Starting at quarterback this weekend for the New York Jets, rookie Sam Darnold will be playing his first regular season game in the NFL.
With quarterbacks expected to know the playbook, read defenses, pick up blitzes, and not turn the ball over, it will be interesting to see how Darnold handles himself.
This isn’t easy for a rookie quarterback, and most of them experience a “welcome to the NFL moment.”
Nicki Jhabvala wrote a story for The Athletic about former Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback, Jake Plummer, and how his first start ended badly.
He threw for only 195 yards, fumbled once, and was sacked six times as his team lost 41-14. After the game, he commented that he’d “remember this day the rest of my life.”
Flashforward 21 years, and this is what Plummer told The Athletic about that game:
“Coming out of college, I knew about defenses, but I didn’t know them to the depth that you had to know them in the league. My first game, live-action start, I threw four interceptions because the Oilers showed a blitz on the left and then they blitzed from the right. My eyes were on the left. They tricked me. Then I realized, ‘Oh, okay. I see what’s going on here.’"
The article goes on to explain how this experience prompted Plummer and former teammate, Chad Friehauf, to create a web-based platform to help football players learn the complex playbooks they’re required to understand.
ReadyList PRO uses audio and visual aids to assist the learning process by giving players quizzes and innovative tools along the way so they can more readily absorb the information.
This especially sounds like a great resource for young quarterbacks, as they have to be prepared to handle tough NFL defenses. Like the article states further, “Plummer can attest, the more a player knows, the less he can be tricked.”
As followers of Jesus, the same is true for us. The more we know God’s Word, His character, and His voice, the less we'll be tricked by our adversary. But if we’re like a rookie quarterback who doesn’t know anything, our eyes will be on the left and the “blitz” will come from the right.
1 Peter 5:8 (AMP) encourages us with this warning: “Be sober , be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion , seeking someone to devour.”
The reality is, the devil is scheming against us and looking to bring us down. If we aren’t prepared and cautious and don't put time into reading the Bible, we’ll get tricked into making bad decisions and buying into lies.
Thankfully, God gave us His Word to reveal Himself to us and to show us the way to live. It’s our own “playbook” that needs studying. Although difficult to grasp at times, we must continue to dive in, memorize, and use resources to help us understand it.
Today, let’s long to know God and His Word and recollect what it says, so when the blitzes come we won't be tricked. I’m Bryce Johnson and you can unpack that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for providing me the Bible and for allowing it to strengthen me and to prepare me to handle the attacks from the enemy. I pray I would take studying and understanding Your Word seriously, so it will continue to change my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Comments