It was a pleasure watching Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick throw the ball in the Super Bowl. Why? Because they threw with good technique and for the most part their passes were right on target. They were able to throw bullets, i.e., tight spiral passes thrown with great speed and power right to the receiver.
This trait is not found in many other quarterbacks. Most quarterbacks “sling” the ball from the side rather than coming through in an overhead pattern with emphasis on shoulder joint medial rotation, forearm pronation and wrist flexion. With this overhead pattern they will not be coming down with injuries that so often afflict other quarterbacks.
When comparing total body technique as exhibited by Flacco and Kaepernick, it is easy to see that they differ substantially. Flacco has the more effective technique in that he makes better use of weight shift and body rotation than does Kaepernick. He maintains stability throughout and after the throw is completed.
Kaepernick on the other hand, swings his rear leg around as he throws the ball. If he remained more stable and did not swing the rear leg around, he would be able to exhibit even greater accuracy and distance in his throws. To do this he would have to develop a better kinetic power chain from the feet to the hand.
In essence, he would have to learn more effective weight shift, hip rotation, without involvement of the shoulders, and then shoulder rotation before the arm action. These are all very doable and it would not take very long for him to master these changes.
The game commentators, rather than making remarks on aspects of their technique, referred to Flacco as a “natural”. This implied that he was born with the ability to throw the football well. This could not be further from the truth. All skills such as learning to throw a football are learned over many years of practice.
Hopefully, his throwing practice was done with guidance from a mentor who was able to correct and make changes in his technique. Flacco had to put in thousands of hours of practice over the years. If he was a fast learner, it meant that he probably had experiences in throwing other objects and played other sports that involved throwing, running, cutting, jumping, etc.
It can be said that all quarterbacks, as well as all great athletes, are made or developed over the years. The development comes from years of productive practice. A classic example of this was the development of Todd Marinovich with whom I worked on his throwing technique and the physical abilities specific to his throwing. I started with him from the time he was thirteen years of age up until the time he was breaking records at USC.
Development of good technique should start in the very earliest years. I could be wrong here but it appears that there is very little effective teaching going on in the early or even later years if we base it on how many professional quarterbacks exhibit excellent technique. Most collegiate and professional quarterbacks have technique that is good enough to play the game, but it is not great.
When comparing quarterbacks on all levels of play, it can be said that most quarterbacks fall in the middle or upper middle range. They are somewhat better than mediocre but still have a ways to go before they can be considered great.
Some quarterbacks make it to the highest levels because of their ability to scramble (run and cut) well as for example, Tebow. Others make it because of their running abilities as for example, Kaepernick who exhibits good running speed.
Both Flacco and Kaepernick can throw well on the run as exhibited in the game. They didn’t develop this ability by only playing the game. They had to practice this ability for many years before they were able to execute throws with power and accuracy. This is also true of their running and cutting abilities: good, but still room for improvement.
For more information on throwing a football see Build a Better Athlete.