Who's More Important, The NHL Goalie Or The NFL QB?

Due to the recent season ending injury of Patriots QB Tom Brady, all sorts of inter-sports debates have come up regarding the importance of one position in one sport vs. another sport.  In other words, is the quarterback the most important position in all of the major four sports?  If not, then who is?

Clearly, basketball is such a team game, that even the amazing Michael Jordan couldn't personally win championships for Chicago.  Even Jordan will tell you he had a great coach in Phil Jackson, and the likes of Scottie Pippen and company as much needed support.

You could make the argument that a top notch number one pitcher is the most important member of a team sport, and you'd be wrong. 

In 1972, the Cy Young award was given to the best pitcher in the National League for his outstanding achievement.  Steve Carlton won 27 games for the Phillies that year.  The problem was that was an incredible 45.8% of the total Phillies wins for the season.  The Phillies won a total of only 59 games that year for a last place finish.  If Lefty had won every game he started (41), the Phillies would have jumped from sixth to fifth place and still finished 23.5 games out of first place.  In other words, Carlton's wins had no effect on how the Phillies ended the season, because he only pitched in 41 of 156 games.

So how about the NFL quaterback?  I agree, it's a tremendously important postition, perhaps even the most important position in all of football.  And yet, with one of the best current quarterbacks in the NFL, the New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the underdog New York Giants.  Why?  Not because of Giants quarterback Eli Manning and the luckiest catch on the planet by David Tyree.  It was because of the Giants' defense.  A great defense can neutralize a quarterback.  Plain and simple.

So then we come to NHL hockey.  I don't think anyone can argue that a top goalie is the most important position in the sport of hockey.  However, I want to take it further and say the goalie is the single most important position in all of the major sports. 

The goalie is the last line of defense.  Greats like Wayne Gretzky could score all day long, and I think he did, yet if there wasn't a Grant Fuhr stopping pucks behind Gretzky, they wouldn't have won.  The great Philadelphia Flyers Stanley Cup Champion team of 1973-74 had the likes of Bobby Clarke, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish and Bill Barber scoring hundreds of goals.  Yet it was an absolute stone wall stud in net named Bernie Parent ("Only The Lord saves more than Bernie Parent") who kept the high scoring Boston Bruins with the likes of Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Wayne Cashman (the top four points leaders in the NHL that season) at bay to win the Cup.

A great QB can help you win games, and can lead your team.  Yet, if he gets injured, you have to hope you have a decent enough 2nd stringer, along with a really good running back and wide receiver corps to get you through.  And, if you do have a decent back up QB, then you will do pretty well, if your team is good in those other positions.

If a goalie goes down, you're done, unless your back up is just as good, or better.  Goalies face 20, 30 sometimes up to 50 shots a game.  If they let more than 3 of those shots by, they'll likely lose the game more often than not.

A quarterback throws 25-40 times a game on average.  If they complete 60% of those passes, it's considered a good game.  The quarterback has other positions that he needs to count on to be effective, including a good running back for when he doesn't pass the ball.

I don't want to take anything away from any of the positions of any of the sports.  I simply feel it's obvious that a great NHL goalie is more important than a great NFL quarterback.