Comments on: Film Room: Mike & Mike on QB Battles

By: seanmac31

seanmac31 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:04:51 +0000

He threw a ton of interceptions, but he also threw for a ton of yardage, and he did it against a very difficult slate of defenses. Not all basic stats are created equal, and no, Manning did not have a terrible season.

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:00:05 +0000

My post was not meant to spark a debate about the virtues of Payton Manning as a QB, but to merely point out that if all things are equal or nearly equal then start the QB who you envision as the QB of the future. As in this case being that we drafted MS #5 overall, I would assume it would be him.

By the way, if you don’t consider setting the rookie QB record for most Interceptions in a season, then no, he didn’t have a terrible season.

By: seanmac31

seanmac31 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:02:47 +0000

Yes, but Peyton Manning is Peyton Manning. In any event, he didn’t have a terrible rookie season. He threw a lot of picks, but he was in a division where four teams made the playoffs, and if you look at his schedule adjusted numbers, they look much better. He graded out as about the 19th best quarterback in the league; bad for Peyton Manning, fine for a rookie (better, for instance, than Joe Flacco did last year). Ryan Leaf, in contrast, was the 48th best quarterback out of a list of 49.

In any event, you don’t want to compare guys who started 45 games in college with guys who started 16 in terms of where they’ll be on the learning curve and how likely they are to be in position to even benefit from the experience.

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:47:24 +0000

Payton Manning had an awful rookie season, but responded with an excellent sophmore year. He says that he would never have had such a good second year were it not for the experience he gained in that first year. So if KC and MS are fairly close, start MS and let him get the experience.

By: SackDance99

SackDance99 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:43:01 +0000

I agree with seanmac, to a point. This decade we have seen a number of rookie QB’s play competently, like Ryan, Flacco and Big Ben. While he wasn’t nearly as good as those three, Trent Edwards played decently for the Bills as a rookie, as did Cutler for the Broncos. I also thought Leinart did a decent job on an awful Cards team. And, while Kyle Orton had a statistically awful rookie season, his record was 10-5. Similarly, Vince Young had an 8-5 record, despite awful stats. Will Sanchez have an over 60% completion percentage and more TDs than INTs. Maybe not, but if he’s close then he’ll gain valuable experience to build on for his second year. I don’t realistically expect Clemens to be much better than Sanchez, but every start for Clemens takes valuable experience away from Sanchez. On that basis, Sanchez should start, assuming he’s signed and in training camp on time.

By: seanmac31

seanmac31 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:18:23 +0000

Flacco and Matt Ryan set up some unrealistic expectations, and it’s going to bite both Sanchez and Stafford (who is apparently also being hurried into the lineup). I understand the argument that the best guy should play, and if Sanchez and Stafford beat out their competition, then so be it, but people shouldn’t expect them to go out on the field and not struggle once the season starts.

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:10:43 +0000

I’m not disputing who the best QB will be, I’m just saying that Rex won’t start Sanchez just for the sake of starting Sanchez. Hopefully he’ll be smart and start the QB who gives them the best chance to win, and if that happens to be Sanchez , then so be it.

By: SackDance99

SackDance99 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:03:03 +0000

Remember, Clemens is not all that experienced. He’s had only a grand total of 8 NFL starts and in one of those, he was knocked out in the first quarter. Plus, he had multiple chances to wrest the starting QB position away from Chad and couldn’t do it. IMO, he’s as much of a question mark as a starter as Sanchez, who was the starting QB on USC…the closest team to an NFL franchise in college football. Clemens’ last full season start at Oregon in his senior season lasted only 8 games and he was in a spread offense. Sure, Clemens has more NFL experience, but that doesn’t mean he’d be automatically a better choice at QB.

Greenie’s reference to Ryan’s “choice” of Flacco came from a Ryan presser where he said, in effect, that he knew early on that Flacco was the best choice for QB1 and expressed that opinion in coaches meetings, but Harbaugh went, initially, with the vets. So, that was what Greenie was alluding to in his 30 seconds.

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:52:20 +0000

Lonnie G,

My sentiments exactly. It was Harbaugh’s decision, not Rex’s, and Flacco only played because the other two guys got hurt.

I don’t think Rex will be stupid enough to throw Sanchez to the wolves simply to start a rookie. The QB that offers the team the best chance to win will play, and in my estimation that will be KC, at least to start the season.

By: Scott/NY

Scott/NY — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:46:58 +0000

How could Clemens be considered a career backup
when there was Chad Pennington in front of him? Clemens development was also derailed because Ownership jumped at the opportunity to have Farve QB the team despite anything the QBs on the roster showed in camp. Thats why Pennington was dropped like a bad habit. How can anyone be considered a career backup when they haven’t been given a chance. Now the Jets have drafted Sanchez . Here’s hoping that he is the One to lead the Jets to the ultimate victory, but no one really knows the outcome. For all anyone knows, Clemens could actually still be the QB some of you have been searching for. Career backup? It is still too early to say.