It’s a little different now, when you hear, ‘Oh, Lamar Jackson, he can’t survive running like that.’ ”ĭungy has watched the Indianapolis Colts’ Andrew Luck play since he entered the league. “For a long time, we had a stereotype of what a quarterback was, and if you didn’t fit that they said, ‘This guy, he can’t be an NFL quarterback.’ It’s different now, new words and new terms.
He went undrafted and, while Canada was an option, he decided to play in the NFL as a defensive back.Īfter being passed over several times for a head-coaching job, Dungy was named head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996 in 2007, as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, he became the first African-American to win a Super Bowl title.Īs a studio host at NBC Sunday Night Football, Dungy has listened carefully to the language used to describe the play of black quarterbacks and how that language feeds into larger, age-old stereotypes. “Now it’s, ‘He can’t throw from the pocket.’ That’s the new way of saying it,” Tony Dungy said.ĭungy was a quarterback at the University of Minnesota. Their failures were attributed to being too eager to escape the pocket or being confused by sophisticated defenses. Black quarterbacks were quizzed about their inability to read defenses.
In the old days, coded language wasn’t so coded. Tony Dungy has seen it all as player, coach, announcer “I’m tired of the coded language,” Harbaugh said, leaving it at that. There was more talk about everything Mayfield had done well and concern about whether the Ravens could win with Jackson’s style of play. The day we spoke, Jackson had outdueled Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield, who threw three interceptions that day. Jackson saved the Ravens’ season with an improvised style of play that combined dynamic running and timely passing. “ ‘Is his style of play sustainable? Can you win with this style of play?’ ” Harbaugh said recently, reflecting on the type of questions he was asked. They are rarely called “brilliant” or “cerebral” and more routinely lauded for an array of “athletic” gifts.īaltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said he frequently heard the coded language this season from some reporters when they asked questions about the play of rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson. That’s where African-American quarterbacks are still described more for their physicality than intellect. Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck describing New England Patriots quarterback Tom Bradyįor all the talk about an evolution of the black quarterback, the position that needs the most change might be the broadcast booth. “ It just looks different: He stands back there, he stands tall, he’s looking downfield and it’s just a different way to play the position than the guys who are coming in now.”
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