Wednesday, September 26, 2007

QB thoughts

A quick look at the NFL standings shows 5 undefeated teams after 3 weeks. We have the Patriots, Colts and Steelers in the AFC, and the Cowboys and Packers in the NFC. I think this just reinforces once again the importance of the QB. On those 5 teams, you have the two best QBs in the game in Manning and Brady, a veteran hall-of-fame QB in Favre, a recent Super Bowl winner in Roethlisberger, and up-and-comer Romo. All 5 are playing very well so far. If you look at the top 10 QBs by rating, only Chad Pennington at #2 with a 121.4 rating has a losing record. I think their record has to do more with playing the Patriots week 1 and losing Chad to injury in week 2.

This just shows why even when the Cowboys were showing improvement under Bill Parcells, I was never really optimistic about their chances - the Cowboys haven't had a decent QB since Aikman. Until Romo came in last year, I knew that no matter how good our running game or defense got to be, a mediocre QB would ruin everything. Hell, I think Testaverde and Bledsoe single-handedly lost 5 or 6 winnable games, if not more.

I know you can pick out your Dilfers and Grossmans who led teams to the Super Bowl, but those are anomalies. I'm much happier as a fan of a team with a good QB and offense and a suspect defense, than I would be if we had a great defense and a mediocre QB.

By the way, if you haven't checked out the revamped NFL.com, you should. That stats are incredible. Instant sortable stats in all categories going back to the 30's.

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9 comments:

fridge said...

I know you can pick out your Dilfers and Grossmans who led teams to the Super Bowl, but those are anomalies.

You mean Dilfers, Grossmans and Aikmans...

Anonymous said...

You mean Dilfers, Grossmans and Aikmans...

You think Aikman wasn't good? You sure you actually watched any of his games?

Rob said...

Kitna has done a great job, he's one of top Qbs right now as far as rating goes, unfortunately Detroit's defence did not show up to play on Sunday, that was embarrassing.

John Howard said...

Did you make any changes to the template recently? The sidebar is all fucked up for me.

michelline said...

Did you make any changes to the template recently? The sidebar is all fucked up for me.

No I didn't do anything to the template. The sidebar is appearing at the bottom. The only thing I did was that I sent this post in by email. That shouldn't affect anything though. It's like the post area is too wide, but I checked customize and there doesn't seem to be any setting for that.

michelline said...

Ok, it was the email thing. I republished this post through blogger and it fixed things. I think it was the html Outlook used. I'll try plain text and see if that works.

michelline said...

Fridge, I see where you're coming from on Aikman, actually, but I don't agree. If you took away his 3 rings (and nearly a 4th), Aikman wouldn't be a hall of famer. But you can't take away his three rings. I think his detractors look at his numbers and say that those Cowboy teams could have plugged in any decent QB and still won. There's really nothing to argue about there. He did win three Super Bowls as the leader of one of the great teams in NFL history.

Actually, there's a really apt comparison based on Aikman's career numbers and accomplishments. Tom Brady. Brady's numbers are a little bit better, but he's also had the luxury of never playing on any bad teams like Aikman did in 1989 and then his last couple of years. Aikman, like Brady, earned his HOF status because of his intelligence and leadership.

Now maybe you think Brady is overrated too, in that case, we really have no common ground.

Toast said...

only Chad Pennington at #2 with a 121.4 rating has a losing record.

#2, baby!

And aaaaaaaaaaiiiieeaaaaaaahhhh!!!

Mr Furious said...

maybe you think Brady is overrated

I did. In fact I always thought Beldsoe got a raw deal, and deserved better, and Brady benefitted from team improvements that Bledsoe never did. (ie: Bledsoe would have those rings if he had the RBs or defenses that Brady benefitted from)...but now I realize I was wrong.

Brady might not have the gaudy Manning stats or Bledsoe's arm, but he does possess intangible qualities that Aikman shared and Bledsoe lacked. Namely, I can't think of an instance when Brady lost the Pats a game. Bledsoe did it countless times...