Friday, November 11, 2005

Mid-Season Best: Quarterback

The Best Quarterbacks So Far This Season:
First of all, even though he has the best QB rating, I'm not putting Roethlisberger in my top four. Anybody that has only put the ball in the air only 130 times in half a season doesn't deserve to be mentioned as a top QB for the year. A good QB who manages the game well and doesn't make too many mistakes? Yes. Crucial to the Steeler's success and someone who shouldn't be underestimated? Yep. But you got to fling it to be on my pass-happy list (I'm a Ram fan for hell's sake, what do you expect?). Anyway...here's the top four:

1. Carson Palmer, 2. Peyton Manning, 3. Tom Brady, 4. Jake Plummer

1. Palmer and the Bengals haven't beaten anybody of significance yet but his stats don't lie. His completion percentage is 70%. That's insane. Over 2285 passing yards with 18 TDs and 5 interceptions. 106 .3 passer rating. If he can put it together in the playoffs maybe he can live up to the hype his play is creating. Now if Chris Berman could just quit with the Johnny Carson theme music I might actually enjoy Bengal highlights.


2. Manning started off slow but has picked it up the past few games and now has the third best QB rating at 101.2 (coincidently, the same digits as his favorite radio station which plays Kenny Loggins tunes all the time). He's approaching 2000 yards and has 14 TDs, 6 picks. More importantly he's playing smart this year. I don't believe he was only interested in stats the past few years, but I do think he thought the best way to win games was by scoring as fast as he could. He's learned patience this year (it helps when you know your defense isn't going to be scored on like Tara Reid at a B-list party) and maybe he can beat the Pats in the playoffs this year. Maybe.

3. Brady is the only reason this team leads their division. Oh, and the fact that the Jets and Dolphins QB's are so bad that their game film should be destroyed and never discussed again. Ever. Holcomb has been decent for the Bills but Tom Brady has shown me that not only can he play well when the game is on the line, but he can play well when he has to pass most of the time. Dillon has been disappointing and hobbled this year but Brady has compensated as he has completed 63% of his passes for over 2200 yards, 12 TDs and only 4 interceptions. I hate his guts (loved the Indy game) and I hope he turns into Aaron Brooks sometime this season, but let's just say if I was a betting man I would have a man-crush on Tom.

4. I don't believe Jake Plummer is the MVP candidate that some are making him out to be, but he's having a career year with a 60% completion percentage and has a 91.3 QB rating (even he can't believe it). Sure Bledsoe, Brees, and Delhomme all are having good years and have more yards and little better rating than Jake, but they also have thrown really bad interceptions at crucial times this year (leading to defeats). Bledsoe's pick against Seattle still makes me throw up in my mouth. Jake has only 3 interceptions this year while still throwing for over 1600 yards. Now it's a little early to decide whether Plummer is truly a changed man (same with Bledsoe) but he has played extremely well this year.

2 comments:

Greg said...

I agree with these completely. Bulger was on pace to be on this list before getting hurt. As a Bulger fantasy owner I'm happy to see him back this weekend.

Hey, lemme ask you. As a Rams fan, are you happy to see Martz out? I (along with seemingly everyone else) never really liked him. I always viewed him as arrogant and an overrated coach. Now, if he's your dad, you're probably pissed and I apologize. Of course, the odds of that are like, what? 2:1? Seriously though, what's your take on Martz and are you happy he's gone?

The Armchair Quarterback said...

Sadly, Martz disowned me after I displayed a knack for happy feet in the pocket at age 3. We've had a love hate relationship ever since. -- I'm actually quite relieved Martz is gone for the year. He's the reason I started this blog if truth be told. I went on a Ram's message board in September and ranted about this "genius" and realized I liked putting my sports gripes, thoughts, etc. into a written form. If you really want to know how I feel about the guy then I've pasted one of my first posts on this blog(Oct 3)below. If you want the short answer, here it is: Martz=idiot, Martz=Satan, Martz=destroyer of worlds, Martz=...umm...what was the question?

-I wrote this after the Ram's Giant's game (Oct, 2):

--- Is it just me, or is Mike Martz the worst game management coach you have ever seen in your life. This guy goes through timeouts like I go through toilet paper after a big bowl of chili. --Geez Mike, do you think maybe those things might come in handy at the end of a game? ---Now the Rams didn't end up needing those timeouts against the Giants yesterday,-- but they could have, had "Mad Mike" not decided to get cute in the 3rd quarter down only 10 points. He calls a reverse play on 3rd and 3 on the 6 yard line. Are you kidding me?! Now even if it hadn't been fumbled there were enough Giants not fooled by the play that it still would have gone for a loss. When asked about the play after the game Martz was more perplexed at who he had in the game at the time of the play. He was puzzled that it was Steven Jackson tossing the ball. Martz said, "Marshall always does it, and Marshall wasn't in the game," "And that's an issue for me. We've always practiced it with Marshall. And he's supposed to be in the game at that time, so there was some confusion. ... That's a coaching deal all the way."
---Really, Mike? A coaching deal? Do you think maybe your lack of protection for Bulger, your haphazard use of the running game, your atrocious attention to special teams play, your horrific clock management, not to mention your 2-2 record are "coaching deals" too? ---I do.