Gianna Wilcox
On July 12, Netflix released the first season of the sports documentary Quarterback. Quarterback follows three NFL quarterbacks during the 2022-2023 NFL season: Patrick Mahomes for the Kansas City Chiefs, Kirk Cousins for the Minnesota Vikings and Marcus Mariota for the Atlanta Falcons.
The documentary allows football fans a genuine behind-the-scenes look at some of the most notable NFL quarterbacks. The documentary showcases the realistic highs and lows of being an NFL quarterback with the world’s eyes on them.
In the first episode, the documentary provides an overview of each quarterback, their family and some background about their football career. For example, the viewers learn that Marcus Mariota and his wife, Kiyomi, found out they were pregnant on April Fools Day, and he played for the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders before joining the Falcons in 2022.
The documentary dives deeper into the lives of the three quarterbacks. The documentary also shows aspects of the quarterbacks’ past that pertain to the present, allowing the viewer to better understand where each quarterback is coming from and how that has shaped them into the person they are today.
In particular, Patrick Mahomes’ dad was a pitcher for the New York Mets, and initially, Patrick played baseball. He even wanted to be a professional baseball player like his dad. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but some of his baseball skills have transferred into his football career.
One of the best aspects of the documentary is that, in between clips from the NFL season or footage from their everyday lives, there is video of the quarterbacks in more personal interviews. In these interviews, the quarterbacks give some insight into how they were feeling in the clip just shown or provide information about what the audience just saw.
In Kirk Cousins’ case, he was the most hit or sacked quarterback at a certain point in the NFL season, and the documentary does almost too good of a job of making that clear to the viewers. Multiple clips throughout the documentary show Cousins getting hit by the opposing team’s defensive line.
After a particularly bad hit to his ribs, the documentary jumps to Cousins in the confessional describing exactly how that hit felt. It makes the entire experience more real for the viewer.
The quarterbacks’ wives, and other friends or relatives, also get the chance to share their side of things and how they feel. For example, Kiyomi compared watching Marcus play every week to watching someone get into a car accident.
Overall, the documentary is very well done and entertaining. However, one problem is that as the NFL season and the documentary proceed, the viewers see Patrick Mahomes more than the other two quarterbacks. I understand it is because Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl while Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota, and their teams fell short of the playoffs, but they could’ve shown how Cousins and Mariota prepare for the next season.
Nevertheless, that one problem does not mean that Quarterback is not a good documentary. Quarterback is an excellent watch that showcases the realities of being a quarterback in the NFL. I recommend this docuseries to all those football fans who lash out at quarterbacks after they make a mistake. NFL quarterbacks are regular human beings like you and me.