The NFL: A Winners Game

Great quarterbacks win. Period.

The first week of the NFL regular season told me the same thing as every year. It does not matter how far you can throw the ball or how tight your spiral is, if you do not make plays to win in the NFL, then you are not a good quarterback.

Point in case Jamarcus Russell.

First overall pick, 6'6", and can throw the ball 60 yards from his knees.

The only problem with this is that he cannot lead his team to victory. As I watched the Raiders play the Chargers last night it was evident that the Raiders would not and could not win the game.

Russell was often inconsistent with his accuracy, and as Mike Greenberg put it, "throwing the ball to no one."

Russell's overall composure was just not there.

On the other hand, Phillip Rivers and his awkward throwing motion took a team down in the fourth quarter and drove them to victory.

He stayed calm, became the leader when LT could not be, and willed his team to victory.

This also goes with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time: Tom Brady.

Everyone who was watching the game as Tom Brady had the ball on the Bill's 35 knew he was going to win the Patriots the game.

Despite not having Russell's arm strength and overall physical abilities, Brady has something that cannot be tested by the NFL combine: heart.

There are only four quarterbacks in the NFL that I would say share this same quality as Brady. They are Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre, and Phillip Rivers.

They have all shown that they not only have the physical tools to survive in the NFL, but they also have the ability to lead and win games.

Until scouts and teams realize that throwing a deep pass is not the only thing needed to be an NFL quarterback, then their will be many more picks wasted on players like Russell and Staford.