I dont get the ' he's not elite, therefore he can't carry us to a superbowl' logic. We won our superbowl with a non elite qb and lost one due in part to a non elite qb. Not throwing shade at Russ, but I think it's pretty plainly obvious now how extremely limited he has been throughout his career.
Geno can diagnose defense and distribute the ball extremely effectively. His completion percentage of 70% last year was no fluke. It's a simple result of a qb working within a system. Not below it. Not above it. And it stands to reason that as the offense expands around him, so does its variability and capability for deception. The Hawks go so far as Geno AND Waldron's ability to grow a scheme that can, by default, dictate flow, and adapt to whatever a defense shows. If he masters that system and the system is good enough, we can win and win a ton.
I think Hawks fans have been lulled into the belief that if you aren't displaying acts of extreme physical ability, twisting, sprinting, jumping and then hurling the ball 60 yards down field 8 seconds after the ball was snapped, then you aren't elite enough to win.
It's fallacy. Kurt Warner pointed out as much in his diagnoses of our losses in 2019 /20 - playing qb and winning didn't have to look as hard as our qb at the time was making it. We LOST games because we didn't do the simple things... like throw a slant low and on the wr body rather than high and inside...
Or hit the underneath wr for a drive sustaining 3rd down completion that leads to victory, rather than resorting to heroics over and over again.
Geno DOES have to work on his pocket awareness in critical situations. His fumbles last year contributed to key losses against the 9ers and Bucs. AND, it was his ability as a qb that was why we were in tbise games in the first place.
He also needs to remain composed and again, not like the 9ers playoff loss, start pushing the ball and forcing things.
Those two things are eminently coachable and fixable when your scheme is big enough that you don't have to rely on plays from a well that is relatively limited to succeed.
Brett Favre was KNOWN for his gunslinger mentality. I'm not comparing Genos ability to Brett's, but the similarity is in that Brett also threw an extremely high percentage of balls that shoukd have been intercepted (a knock on Geno) and he lost games as often as he won them by forcing throws he didn't have to. He didn't do it as much with Holmgren in large part because it was the SYSTEM that allowed him to work the ball effectively and not resort to his instinct to just thread the ball into a hole he had a 5% chance of hitting, rather than working through a progression that brought him to the correct read.
I THINK Geno will find that same discipline. Why? Because I think he has a chip on his shoulder to prove himself the anti-Russ and master of all things Russ wasn't. I think hes smart enough to know now after sitting behind guys like Eli and Rivers and watching what a non elite arm and physical ability in guys like the GOAT can get you.
Not saying he WILL, because all of that requires a diligence, discipline and commitment to craft that no-one can be certain Geno will apply. But if you listen to the guy talk about his game, he obviously knows the above are key.
If he does it, we can absolutley win with him.
He could also cap out as a guy who never fully reached his potential (and I think his potential is higher than last year) or be a guy who, with his coordinator, couldn't develop an attack that was varied enough to succeed.
But to say he will never ... xyz. The only thing I can say he'll never do is run for 600 yards a season. Throw for 73%? Possible. Throw for 5000 yards? For sure. 3 to 1 td to int rate? Sure. Yup. And those things in anyone's book, win championships.
