The QB is on the move!
One of the things I like about QBs on the run is the myriad ways you can describe them. Over the years I’ve heard many and seen many types of QB movement terms. I just wanted to catalog them.
Listed from fast QBs to stationary pocket passers, the scramble has come in many forms.
BOLT – Tends to be reserved for only the speediest guys, usually when headed for the sideline. Lamar. Vick. The ones you can’t nab.
SPRINT – Pretty straightforward. A fast guy goes straight in a line. Daniel Jones sprinted up the field that one time he tripped over himself.
GALLOP – When a tall QB moves fast but looks slow and elegant. Kaepernick was the master of the gallop with his insanely long strides.
RUN – Used when the announcer needs a thesaurus, but usually in reference to putting the effort in to get a first down
DART – Like Bolt, but weaker, and also usually towards the sideline or through a sudden gap in the pocket.
ZIP – Zip is when the QB goes for a run that isn’t effective so you give him a cute word
SCAMPER – The Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes is not elegant when running, even if he is fast and effective. Scampers are when the run takes on a lot of lateral movement.
SCOOT – Like the Scamper, but the QB is small and lean so he looks faster than he is
SCRAMBLE – The catch all-term. A scramble is when the play breaks down or is designed to put the QB in space off to the side. Everything is a scramble, but not everything feels like a scramble. It is a word that has a sense of inherent panic.
SCURRY – The Kyler Murray. You can’t call what he does running. He looks like a little animal running from a dog
RUMBLE – Slow and straightforward, effective running, reserved for the big guys, like a Josh Allen. Kyler Murray cannot rumble. Cam Ward can rumble.
SKUTTLE – When Kyler is less effective and moves mostly laterally, he resembles a crab
LUMBER – The Ben Roethlisberger special. Slow. Plodding. Thunderous. Like an Ent.
SHUFFLE – Now we are in the insulting terms. Shufflers move in the pocket but don’t actually want to move. Penix, with his terrible knees.
SHAMBLE – When a Shuffle comes with poor body control and the player is unsteady
STUMBLE – When the player is tripped or just flops his way for a few yards
TROT / STROLL – Ironically these are positive, because one only Trots or Strolls into the endzone with ease.
STATUE – The Philip Rivers. Do not even bother trying to move. Throw the ball or go down. You don’t have time for cardio.
