No Newtonian Physics here. Sports Illustrated recently had an excellent article about Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant and his son Kobe. Wrong sport but it of course got me thinking about the right sport in a similar way. It directed my thoughts right at family legacies in football. Certainly the Manning's rule the roost in that regard as they've long been considered football royalty. Peyton and Eli Manning are such terrific quarterbacks that it's so easy to dismiss the skills of their father. Archie Manning was at least both his sons equal in athletic ability. His sad days with the New Orleans Saints of the '70s happened to be the time that I was discovering and understanding football. I was always impressed by the elder Manning. He just had the misfortune of playing with a horrible team. The Saints never did a thing to improve the quality of players around their quarterback. They added running back Chuck Muncie but he didn't stick around for long. I can't think of one decent receiver from those Saints team. The offensive line didn't do much for him either. Manning had to run. Fortunately, he could. What really garnered my thoughts was the impact that having a father playing quarterback in the NFL had on Peyton Manning. Eli Manning was a little too young to truly experience his father's playing days. Peyton grew up around NFL locker rooms and training camps. Most kids don't get any real football instruction until high school. Peyton had it all around him his entire young life. The same can be said of the quarterback that replaced him in Indianapolis, Andrew Luck. His father, Oliver Luck, was a decent quarterback for the Houston Oilers. Ironically, Archie Manning joined that Oilers team towards the end of his playing career. Seeing the younger Luck throw the football for Stanford the past three years it was plainly evident that he was well versed in offensive football. Hearing him speak football is like hearing a coach, or a Manning.
The athletic ability inherited from an NFL player can't be denied. I just think that growing up in a football environment can have as much of an impact. How to practice football. How to study football. How to watch game film. Bill Belichick may not have had the athletic ability of the Mannings or Lucks but he learned a lot of football from his father. Steve Belichick spent his entire life in football as a player and mostly as a coach and scout. He wrote what many consider the scouting bible. Little Belichick learned how to break down game film while most kids were still watching cartoons. Just like his father, football would always be Bill Belichick's life. It's no wonder coach's kids often make terrific quarterbacks. From Jim Harbaugh to Kellen Moore, they just get football. Partly because it's all they've known but mostly because it's all they care to know.
I've seen a bunch of second generation football players. Sometimes I wake at night realizing that I'm not too far away from seeing a third generation. I wonder which family that will be.
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