How the best QBs stack up

[JPostSam]

take their career numbers as starters over a 16-game season, and this is what you get.

rodgers and brady are playing on a level above everyone who's ever lived...

romo, peyton manning and brees are like elite triplets, almost indistinguishable from one another...

then, there's a third tier of good quarterbacks...

(i included ryan, schaub's numbers from houston, and flacco just to round this out. younger players don't have enough of a track record yet.)

QB COM ATT PCT YDS AVG TDs INTS

Rodgers 328 500 65.7 4,056 8.11 32 9
Brady 343 528 63.8 4,047 7.52 30 11
Romo 357 551 64.8 4,390 7.97 30 15
Peyton 363 557 65.2 4,246 7.62 31 15
Brees 379 578 65.6 4,309 7.46 30 15
Rivers 323 507 63.6 3,977 7.84 27 13
Ryan 338 539 62.7 3,890 7.22 26 12
Big Ben 300 475 63.1 3,773 7.95 24 14
Schaub 346 532 65.0 4,179 7.85 23 13
Flacco 304 502 59.9 3,564 7.10 21 11
Eli 306 522 58.6 3,685 7.06 24 17

 

[Joshmil53]

Uhm, what?

 

[zeroburrito]

it's a good thing romo didn't get thrown into the fire his first year into the league. may have hurt his stats like peyton and some others.

 

[JPostSam]

Uhm, what?

this is what a season would look like for these quarterbacks, based on their career numbers averaged out over 16 games.

not complicated.

 

[JPostSam]

it's a good thing romo didn't get thrown into the fire his first year into the league. may have hurt his stats like peyton and some others.

you can make an argument that sitting and learning helps quarterbacks.

rodgers sat for 3 years.

brady sat for more than a year.

i didn't include schaub's stats from atlanta, which improves his averages in the above comparison.

but you can also make an argument that sitting for a long time stunts a quarterback's growth.

before romo entered the second half of the giants game in 2006, he had sat for 2 whole seaons. he had only thrown 2 passes, in garbage time of the previous game.

luck and rg3, among others, seem to have benefited from playing right away.

if you're good, it shows. if you're good for a long time, it shows even more.

 

[Joshmil53]

this is what a season would look like for these quarterbacks, based on their career numbers averaged out over 16 games.

not complicated.

K I understand now.

 

[FiveRings]

Very interesting post, and while I don't love feeding into the stat monster I find it worthy to note that Eli has the most picks of those featured

 

[JPostSam]

Very interesting post, and while I don't love feeding into the stat monster I find it worthy to note that Eli has the most picks of those featured

yeah, i know this has been discussed to death here, but i don't think anyone has presented the numbers this way before.

one thing this really shows is how similar eli is to flacco. i think they're pretty much the same quarterback. they also play on similar teams. when they have succeeded, they have had strong running games and strong defenses. (they're a lot like the bill parcells giants teams, actually.) despite that, the quarterbacks have gotten the lion's share of the credit for those teams.

you can infer the inverse of that, of course.

 

[burmafrd]

Romo admitted he was not ready to start before 2006. He needed that time.

Now some need time and some do not. It really depends on the player

I would argue that some QBs got ruined by playing them too early.

Harrington and Carr

Though Carr was ruined by getting sacked 250 times in 4 years.

I think Harrington if given a year or so on the bench to study things might have made a good QB

 

[8FOR!3]

I think Romo and Brees are comparable, but they've both got strengths the other doesn't have. Romo can make plays you don't think exist and Brees makes throws that nobody else makes.

 

[Stryker44]

Romo admitted he was not ready to start before 2006. He needed that time.

Now some need time and some do not. It really depends on the player

I would argue that some QBs got ruined by playing them too early.

Harrington and Carr

Though Carr was ruined by getting sacked 250 times in 4 years.

I think Harrington if given a year or so on the bench to study things might have made a good QB

Alot depends on the pieces around the QB as well. Seattle was respectable last year without Wilson. Indianapolis made the playoffs just 2 years ago and play in probably the weakest division in the league along with the AFC West. The Commanders are in year 3 of a rebuild - and though last year was 5-11 most games were highly competitive (beat Giants twice), etc.

Comparing the starting situation for these QBs versus that of someone like a Sam Bradford or Brandon Weeden...quite a different tale imo. The jury is still out on those 2 much because they didn't have the supporting cast - though it certainly appears at least the Rams are headed in the right direction.

 

[jterrell]

it's a good thing romo didn't get thrown into the fire his first year into the league. may have hurt his stats like peyton and some others.

Peyton has played about 15 years so one season isnt going to tank him.

No doubt he has been the better QB but that's because he has won bigger games. He's also had far more talent around him. The Broncos were a borderline playoff team with Tebow at QB....

Peyton was the big-game choker before Romo got that label. We all know how that has turned out.

Romo is far better than people want to give him credit for being.

 

[DMAC]

Are these suppose to be in an order of ranking? If so, what category did you use to rank by?

 

[Future]

I think Romo and Brees are comparable, but they've both got strengths the other doesn't have. Romo can make plays you don't think exist and Brees makes throws that nobody else makes.

Brees does not do that.

The things that allow Brees to put up numbers are consistency and mastery of his offense. He doesn't have Tony's talent.

 

[Eddie]

I think Romo and Brees are comparable, but they've both got strengths the other doesn't have. Romo can make plays you don't think exist and Brees makes throws that nobody else makes.

We could have had Brees ... twice.

First time, had we not thrown away those 2 first round draft picks for Joey Galloway, and wound up with Quincy Carter instead.

Second time, when Brees was a FA and we decided to stick with Drew Bleedslow.

Romo was definitely a gift from heaven.

 

[Clove]

Why are we talking about individual stats when this is a team game? He can't accomplish anything without a team. Right?

 

[perrykemp]

Why are we talking about individual stats when this is a team game? He can't accomplish anything without a team. Right?

Because it's all we have to compare different players at the same position.

I personally believe Romo's stats would be much better if he had played for Mike McCarthy or Sean Payton the past 5-6 years, but it would be silly for me say it was anything other than a hypothetical exercise.

 

[percyhoward]

Why are we talking about individual stats when this is a team game?

The OP was comparing individuals--not teams.

 

[percyhoward]

Are these suppose to be in an order of ranking? If so, what category did you use to rank by?

Good question.

The first 4 guys are in the order of their career passer rating, then it gets a little mixed up from there.

 

[Brooksey]

take their career numbers as starters over a 16-game season, and this is what you get.

rodgers and brady are playing on a level above everyone who's ever lived...

romo, peyton manning and brees are like elite triplets, almost indistinguishable from one another...

then, there's a third tier of good quarterbacks...

(i included ryan, schaub's numbers from houston, and flacco just to round this out. younger players don't have enough of a track record yet.)

QB COM ATT PCT YDS AVG TDs INTS

Rodgers 328 500 65.7 4,056 8.11 32 9
Brady 343 528 63.8 4,047 7.52 30 11
Romo 357 551 64.8 4,390 7.97 30 15
Peyton 363 557 65.2 4,246 7.62 31 15
Brees 379 578 65.6 4,309 7.46 30 15
Rivers 323 507 63.6 3,977 7.84 27 13
Ryan 338 539 62.7 3,890 7.22 26 12
Big Ben 300 475 63.1 3,773 7.95 24 14
Schaub 346 532 65.0 4,179 7.85 23 13
Flacco 304 502 59.9 3,564 7.10 21 11
Eli 306 522 58.6 3,685 7.06 24 17

Romo is pacing for Hall of Fame numbers and has the consistency/accuracy of the games best. He needs a ring to go to Canton.