sago1
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Another interesting discussion on the lack of quality QBs in the NFL and points out the quality QB play by the so called "top 5" teams which include the Dallas Cowboys.
One thing separates contenders from pretenders
By Hub Arkush (hub@pfwmedia.com)
Nov. 23, 2007
Is there a team out there in the NFL right now that you really trust to come out and give you a truly solid effort every Sunday, other than what I’ll call my “Big Five” — the Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Cowboys and Packers?
I’m not writing off the Chargers, Jaguars, Giants or Seahawks yet, but let’s face it, through 11 weeks of the 2007 NFL regular season, any of the 27 clubs other than the Big Five is just as likely to go out next Sunday and stink up the field as it is to give us a quality display of football.
I’m not talking about parity here because, while there are probably 19 or so teams between No. 6 and No. 24 in almost anybody’s NFL power rankings that you could throw in a hat and spill ’em out in any order you like, the Big Five are clearly a lot better, and the eight clubs I’d put at the bottom — Miami, the Jets, St. Louis, San Francisco, Oakland, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Minnesota — are certainly a lot worse.
I’m talking about the inability of most of the teams in the NFL to even dream about joining my Big Five, and I think the reason is fairly obvious: There are no more than a handful of good quarterbacks to lead them.
It’s my contention that the biggest reason for what I will call the mediocrity the NFL is mired in right now is that there are fewer than a dozen dependable quarterbacks in the NFL today, and half or less of those guys are what you could safely call “franchise quarterbacks.”
Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and Brett Favre are the only QBs in the league today whom I’d call franchise quarterbacks. Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger appear to be right on the cusp of joining them, and Tony Romo is playing at their level but needs to do it for more than 20 games.
Donovan McNabb has been a franchise quarterback, but for a variety of reasons the folks in Philly seem to have him in front of a jury right now. Matt Hasselbeck is also very close, and certainly a guy you can win a lot of games with, but a notch below the rest of these guys. In another season we could talk about Marc Bulger, but not this year.
The only other guys I can see even being allowed into the conversation today are Eli Manning, Jeff Garcia and Jon Kitna. Manning is the young gun who’s getting better but looks like he could still go either way as we look for that string of breakout games that has Romo threatening to crash the club.
To me, Garcia and Kitna are strictly system guys, quarterbacks you can win with if everything is set up perfectly for them.
Up top I mentioned my Big Five and the Chargers, Jaguars, Giants and Seahawks as the good or potentially good teams in the NFL right now, and it’s certainly no coincidence that seven of the nine employ one of the dozen QBs I’ve just classified as worth having. Each of the Big Five has a franchise guy, or one soon to be (Romo).
Would any of you argue with me that the Bears, Panthers, Jets, Ravens, Bengals, Chargers and Broncos are the biggest disappointments in the NFL this season to date?
And other than the Bengals, what do they all have in common? Big problems, or at least big question marks, at the QB position, after each had thought it was pretty well set there coming into the season. Chargers and Broncos fans will argue that Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler are young and still developing, which I would agree with, but I don’t think they’d argue that they expected a lot better play than what they’ve gotten from them this season.
Does it surprise you to realize that only 15 of the 32 NFL teams have had the same quarterback start every game this season, and that 10 of those 15 were among the 14 teams in the league that had winning records after 10 weeks? Of the 17 teams that have started more than one QB, only four had winning records. There are dozens of ways to spin this debate, but at the end of the day, the one fact that isn’t open to debate is that in today’s NFL without a top-flight quarterback, or at least a guy playing at that level for the time being, a team may as well forget it.
So, with my Big Five almost a lock for the playoffs this year, which seven clubs are most likely to join them? Looking at their records to date and their remaining schedules, I’ve got my money on Tampa Bay, Seattle, the Giants and New Orleans in the NFC.
In the AFC the safest picks appear to be San Diego, Jacksonville and Tennessee, but I’ve got a hunch Cleveland edges out Tennessee. If I were right, only San Diego, Jacksonville and Cleveland would be in the playoffs this year without one of the dozen quarterbacks I identified above as the 12 best in the league right now, and Cleveland only gets there if Derek Anderson keeps playing like one of the top QBs in the game.
The one point in all this that I really don’t believe is debatable is that there just aren’t enough good quarterbacks to go around the NFL right now, and for all those clubs without one, forget being a contender until you get one.
