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Feb. 14—Rich Miano’s football career was nearly all on the defensive side of the ball.
Rich Miano’s football career was nearly all on the defensive side of the ball.
“I’m told I’m a quarterback apologist, ” he said.
That seems strange, since Miano played 10 seasons as a defensive back in the NFL and was the University of Hawaii’s defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2011 before two seasons as head coach at Kaiser, his high school alma mater.
Doesn’t he think the game has changed too much ?
“I can see the big picture of the game, ” said Miano, who is the color analyst for UH football telecasts. “The game has evolved so much. You always had to be a great athlete to play quarterback, but now it’s even more true.”
As Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs showed again Sunday—with their third Super Bowl win in five years—it’s way more involved than throwing passes from the pocket or handing off to a running back.
“Those two runs by Mahomes and everything the Chiefs did on that last drive is a thing of beauty, ” Miano said. “Very few guys can beat you with their arm, beat you with their legs, and beat you with their mind.”
There is plenty of intricacy, but the most important math of it is simple : With a quarterback who is always a threat to run there are no more 10-on-11 plays.
And rule changes to make the game safer have also made playing defense more difficult.
“As a parent and a coach and someone who cares about health, yes, it’s a better game, ” Miano said. “It’s still a collision sport, and there are still risks.
“On defense, you have to be well-trained, and accept the fact that once in a while you will have your shoulder in the right place, but because of the way the offensive player moves you will end up getting penalized (for making an illegal hit ). You have to teach tackling in a whole…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dave-reardon-great-qbs-plus-170500478.html
Author : The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Publish date : 2024-02-14 17:05:00
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