- Is it just me or is Indianapolis Colts rookie starting quarterback Andrew Luck receiving much more credit than he deserves? Granted, the Colts were the worst team in the NFL last year and are in the thick of the playoff reason this season under Luck's lead. However, as Joe Theismann once put it, "When things are going bad, the quarterback gets blamed more than he should and when things are going well, he gets more credit than he should." I'm not saying Andrew Luck won't be a fine quarterback someday. To be perfectly honest, I think in the long haul, he's going to be somewhat reminiscent of Peyton Manning. However, that's all speculation at this point. In the here and now, Andrew Luck is not the main reason the Colts are doing so well and the media needs to cut it out with that narrative. Let's look at the numbers. Luck is tied for first in all the league for most interceptions thrown with 16 (tied with Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints). In comparison, fellow top 5 rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins has thrown only 4 interceptions this season. Luck's completion percentage ranks him 32nd in the league (out of 34) - only ahead of Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets and John Skelton of the Arizona Cardinals - a full 0.5 and 0.8 percentage points ahead of those two at 55.5%. His quarterback rating of 76.1 ranks him 29th in the league out of 34. Jacksonville's Blaine Gabbert even has a higher rating than Luck. Again, this isn't to say that Luck won't make a fine quarterback someday. I honestly think he will. However, let's not give the guy too much praise too early. If just about any other quarterback in the league had these kinds of numbers - 55.5 completion percentage, 16 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 76.1, he would not be called the savior of a team. He'd be called an average quarterback, who's prone to making mistakes.
- The quarterback controversy in New York (Jets) amuses me. Granted, starter Mark Sanchez has had a pretty lousy year. I have often times defended the quarterback, because he had been improving each and every year from a statistical vantage point, however that hasn't been the case this year. The guy hasn't received much help from his teammates, but no matter how much one wants to defend the guy, this year has been a step backwards for him. On the other hand, who else do the Jets really have to start at quarterback? Third stringer Greg McElroy seemed to be hailed as a savior after he brought the Jets back to beat the Cardinals 7-6. For the game, McElroy completed 5 of 7 passes for 29 yards, and 1 touchdown. Let's look that over for a moment here. McElroy wasn't a guy that led his team back from a couple scores down with great decision making, NFL quarterback-quality reads and passes, etc. The guy completed over 71% of his passes, yet only averaged a pathetic 4.1 yards per completion. That would rank him tops in the league in completion percentage and at the very bottom of the league in yards per attempt. What's even sadder is the fact one of McElroy's five completions went for a 13-yard gain. This means that his other six pass attempts went for a total of only 16 yards - an average of only 2.7 yards per! Who's ranked 34th out of 34 in yards per pass attempt? That would be one John Skelton of the Arizona Cardinals, who this season has averaged 5.91 yards per pass attempt - a full 1.81 more yards per attempt than McElroy's full game on Sunday and an astounding 3.21 more yards per attempt minus McElroy's 13-yard pass. Without that one completion by McElroy, the guy ranked dead last in all the NFL in yards per pass attempt would have more than doubled his from Sunday. So, please, let's not pretend that Greg McElroy showed himself to be the new face of the New York Jets and that he's their quarterback of the future. Mark Sanchez may not be getting the job done, but there's no way in hell we know what McElroy can or cannot bring to the table based on his performance this past weekend!
- Am I the only one that feels kind of sorry for San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Alex Smith? The guy has won the majority of his starts these past couple years. He leads the league in completion percentage at an even 70.0. He's among the league leaders in quarterback rating at 104.1. The guy may not have game-dominating capability like a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, but he seems to be an improved Trent Dilfer. The guy plays smart, doesn't turn the ball over very much, is very efficient, and can even run for a first down every now and again. The guy didn't do anything to lose the starting quarterback job other than get hurt. Colin Kaepernick appears to be a very exciting, bright, up and coming quarterback. He's more dangerous in the running game than Smith, yet hasn't proven he'll be as consistent and efficient in the passing game. Head coach Jim Harbaugh has a good problem on his hands with two seemingly very solid NFL quarterbacks, but he hasn't handled the situation very well, and I can all but guarantee there are 5-10 other teams licking their chops at the chance of nabbing Smith in the off-season. This next team I'm going to mention may be one of those very clubs...
- Am I surprised that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid decided to stick with back-up quarterback Nick Foles for the rest of the season? Not at all. However, do I think it's going to do much in the long-term or potentially save Reid's job? Not really. ESPN wrote a bit the other day on how Foles has gotten quite lucky to this point in the season. The guy has already thrown three interceptions in 133 pass attempts. He's had four others dropped - already nearing the top of the NFL leaderboard in that statistic. The guy should have 7 interceptions in 133 pass attempts, which would result in him being picked off at an alarming rate of 5.3%. The guy has good size to be an NFL quarterback and appears to be quite studious and intelligent, however, my gut tells me he'll be a quality back-up in the long-term. In any case, I think the quarterback talk in Philly has diverted attention away from the team's real problems. For the season, Eagles quarterbacks have completed close to 60% of their passes for nearing 3,000 yards, 13 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a quarterback rating in the high 70s. These are very average numbers, but while not great, aren't the main reason why the Eagles are 3-9 this year. The Eagles quarterbacks have a higher completion percentage, higher quarterback rating, and fewer interceptions than Andrew Luck of the Colts if that says anything. The problems have resided on the team's lines. Philly quarterbacks have been sacked 35 times this year, compared to the Eagles defense only sacking the opposition on 20 occasions. Philly's pass defense has allowed 23 touchdowns (6.1% of the time), only picked the ball off 7 times, and get this - opposing quarterbacks have a rating of 98.8 against the Eagles defense. Ouch!
