) “I think Jim Kelly should own the Bills and build a downtown stadium.”

4) “I love that player because he lives Downtown and gets Buffalo.”

Now, we can add finding a quarterback that can play in the cold weather into those idiotic statements. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is important to find a quarterback that can adjust to playing in the elements. However, the logic that goes into figuring out what makes a player snowproof…or waterproof…or Don Paul proof for the confines of Ralph Wilson Stadium are completely flawed!

I was lurking through the comments section of one of my Tebow articles. And one of the readers mentioned something along the lines of worrying about how Tebow would play in the snow and started comparing him to Jim Kelly. He wrote how both guys played college in Florida, but at least Kelly was born in Pennsylvania and wondered where Tebow played high school football. I don’t know what it was, but that comment just made my eyes roll into oblivion. I’m not trying to pick on the reader, because I’ve heard that comment made before about cold weathered quarterbacks.

OK, lets first tackle the Jim Kelly portion of the statement.

Look, I’m not trying to pick on the biggest fish in the pond. Kelly is arguably the greatest player in franchise history and is by far the most popular Buffalo athlete of all-time. However, to say Kelly playing high school football in Brady, PA is a little ridiculous to use as a reason for his success in Buffalo.

First off, he’s playing football against pimple faced kids who are just playing for the love of the game or just trying to score with the cheerleaders. I’m sure with that level of competition, Trent Edwards could have played at Kelly’s high school and would have the same success there. Secondly, high school football mostly concludes at the end of November. Last I checked, winter doesn’t officially start till the 21st of December. I guess you are going to tell me that playing in the backyard with your dad in January has some sort of credence to the logic.

As far as playing in a warm weathered college football program, can we stop it, please? Case in point, Brett Favre. Favre is arguably the best cold weathered quarterback in the history of the NFL. Hell, he played in a city that makes Buffalo look like Miami. Guess where Favre is from? Mississippi. Guess where he played high school football? Mississippi. You want to know where he played college football? Well, I’ll be, Southern Mississippi.

Sorry, but unless Bret Favre decided to practice in the same meat locker that Rocky Balboa use to punch racks of lamb in, I’m sure he didn’t play in his first cold weathered game until he hit the NFL. That same logic goes for Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, Phil Simms, Fran Tarkenton, Terry Bradshaw and Jim McMahon. All successful quarterbacks in cold weather climates; all football players that started throwing the pigskin down south in high school and college.

Some of these fans/meteorologists act like the people I encounter on a daily basis in New York City. “Oh, you’re from Buffalo? Doesn’t it snow like 10 months out of the year?” No, you f$%ken idiot. It snows late November to early March. I think Bills fans are taking the weather element more serious than the local news affiliates do when the city gets six inches of snow. The team is looking for a franchise quarterback, not the abominable snowman.

I was in Buffalo during Thanksgiving weekend and saw the Bills play the Dolphins in temperatures that reached 50 degrees. Fans have to stop acting like these idiots that I encounter in NYC who think that the city of Buffalo is located on top of a glacier, where polar bears roam the streets.

In the end, the Bills are going to play anywhere between 1-2 games a year in the frigid air of Orchard Park. Further more, figuring out what it takes to play in the cold weather goes well and beyond whether the quarterback plays his college ball in Alaska or Bermuda. Let me tell you a little secret. The reason why Jim Kelly and Brett Favre were outstanding quarterbacks when the weather resembled something like the movies 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow, was because of their arm strength.

Those guys guys could throw a football effectively in a wind tunnel. It had absolutely nothing to do with their roots. It was all about their talent and understanding the position. Are you going to tell me that Peyton Manning couldn’t play in Buffalo because his roots are in Mississippi and Tennessee?

To me, and I’m not trying to ruffle too many feathers here, the over
analyzing of cold weathered quarterbacks has to do with the city’s fixation of having a pro athlete that resembles the city’s identity. It’s the same thing when fans want a player to live in downtown Buffalo and say sweet nothings about the city. It’s also a way for fans to channel their inner Jim Kelly, so they could at least have one more swan song with his impostor.

I was living in New York City when Eli Manning was drafted, I assure you, I didn’t run into any Giants fans who threw up red flags about him quarterbacking down south. Now, I’m not trying to dismiss the importance of finding a quarterback that can play in the elements, but lets just put away our accuweather maps when it comes to dissecting quarterbacks.