Four Quarterbacks Who Would Be Better At Making Open Field Tackles Than Peyton Manning

During yesterday’s Colts-Chiefs game, Peyton Manning threw the first of his three interceptions, then found himself in position to make the tackle on the return. As a Patriots fan, few things in football could make me as outright gleeful as seeing Manning, whose dislike for getting hit on the football field is well-documented, setting up to try and stop Ty Law.

In the end, Manning’s effort wasn’t as bad as it could have been; he managed to disrupt Law’s forward progress enough to allow Marvin Harrison to catch up to the play and make the tackle. Still, it made me wonder about some of the other quarterbacks in the league and how they would handle the situation: specifically, which guys would I want standing in the way of a player streaking untouched on his way to the end zone? (An alternate, and probably more fun, discussion: who would be the most fun to see bearing down on Manning, one-on-one? The early favorites have to be Ray Lewis and Shawne Merriman, although Deion Sanders might be fun for entirely different reasons.)

The pickings were slim, but these are the four quarterbacks I would most like to see making an open field tackle:

JaMarcus Russell (LSU) – At 6’6” and 260 pounds, Russell is similar in size to Miami’s Daunte Culpepper, who would have made this list three years ago. The size alone makes Russell an intimidating figure and the likely winner in any physical confrontation with a defensive back, but he also exhibited some mobility and athletic ability during the Sugar Bowl that would allow him to keep up with smaller and quicker players. We might get a chance to see this happen next season: not only has he reportedly decided to enter the NFL draft, there’s a chance he will end up with the Raiders.

Brett Favre (Green Bay) – It might be unfairly influenced by his NFL-record streak for consecutive games played by a quarterback, but Favre has built a reputation as one of the toughest QBs ever (I’m pretty sure he once completed a game with one leg after the other was bitten off by a shark). Even though he’s starting to look a few years beyond his age, he still looks as though he could take just about any defensive player mano-a-mano. (Besides, with as many interceptions as he throws – an NFL-high 47 in the past two seasons – he should continue to have plenty of opportunity to put the hit on opponents.)

David Carr (Houston Texans) – In the five seasons he has lined up under center for the Texans, Carr has been sacked 249 times, including single-season totals of 76 and 68. Spending all that time on his back has not been good for the development of the 27 year old quarterback, who has the physical tools to be a quality signal-caller but never seems to have enough time to settle down in the pocket and take a good look at the field. One of these days, Carr is virtually guaranteed to throw a pick, allow the frustration of the last five seasons to boil over, and completely annihilate some poor, unsuspecting defensive back.

Vince Young (Tennessee Titans) – Late in the Titans regular season finale against the New England Patriots, Young threw a deep pass that was intercepted by Asante Samuel. As Samuel bobbed and weaved on the return, a Tennessee player flew up out of nowhere and dropped him with a vicious clothesline tackle. After looking at the replay, the play-by-play announcer said incredulously, “That was YOUNG on the tackle!” It was true – he had seen Samuel make the play, then sprinted thirty yards downfield to drop him in his tracks. Very few NFL quarterbacks could physically play another position, but it would not be off the wall to see the 6’4”, 230-pound Young lining up – and being successful - at linebacker or tight end in the league.