I'm not beating up on you because it's a good argument when it comes to OL. Very tough to say one guy belongs one guy doesn't. Namath had a great backpeddle he got back far and deep fast. He also hung out there forever and once out of his drop was as volunerable as they come. A quick release doesn't protect a QB it provides opportunity to hold the ball a fraction longer or get it out instantly if something opens up making it tougher for the DB to react. It only keeps the QB from getting killed if the rules protect them once the ball leaves his hand. In Namath's era it didn't. If he held the ball and released at the fraction before the sack he took the full hit and that include head to head, a spear, etc. Namath killed himself because he was tough as nails. He held the ball forever waited forever and took sacks because 2nd and 20 wasn't something he feared in the least. He didn't fear 3rd and 30 and if it was he wasn't throwing the ball 29 yards down the field on third down. Marino was clearly protected, Brady is practically a red shirted QB relative to Namath's era along with Manning and the others of today's era. If you threw the ball down the field in the 60's you were fair game and were marked by the D, including getting punched, kicked and having your legs twisted in piles. The OL men who protected QB's in that era had a stacked deck against them, few of them had a high profile QB who was going to throw the ball as often as Namath and if they extended their arms it was holding so they didn't. In the mid 60's throwing the ball down the field and as often as he did it what made the Jets OL a bit different in responsability from most of the other teams in both leagues although the AFL was clearly throwing the ball more than the NFL. It's very different ranking an OL that's firing out all day vs one that is backing up all day in pass protection. Doing both well is very rare. Hill later in his career when he was asked to run block proved he was superb at it.
