Quarterback: arguably the hardest, yet most accomplished position in football. It’s no surprise that quarterbacks give their all to the game and get the most out of it. They are the players who lead their teams down the field on game-winning drives and are also the highest-paid athletes. Each year, more and more quarterbacks seem to break into stardom.
Recently, big-name quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen have been making waves. While these quarterbacks receive significant media attention, many others in the NFL deserve recognition but don’t receive it.
Enter Quarterback. Last July, Netflix teamed up with Omaha Productions and the NFL to produce an 8-episode documentary covering the journeys of three different quarterbacks through the 2022-23 season: Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota.
Every documentary has its strengths and weaknesses, and this one is no exception. I’ll now evaluate Quarterback for its positives and negatives.
The Negatives:
1. There are none.
Quarterback did an excellent job highlighting every aspect of an NFL quarterback’s season, including both the ups and downs. It also effectively showcased a range of quarterbacks based on skill level, which I’ll discuss further in the positives.
The Positives:
1. Good Representation
As mentioned, Quarterback offers a strong representation among its three stars. It features the high-profile Patrick Mahomes, who not only had a standout season (with the Chiefs beating the Eagles in the Super Bowl) but also garners significant attention in the football community. It also includes Kirk Cousins, a talented quarterback who, while capable of being a top starter, hasn’t received much spotlight beyond his connections with Justin Jefferson. Finally, they included Marcus Mariota. Although some might question this choice due to Mariota’s decline from his college days, I see it as a great decision. It demonstrates that not every quarterback’s path in the NFL is the same and adds a layer of realism for viewers by showcasing the athletes’ struggles.
2. It shows the entire season (On and Off the Field)
While comparing this documentary to America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders might seem irrelevant as they cover different aspects of football, it doesn’t really matter. Unlike America’s Sweethearts, which doesn’t seem to showcase the cheerleaders’ personal lives, Quarterback does the opposite. It provides a full view of Mahomes, Cousins, and Mariota’s lives, including intimate sit-down interviews. This approach makes the pro athletes more relatable by showing how they balance football and family life. It also highlights moments of adversity, such as Kirk Cousins’ Achilles injury and Mariota getting benched. While these moments were certainly painful for both of them, they displayed great adversity and grit on how these quarterbacks were going to take their next steps for the 2023-2024 season.
In conclusion, I give Quarterback a 10/10 and highly recommend watching it. Although each episode runs about an hour, they provide an in-depth look into the lives of NFL quarterbacks. Even if you’re not a football fan but enjoy documentaries, this one is worth watching. Quarterback is the best football documentary I’ve seen so far, and it will be hard to find one that surpasses it.
