The official Warpath scapegoat watch 2006

[mheisig]

Great post, Matty.

I think the tendancy for a lot of fans to pin all the blame on the QB, punter and kicker is because those positions show weakness on a very individual level. Someone who knows very little about football and sees their offense not scoring much immediatly pins it on the QB because well, he touches the ball every play, so it must be his fault, right?

Same with the punter and kicker - if a kicker misses, no matter how long the kick and despite the fact that he never should have been placed in the situation, it's his fault we lost the game.

Like Matty alluded to, those three guys are the "obvious" and easy scapegoats for Joe Blow fan who doesn't know any better.

Identifying weaknesses in blocking, line performance, etc. is beyond the realm of your average fan, so instead they scream for Mark Brunell's head when things don't go right.