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/sf/san-francisco-49ers
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/phi/philadelphia-eagles
- The quarterback controversy in New York (Jets) amuses me. Granted, starter Mark Sanchez has had a pretty lousy year. I have often times defended the quarterback, because he had been improving each and every year from a statistical vantage point, however that hasn't been the case this year. The guy hasn't received much help from his teammates, but no matter how much one wants to defend the guy, this year has been a step backwards for him. On the other hand, who else do the Jets really have to start at quarterback? Third stringer Greg McElroy seemed to be hailed as a savior after he brought the Jets back to beat the Cardinals 7-6. For the game, McElroy completed 5 of 7 passes for 29 yards, and 1 touchdown. Let's look that over for a moment here. McElroy wasn't a guy that led his team back from a couple scores down with great decision making, NFL quarterback-quality reads and passes, etc. The guy completed over 71% of his passes, yet only averaged a pathetic 4.1 yards per completion. That would rank him tops in the league in completion percentage and at the very bottom of the league in yards per attempt. What's even sadder is the fact one of McElroy's five completions went for a 13-yard gain. This means that his other six pass attempts went for a total of only 16 yards - an average of only 2.7 yards per! Who's ranked 34th out of 34 in yards per pass attempt? That would be one John Skelton of the Arizona Cardinals, who this season has averaged 5.91 yards per pass attempt - a full 1.81 more yards per attempt than McElroy's full game on Sunday and an astounding 3.21 more yards per attempt minus McElroy's 13-yard pass. Without that one completion by McElroy, the guy ranked dead last in all the NFL in yards per pass attempt would have more than doubled his from Sunday. So, please, let's not pretend that Greg McElroy showed himself to be the new face of the New York Jets and that he's their quarterback of the future. Mark Sanchez may not be getting the job done, but there's no way in hell we know what McElroy can or cannot bring to the table based on his performance this past weekend!
- Am I the only one that feels kind of sorry for San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Alex Smith? The guy has won the majority of his starts these past couple years. He leads the league in completion percentage at an even 70.0. He's among the league leaders in quarterback rating at 104.1. The guy may not have game-dominating capability like a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, but he seems to be an improved Trent Dilfer. The guy plays smart, doesn't turn the ball over very much, is very efficient, and can even run for a first down every now and again. The guy didn't do anything to lose the starting quarterback job other than get hurt. Colin Kaepernick appears to be a very exciting, bright, up and coming quarterback. He's more dangerous in the running game than Smith, yet hasn't proven he'll be as consistent and efficient in the passing game. Head coach Jim Harbaugh has a good problem on his hands with two seemingly very solid NFL quarterbacks, but he hasn't handled the situation very well, and I can all but guarantee there are 5-10 other teams licking their chops at the chance of nabbing Smith in the off-season. This next team I'm going to mention may be one of those very clubs...
- Am I surprised that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid decided to stick with back-up quarterback Nick Foles for the rest of the season? Not at all. However, do I think it's going to do much in the long-term or potentially save Reid's job? Not really. ESPN wrote a bit the other day on how Foles has gotten quite lucky to this point in the season. The guy has already thrown three interceptions in 133 pass attempts. He's had four others dropped - already nearing the top of the NFL leaderboard in that statistic. The guy should have 7 interceptions in 133 pass attempts, which would result in him being picked off at an alarming rate of 5.3%. The guy has good size to be an NFL quarterback and appears to be quite studious and intelligent, however, my gut tells me he'll be a quality back-up in the long-term. In any case, I think the quarterback talk in Philly has diverted attention away from the team's real problems. For the season, Eagles quarterbacks have completed close to 60% of their passes for nearing 3,000 yards, 13 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a quarterback rating in the high 70s. These are very average numbers, but while not great, aren't the main reason why the Eagles are 3-9 this year. The Eagles quarterbacks have a higher completion percentage, higher quarterback rating, and fewer interceptions than Andrew Luck of the Colts if that says anything. The problems have resided on the team's lines. Philly quarterbacks have been sacked 35 times this year, compared to the Eagles defense only sacking the opposition on 20 occasions. Philly's pass defense has allowed 23 touchdowns (6.1% of the time), only picked the ball off 7 times, and get this - opposing quarterbacks have a rating of 98.8 against the Eagles defense. Ouch!
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/sf/san-francisco-49ers
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/phi/philadelphia-eagles
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