Gwen Knapp, San Francisco Chronicle March 21, 2009
Shaun Hill responded to the first part of the question about his offseason with typical self-deprecation. Now that he had become an established starting quarterback in the NFL, did people come up to him, requesting autographs, treating him like a celebrity?
"I got recognized once," he said, visibly enjoying his low visibility. "It was in Wal-Mart, actually."
The second half of the question brought out a more serious side. Did the offseason feel different to him, particularly in how he viewed his career and his future, because of what he had done with the 49ers last season? Hill said the visions that pushed him through conditioning runs, once fueled by the music in his headphones, came from experiences on the field now, creating goose bumps and putting more energy into every step.
"It was kind of weird the thoughts and things that were in my head, especially with Arizona going to the Super Bowl," he said before a minicamp practice Saturday. "I felt like the West was ours, had we done the things necessary, won a game here or there. It was fun and it was nice to have that stuff to think about. Also just the visions of being the guy."
Let's pump up that statement a little bit, because he won't. He's The Guy. Yes, the 49ers rewrote Alex Smith's contract so he could stick around. Yes, they wooed Kurt Warner. Sure, some of their fans may even be lusting for Jay Cutler, Denver's alienated megatalent, or hoping for one of the college stars to land here via the draft.
And, certainly, TV analysts have watched all these machinations and insisted the 49ers are desperate to make a change because, to quote one of them, "Who's ever heard of Shaun Hill?"
None of that will matter once he starts taking snaps in earnest again. He'll be the quarterback who wins, who has a 7-3 record over the last two seasons with a team that went 5-17 under other starters. He'll be The Guy, even if he says it in lower case. Or maybe because he says it in lower case.
Cutler's behavior over the last few weeks has been a reminder that a quarterback's primary responsibility is leadership. Until he turned so dramatically petulant about a coaching change and an apparent attempt to trade him, Cutler's losing record as the Broncos' starting quarterback had been largely written off as a product of a poor defense and oft-hobbled running game. Now, his failures seem more tied to his attitude, and his inability to rise above a bad defense and an erratic running game.
Anyone who wants him here over Hill should read a story on the Rockets' Shane Battier that ran in the New York Times Sunday magazine a few weeks ago. Written by Michael Lewis, the author of "Moneyball," it tries to reconcile Battier's unimpressive stats with the fact that teams have improved dramatically when he came on board. Breaking down his performance on the court, Lewis showed all of the hidden-from-the-box-score things that Battier does to make his team better. It was an impressive and compelling attempt to assess the immeasurable.
I suggested that Hill read it, and then realized that he probably already understands instinctively. "I guess people do fall in love with a big arm," he said earlier in the conversation, when asked to respond to the biggest rap against him. "I think the No. 1 thing in a quarterback is being a leader and being consistent and accountable. Well, I guess that's three."
One of the differences between Battier and Hill is that the quarterback does have numbers to support some tenure in his job. An 87.5 quarterback rating last season placed him 12th in the NFL, four spaces above Cutler and 12 above Super Bowl champ Ben Roethlisberger.
"It'd be interesting to see if somebody would put a clock on the time I get the snap ,the time it ends up in a certain spot compared to some of these big-arm guys that have a big motion," he said. "I'd be willing to bet that the ball gets there at the same time. More compact motion, quicker throws, let the receiver adjust to the balls."
There wasn't a hint of defensiveness in his voice as he said this. He was mostly musing. He doesn't seem to think that talking is the best way to make his case.
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