Ranking the quarterbacks, team by team

[jterrell]

I have accepted the fact that I am glad Drew Bledsoe is a Cowboy. He is the best QB we have had since Aikman hung his cleats up.

I do not think he is an elite QB by any means nor do I believe he ever has been an elite QB. Everyone probably has a different definition of elite so I will explain mine: A top 5ish QB for a period of at least four years.

He very well could flourish this year with TO, Glenn, Witten, and a healthy Jones. This could be his "breakout" year at the ripe age of 34.

His highest QB rating ever is a 87.7. Out of his 13 years in the NFL he has had a sub 80 QB rating five times. He has never in his career had a 2:1 TD to Int ratio. He has only surpassed 60% pass completion percentage 4 out of 13 seasons. His career YPA is 6.64 which is definitely on the low side.

I would not say that any of the above stat lines indicates that he is not an elite QB. I would say that given all the above the indication is that he has not been elite.

I am hopeful that this is his year. Just based on history, I get a sinking feeling sometimes that "next" year we will be talking about what went wrong again for Bledsoe and not where Bledsoe went wrong.

Obviously Bledsoe has all the tools to succeed this year in Dallas. I would not be amazed at all if he did indeed have a great year nor if he has a so so year.

Consider me from Missouri when it comes to Drew Bledsoe "Show Me".

I think you are about right with regards to Bledsoe.

He's a good but not great QB.
It will be very interesting to see if he can get his QB rating above 90 with this offensive cast around him.

Folks discounted the 2nd round selection of fasono but if it means more routes for Witten you can bet Bledsoe was giddy with it. He should have Glenn, TO and Witten to choose from essentially every pass play. Thats an embarassment of riches for a QB who has often had 1 go to WR and some dreck. When he did have a good crew in NE he put up quite good numbers and made it to a Super Bowl.

My guess is Bledsoe isn't as good as his early start last season suggested nor as bad as his putrid finish. He will probably not be as good as his numbers this season because he will have a lot of stuff flatly given to him by defenses and TO. He has really been blessed by BP as his Hall of Fame chances are greatly improved with this offensive cast.

What is absolutely clear is ranking him anywhere below 10 is asking for egg on face because the team has him in good position to excel.

Indy/NE are at the top? OK, that was LAST year. Wanna bet they fall some in next season's lists? Both teams lost a lot of talent.

 

[jterrell]

You forgot his pathetic won/loss ratio of 51 percent.

Thats 1 percent better than Quincy Carter.

 

[MossBurner]

I think Drew Bledsoe is a good player, but he is average in that there are 10-15 QBs in the league better than him. That puts him in the middle of the pack - average.

 

[ghst187]

I think Drew Bledsoe is a good player, but he is average in that there are 10-15 QBs in the league better than him. That puts him in the middle of the pack - average.

I think that when you start going through the starting QBs in the league right now....its hard to come up with 10, 12, and esp 15 QBs that are better than DB. I certainly don't think DB is elite or even a top 7 or 8 guy but RIGHT NOW I would much prefer DB over guys like Brunnell, Leftwich (incessantly injured), McNair (ditto), Pennington (ditto), Warner (ditto + no ability anymore), B Johnson (ancient and never was great), Culpepper (no Moss or knee ligaments), and maybe even Brees (until Brees can prove he can throw well post-surgery)...then you start cycling through a lot of young guys that haven't proven themselves yet like Rivers, Smith, Carr,....
then some castoffs...Kitna, Griese
then there are a handful of guys that certainly aren't CLEARLY better than DB...Plummer, Eli, T Green, Bulger,
put that all together and DB starts landing somewhere between 8 and 15 at worst.
I personally will admit that I do like DB alot so you can say I'm a bit biased, whatever. I don't think he's great, I think he's good....and good at a time in the NFL when there just are VERY few elite QBs, and a LOT of bad QBs, some young unproven ones, and a several solid QBs, and a few "whatevers." I rank Bledsoe behind the elite and somewhere in the solid QBs, right before the "whatevers."

 

[gbrittain]

I think that when you start going through the starting QBs in the league right now....its hard to come up with 10, 12, and esp 15 QBs that are better than DB. I certainly don't think DB is elite or even a top 7 or 8 guy but RIGHT NOW I would much prefer DB over guys like Brunnell, Leftwich (incessantly injured), McNair (ditto), Pennington (ditto), Warner (ditto + no ability anymore), B Johnson (ancient and never was great), Culpepper (no Moss or knee ligaments), and maybe even Brees (until Brees can prove he can throw well post-surgery)...then you start cycling through a lot of young guys that haven't proven themselves yet like Rivers, Smith, Carr,....
then some castoffs...Kitna, Griese
then there are a handful of guys that certainly aren't CLEARLY better than DB...Plummer, Eli, T Green, Bulger,
put that all together and DB starts landing somewhere between 8 and 15 at worst.
I personally will admit that I do like DB alot so you can say I'm a bit biased, whatever. I don't think he's great, I think he's good....and good at a time in the NFL when there just are VERY few elite QBs, and a LOT of bad QBs, some young unproven ones, and a several solid QBs, and a few "whatevers." I rank Bledsoe behind the elite and somewhere in the solid QBs, right before the "whatevers."

I really liked this post and you make some really good points. Like I posted earlier, DB is not elite nor has ever been but there are quite a few QBs entering the season with huge questions surrounding them.

Simply put Drew Bledsoe is the best option for the Cowboys right now.

 

[The Answer]

21. Dallas
Drew Bledsoe is just an average quarterback at this point. Each additional year saps a little bit of his ability, with a greater chance that he'll miss games due to the aches and pains that come with age. Tony Romo is a big fat question mark, and Drew Henson is a cautionary tale about talented young athletes who can't commit to a single sport. Are you listening, Jeff Samardzija?

The Answer can understand these rankings if they are basing them on ALL THREE of our QB's as a whole, because we all know that Romo is still an unknown despite his talent, and Henson is likely on his way out of the NFL....

But the assessment of Bledsoe is ridiculous. If 'each additional year has sapped his ability' then why did he go from passing under 3000 yards in 2003 and 2004, to the big season he had in dallas last year?

Bledsoe is a warrior, always has been except for the freak injury in 2001 that led to Brady's emergence.....no way that he's missing games over a few 'aches and pains', apparantly the writer don't realize that Drew just turned 34 either....still younger than some of the starters ranked above him.

~The Answer

 

[The Answer]

Gee another source that states that Drew Bledsoe is an average QB for Drew-fans to get worked up over.

I like it.

These 'rankings' are based on all 3 QB's, so it's understandable since both Romo and Henson have a grand total of 1 start between them. However they are dead wrong with the assessment of Bledsoe, and the fact that he's a top 10 QB by himself should move us up to at least #15 in these silly rankings....


~The Answer