One thing separates contenders from pretenders
By Hub Arkush (hub@pfwmedia.com)
Nov. 23, 2007
Is there a team out there in the NFL right now that you really trust to come out and give you a truly solid effort every Sunday, other than what I’ll call my “Big Five” — the Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Cowboys and Packers?
I’m not writing off the Chargers, Jaguars, Giants or Seahawks yet, but let’s face it, through 11 weeks of the 2007 NFL regular season, any of the 27 clubs other than the Big Five is just as likely to go out next Sunday and stink up the field as it is to give us a quality display of football.
I’m not talking about parity here because, while there are probably 19 or so teams between No. 6 and No. 24 in almost anybody’s NFL power rankings that you could throw in a hat and spill ’em out in any order you like, the Big Five are clearly a lot better, and the eight clubs I’d put at the bottom — Miami, the Jets, St. Louis, San Francisco, Oakland, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Minnesota — are certainly a lot worse.
I’m talking about the inability of most of the teams in the NFL to even dream about joining my Big Five, and I think the reason is fairly obvious: There are no more than a handful of good quarterbacks to lead them.
It’s my contention that the biggest reason for what I will call the mediocrity the NFL is mired in right now is that there are fewer than a dozen dependable quarterbacks in the NFL today, and half or less of those guys are what you could safely call “franchise quarterbacks.”
Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and Brett Favre are the only QBs in the league today whom I’d call franchise quarterbacks. Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger appear to be right on the cusp of joining them, and Tony Romo is playing at their level but needs to do it for more than 20 games.
Donovan McNabb has been a franchise quarterback, but for a variety of reasons the folks in Philly seem to have him in front of a jury right now. Matt Hasselbeck is also very close, and certainly a guy you can win a lot of games with, but a notch below the rest of these guys. In another season we could talk about Marc Bulger, but not this year.
The only other guys I can see even being allowed into the conversation today are Eli Manning, Jeff Garcia and Jon Kitna. Manning is the young gun who’s getting better but looks like he could still go either way as we look for that string of breakout games that has Romo threatening to crash the club.
To me, Garcia and Kitna are strictly system guys, quarterbacks you can win with if everything is set up perfectly for them.
Up top I mentioned my Big Five and the Chargers, Jaguars, Giants and Seahawks as the good or potentially good teams in the NFL right now, and it’s certainly no coincidence that seven of the nine employ one of the dozen QBs I’ve just classified as worth having. Each of the Big Five has a franchise guy, or one soon to be (Romo).
Would any of you argue with me that the Bears, Panthers, Jets, Ravens, Bengals, Chargers and Broncos are the biggest disappointments in the NFL this season to date?
And other than the Bengals, what do they all have in common? Big problems, or at least big question marks, at the QB position, after each had thought it was pretty well set there coming into the season. Chargers and Broncos fans will argue that Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler are young and still developing, which I would agree with, but I don’t think they’d argue that they expected a lot better play than what they’ve gotten from them this season.
Does it surprise you to realize that only 15 of the 32 NFL teams have had the same quarterback start every game this season, and that 10 of those 15 were among the 14 teams in the league that had winning records after 10 weeks? Of the 17 teams that have started more than one QB, only four had winning records. There are dozens of ways to spin this debate, but at the end of the day, the one fact that isn’t open to debate is that in today’s NFL without a top-flight quarterback, or at least a guy playing at that level for the time being, a team may as well forget it.
So, with my Big Five almost a lock for the playoffs this year, which seven clubs are most likely to join them? Looking at their records to date and their remaining schedules, I’ve got my money on Tampa Bay, Seattle, the Giants and New Orleans in the NFC.
In the AFC the safest picks appear to be San Diego, Jacksonville and Tennessee, but I’ve got a hunch Cleveland edges out Tennessee. If I were right, only San Diego, Jacksonville and Cleveland would be in the playoffs this year without one of the dozen quarterbacks I identified above as the 12 best in the league right now, and Cleveland only gets there if Derek Anderson keeps playing like one of the top QBs in the game.
The one point in all this that I really don’t believe is debatable is that there just aren’t enough good quarterbacks to go around the NFL right now, and for all those clubs without one, forget being a contender until you get one.
