BOGEY ON YOUR TAIL, NO TWO, GET OUT, GET OUT! WHAT WOULD RUN THROUGH YOUR MIND IF THOSE VERY WORDS ECHOED IN YOUR HEADSET WHILE YOU’RE FLYING 12,000 KM ABOVE SEA LEVEL IN A FOREIGN TERRITORY, WITH TWO HOSTILE JET FIGHTERS ON YOUR TAIL AT 1600 KM PER HOUR AND FOCUSED SQUARELY ON TAKING YOU DOWN?

THE CHANTS GROW LOUDER, THE LIGHTS DIMMER. YOUR HEART STARTS BEATING FASTER AND THE ADRENALINE COURSING THROUGH YOUR BODY CREATES AN UNPARALLELED HIGH. WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO TAKE YOUR FIRST STEP ON STAGE AND WALK IN FRONT OF A SOLD OUT STADIUM FILLED WITH 80,000 ADORING FANS WITH CAMERAS FLASHING?

LESS THAN .01% OF THE WORLD POPULATION WILL EVER HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE THE LIKES OF FLYING A FIGHTER JET IN COMBAT, WALKING ONTO A STAGE AND COMMANDING THE ADULATION OF 80,000 PEOPLE, OR STARING INTO THE EYES OF A 300 LB DEFENSIVE LINEMAN PAID TO BREAK YOUR LIMBS.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT IT FEELS LIKE OR WHAT GOES THROUGH THE MINDS OF THESE INDIVIDUALS IN SUCH EXTRAORDINARY POSITIONS? WE DID TOO, SO WE DECIDED TO FIND OUT AND DIG A LITTLE DEEPER AND GO INSIDE.

ALONE HE STANDS IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS GRIDIRON BATTLE FIELD. HE HAS MULTIPLE WEAPONS – SUITABLE FOR AN AERIAL ASSAULT OR A GROUND INVASION – AT HIS DISPOSAL. THE COMMONWEALTH STADIUM CROWD IN EDMONTON IS OPERATING AT DECIBEL LEVELS MOST OFTEN RESERVED FOR A U2 CONCERT AND SPEWING RANCOROUS VENOM IN HIS DIRECTION. ACROSS THE WAY THERE ARE 12 LARGE MEN WEARING GREEN AND GOLD AND THEIR STEELY EYES ARE LOCKED ON HIM.

Henry Burris is the quarterback of the Calgary Stampeders and standing behind centre he is unfazed by all that’s going on around him, surveying the fi eld one last time he knows that in a moment – about the time it would take him to blink – Burris will have a decision to make.

You would imagine his mind is operating at Usain Bolt speed – what coverage are they in? Are they blitzing? Where should I slide my protection? – but according to Burris, the MVP of last year’s Grey Cup, his state of mind is the exact opposite.

“I have a blank mind,” he says.
“When I’m standing behind the centre in a game I can’t think, I just have to react.

Once I’ve broke that huddle and I’ve called that next pass play or a running play and the defence lines up, just before I start my cadence, I pause and take a second to take a peek at what [the defence is] giving me.”

From there he’ll draw on his week preparing for the opponent, remembering everything from what he’s seen in film study to his own history against certain players or coaches, all in an effort to give him the most functional knowledge to make a choice that will occur almost instantaneously.

“On average a quarterback is probably given 2.2 to 2.5 seconds to make a decision and you’ve got to make the right decision,” says Burris. “That’s the difference between a completion for a touchdown or an interception that might lose the game for you”.

Add up all the duties on a quarterback’s shoulder pads and it provides compelling evidence that they are far and away the most important player on a football field. Like the king in a game of chess, invariably the quarterbacks are the focal point of every game; they are the physical embodiment of their coaches on the field and the epitome of feast or famine in the sporting arena.

Victories propel quarterbacks into a new stratosphere of prominence, while even just a few losses can knock the lustre from the most radiant of stars. As a hall of fame quarterback and a CFL on TSN analyst, Matt Dunigan is a trusted voice when it comes to knowledge of Canadian football and he has a strong opinion about where the quarterback ranks in the hierarchy of sports positions.

“I think it is the most difficult position of all professional sports,” he says. “You have to know everything about the defence before you can even start talking offensive terminology and the scheming. And then you have to know everybody’s responsibilities offensively in order to put the offensive line in the best blocking schemes, understand everybody’s responsibilities and adjustments from receivers to running backs and then go out there and be able to execute every 20 seconds.” If memorizing the responsibilities of all the players on the field wasn’t enough, the quarterback must also manage the emotional aspects of the game. It is pivotal to be capable of drawing the most out of the other 11 players on the field, starting in the huddle.

“When you step in that huddle as a quarterback, you are the leader,” says Toronto Argonauts quarterback Kerry Joseph. “The guys look into your eyes and they look at your demeanor, they look at your attitude regardless if things are going good or bad, so you really have to be positive.” And eventually they even need to worry about throwing the football.

“I think all quarterbacks try to get into a rhythm,” he says. “You try to get two or three completions early in the game to just kind of get into that groove…it builds your confidence.

You go into the game with a lot of confidence already but when you start off on a good note and string some things together, you really start to feel good, the team starts to feel good and you just feel like you can make any throw.” Burris agrees that a strong mettle is a vital quality to have in the quarterback’s toolkit, but also suggests there’s no substitution for experience.

“It’s all about repetition and confidence,” he says. “You’re only going to get better with snaps and with experience. That’s what’s allowed me to go from being a rookie [who was] able to do some good things to now being able to do a lot of good things because I’ve had that experience, I’ve seen it and I’ve done it.” Ultimately a quarterback’s success as a passer and a leader will be determined by his courage in the face of the rush and his ability to bounce back from getting knocked down. Joseph believes that it’s a crucial component of a quarterback’s make-up and if you can’t handle that, you aren’t qualified to play the part. “That’s what we signed up for. If you’re not ready for that, you’re not ready to play the position,” he says.

“You know you’re going to get hit, you know you have to stand there when a guy’s bearing down on your chest but you’ve got to get up and keep going. It’s just a mental and a physical toughness that you either have it or you don’t.” After four quarters and 60 minutes of combat it’s that toughness – to physically overcome the hits and to mentally remain positive for your teammates – that will determine an outcome. And though the quarterbacks never actually have the opportunity to square off on the field at the same time, like a showdown at high noon, only one gunslinger gets to walk away triumphantly.