Quote:Leftwich had a great football IQ.  He simply lacked durability.  He was a smart guy on the field. 

 

It's funny because the biggest knocks on him were durability, that long wind-up, and slow feet.  I think in most instances, it was his quick decisions that saved him, especially with the windup issues.  Unfortunately, his willingness to stand in there and let a play develop with sluggishly slow receivers created an injury problem.  It was frustrating at times to see him standing tall in the pocket, and getting the ball out just before getting clobbered for a 3 yard gain when throwing it away sooner would have avoided a hit.  The guy took a beating.  What was even more frustrating was the fact that he had no finesse at all.  Receivers had to be ready to be nearly impaled any time he threw the ball their way. 

 

Which was worse? The poor throws from Leftwich that always lacked touch, or the wide receiver getting plastered because Byron led him directly into the rib shots and head shots delivered by the opposing linebackers and secondary?

 

I could not possibly care less about how brave or how foolish it is for a quarterback to take his own shots. Leftwich always ranked right up there with me for pocket poise. However, if you don't have the ability to take it all in instantaneously, you tend to kill your pass catchers. Great quarterbacks see the potential peril and lay off the receiver. Leftwich was erratic in the location of his passes, and threw into peril. The net result was a guy stretched out getting blasted. 

 

He never made it in the NFL because he never had touch on his throws. If you remember it the way I do, his short throws often came out like knuckleballed shot puts.

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