Kessler not just a game manager


The Pac-12 is no stranger to talented quarterbacks this year — Oregon signal caller Marcus Mariota sits atop ESPN’s 2014 Heisman Watch rankings as the favorite to win college football’s most prestigious individual award, with UCLA’s Brett Hundley still (somewhat) in the mix. Then there are the old hands: Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly and Oregon State’s Sean Mannion are both projected to be drafted by the NFL, with nfldraftscout.com pegging Mannion as the number one pro quarterback prospect in the NFL Draft class of 2015.

This Saturday, the Trojans will face off against the Oregon State Beavers, or as one of my NFL fan friends called it, “Sean Mannion versus that other guy.” Mike Sherrard on this past weekend’s ABC 7 Sports Zone said USC’s quarterback, redshirt junior Cody Kessler, was good at “managing the game,” and a handful of folks on message boards and in bars around Los Angeles have taken to labeling the Trojan quarterback as a game manager.

Praising a quarterback for “managing the game” is a bit of a backhanded compliment (for the record, Sherrard attended UCLA). It elicits portrayals of a quarterback as lacking the dominant qualities of greater players who have the capability to transcend the game.  Calling USC’s quarterback a game manager is essentially declaring that the quarterback plays “not to lose.”

The best example of this in the NFL is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. In his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers, Smith was constantly referred to as a game manager, a player who depended on the efforts of his defense and a strong rushing attack to secure victory. In the event that Smith was called upon to throw the ball, it usually entailed a pass on an intricately designed intermediate route, or dumping off the ball to one of his receivers or Frank Gore in the backfield and praying to the yardage gods. The game manager has simple tasks: protect the ball and play within his capabilities.

So it’s not shocking to hear that backhanded compliment appended to Kessler. Overshadowed by the brilliant play of redshirt junior tailback Javorius “Buck” Allen and the Trojans’ rushing attack, it’s easy to see from last season why Kessler might be seen as a game manager. Here’s a quarterback who works hard, goes through his progressions and isn’t afraid to throw the check down for a smaller gain. No, he’s not a riverboat gambler who jacks bombs into El Paso winds only to end up putting one touchdown on the board against a pretty suspect Georgia Tech defense, i.e. former USC quarterback Max Wittek.

I want to point us to a different bowl game that signifies Kessler’s throwing capabilities: the Fresno State game from last season, when Kessler offered up this stat line: 345 yards on 22-for-30 passing with four touchdowns and one interception. One of those touchdowns was a 40-yard completion that literally fell into the lap of wide receiver Nelson Agholor, and the other was a nicely executed fade route from 17 yards that found its way to Agholor’s left shoulder despite the wide receiver being blanketed by a cornerback. The game set a surprising tone and should have silenced any muttering of Kessler being a game manager, but the perception persists.

When USC’s rushing attack fell apart against those crafty Boston College front seven schemes, USC looked to Kessler to bail them out. Despite being repeatedly sacked, Kessler played a damn near flawless game: 317 yards on 31-for-41 with four touchdowns and zero interceptions. The argument then became that Kessler didn’t do enough to win, which is ridiculous.

Part of the problem lies in the offensive system, not the playcalling — once again, the Trojans find themselves in trouble due to a thin roster, and the run-first game plan serves not only as a way to keep defenders honest, but also to bleed out the clock to shorten the overall game. Kessler has managed his stellar offensive statistics this season despite these constraints.

Cody Kessler is not a game manager, unless you’re referring to the fact that he has a whopping zero interceptions and a 71 percent completion percentage this season. But game managers don’t have four-touchdown games with a Total QBR 8.4 points higher than that Heisman Trophy candidate on the other side of town. This Saturday’s game is not “Sean Mannion versus that other guy,” but rather a genuine quarterback battle between two of the Pac-12’s most talented signal callers. Kessler belongs in the conversation of elite Pac-12 quarterbacks, and look no further than Saturday for the Bakersfield, California native to make his case.

 

Euno Lee is a senior majoring in English literature. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Daily Trojan. His column, “Euno What Time It Is,” runs Tuesdays.

 

1 reply
  1. Michael
    Michael says:

    Alex Smith was used as a game manager in SF, but is doing more under a more aggressive Andy Reid. Harbaugh was conservative in Stanford with Andrew Luck and now with Kaepernick (wasn’t so in 2012 latter half of season).

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