The QB Scramble Scale
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.
Kind of realize Peyton Manning and Dan Marino qualifies as a shuffler as well. That or they were about to piss themselves while standing before making a pass.
My experience with this scale changes if the team operates in a defensive scheme. That specific situation requires a different measurement approach.
The Kyler stuff was f’n hilarious. I almost woke up half the house when I laughed.
Where does Daniel Jones fall on this scale?
his face
Not sure where TB12 fits into this scheme. Probably as a shuffler. But shuffling in the pocket and still staying elusive is an uncommon gift. More like surfing, really.
Pats fan here so i have to make the inevitable comparison: (Drake Maye)^2 darts. He’s a competent runner, but he’s not fast enough to bolt, not big enough to rumble or gallop, and lacking the gravitas to just lumber.
I remember from Fran Tarkentons biography that he was amazed that brilliant football minds seemed to think his scrambling was by design. Once while preparing for the Pro Bowl, Don Shula asked if he wanted to work on scramble drills.
Later at his HOF induction speech he gave the rationale, referring to HOF inductees line Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen… he said those guys were trying to kill him, and that was why he scrambled. Merlin Olsen in an NFL films piece admitted they were trying to end his career because they hated having to chase him.
Where does the butt fumble fall into this list? Mix between ZIP and Dart?
The sprint is technically the same speed as the bolt, but it’s a white guy doing it.
When i was growing up we had a dog my dad called “carpenter dog,” because she would make a bolt for the door.
When i was growing up we had a dog my dad called “carpenter dog,” because she would make a bolt for the door.
*scuttle
I thought for sure the example for statue was going to be Brady. Behind the line he had in 2007 he basically never had to move.