This year the hype is based upon the Green Bay Packer's and of course there quarterback Aaron Rodgers. However, basing a team around an individual is a dangerous business that can result in crushing your team and whisk away any hopes of going to the playoffs.
A prime example is the Indianapolis Colts. Payton Manning managed to not only be the quarterback of the team, but led most of the practices and pretty much called what plays the offense was going to run. It really was Manning's team, but when he went down this year, the whole team sunk to its Pre-Manning Colts team that was never a threat and was hardly the talk in sports news stations. After Manning went down, we got to expose just how bad the defense was for the Colts and how much he covered up the blemishes for the Colts. However, one must not blame Manning for getting injured, but rather how the organization as a whole never had a backup plan.
It seems that many franchises these days love to build a whole team off of one quarterback and in my opinion this many work for a few seasons, but after awhile your team will fall apart until you find another quarterback. Often times, many teams find out that getting that kind of quarterback is rare, and therefore those teams struggle year after year.
Another example of why teams should not rely on a single player is the San Diego Chargers. Currently Phillip Rivers is struggling for some reason and the whole team is falling apart fast. Just as Payton Manning had done for the Colts, Rivers managed to successfully cover up many of San Diego's Offensive and Defensive blemishes.
So what exactly is the best model for a franchise? In my opinion, the best way is doing what the Steelers do. They do not rely on a single quarterback, but mainly rely on there defense as a whole. As as a result, whenever the quarterback goes down or a single defensive player gets injured, there team is still able to function and stay in competition. Many teams like to model there teams off of the New England Patriots, but this goes back to relying on an individual. Teams fail to recognize that there are not many Belichek's out there who know how to put a winning team together.
Therefore, if you are finding your favorite NFL team in the middle of rebuilding time period, you may want to hope your general manager does not spend all to find one individual, but rather tries to build a team that will work as a whole.
So don't get me wrong Packer fans, I also love Aaron Rodgers, but history is showing that whenever he goes down, this franchise will experience a fall as well.
-Brandon Vitton
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