When is a quarterback controversy a quarterback controversy?
Take the Calgary Stampeders.
Drew Tate has been “the guy” for two years at McMahon Stadium, yet has played just two games from start to finish since Henry “Hank” Burris went to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in January 2012. The young Stamps QB has suffered more irritating injuries than Super Dave Osborne. He’s currently experiencing arm/elbow discomfort in his throwing arm and is unsure when he’ll be good to go.
In Tate’s place, veteran Kevin Glenn and, most recently, newbie Bo Levi Mitchell, have helped Stamps fans forget all about Tate’s twinges. The Stamps are 9-2 and the top team in the Canadian Football League.
For the second-straight season, Stampeders head coach John Hufnagel and his offensive staff have spun dandelions into daffodils with their “starter” watching from the sidelines and the two other guys competing to play. Last season, it was Glenn carrying the team. Now he’s on the limp, so the duties fall to Mitchell. And now he’s succeeding.
But injuries have forced the Stamps onto this the quarterback carousel. So the controversy, if any, is by default, not by choice. And they’re winning, so any a QB-quarrel claims are hollow.
But what happens when they’re all healthy? Or if the team starts to slide?
Cochrane High School Cobras co-head coach and offensive coordinator Rob McNab has two healthy quarterbacks. And he uses them both.
“I flipped a coin to see who would start,” he admitted prior to the team’s 62-0 season-opening win over the Bow Valley High School Bobcats.
Grade 11 chucker Cody Stevens started and threw for four TD passes before being spelled by Kelton Beach, a Grade 12. Both excelled. Again, the team won convincingly with both. So where’s the controversy?
“Every game. It could be a different guy starting. They’re both going to play. We know that,” McNab states, adding he has to keep a close eye on the situation as the season progresses.
So a two-quarterback system can be a model for successful offensive strategy in football. It doesn’t always have to bring bickering.
Especially when you win.
Because where there’s success, there is little controversy.
