Hard To Win In NFL Long Term Without Good Starting QB

[Mike75]

The winners and losers in the NFL come down to one main thing the QB position. This will be the reason Rex Ryan will likely lose his job as the coach of N.Y. Jets after this season. Shame though because Rex to me is a hell of a coach and took the Jets to two straight AFC Championship games but on the backs of a good defense because his supporting cast at QB was terrible in Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith. Even Lombardi would have trouble winning with those QB's.

 

Another team just starting out with a new head coach is Tennessee Titans with Ken Whisenhunt who can tell you first hand how hard it was after he went to Super Bowl with Kurt Warner in Arizona and Warner retired it became a QB carousel. Whisenhunt eventually got fired after he trotted out six starters at QB in Arizona and none panned out. Interestingly he went to a place Tennessee who hasn't had a good QB since McNair left a decade ago but still had occassional winning seasons due to good defenses going 9-7 as recently as 2011 and had the league best record 13-3 in 2008.

 

Tennessee has also had horrible luck at the QB spot recently wasting four years on Jake Locker who missed 19 out of 37 starts due to injury and even when he did play he wasn't nothing special. As a fan of Tennessee myself i think they finally lucked into a good QB in rookie Zach Mettenberger who led the NFL in passing this preseason and Tennessee drafted him in the sixth round.

 

Mettenberger was rated as a second rounder but fell to the sixth round due to ACL injury/off the field issues. I do think he will get better but 27 of 41 passing with 2TD and 1INT is pretty good for a first start against JJ Watt and Texans defense but Tennessee and Mettenberger lost 30-16. Most rookies struggle with pocket presence,handling pressure and accuracy but Mettenberger although a rookie does really well in all three areas while his only concern is a shitty offensive line.

 

Ironically Tennessee has the highest paid offensive line with first rounders and high priced free agents but is actually close to last performance wise. Once Tennessee fixes the line,gets a good power back and improves the defense they will be better.

 

Blake Bortles should get better once he gets the interceptions under control in Jacksonville. Derek Carr has played very well in Oakland but they are still mired in losing. Teddy Bridgewater is doing well in Minnesota so far this season. Mettenberger,Bortles,Carr and Bridgewater all play for losing squads right now but you have to think down the line these teams will get better once the QB's progress and the teams add more weapons.

 

Nowhere is this theory about hard to win without good QB more true than in Denver. We all know without Peyton Manning Denver would be nowhere near as good as they are now.

 

I personally prefer getting a good veteran QB and having a real good defense which one team has done well doing this and that is Arizona. I originally wanted Carson Palmer but they are doing well with him and a good defense. Another team doing well with that approach is Kansas City with veteran Alex Smith and a good defense which last year went to 11-5 and doing well this year too. Another doing this is Kyle Orton and Buffalo with the vet QB and stout defense approach.

 

Some teams like Green Bay and Indy seem to have all the luck in finding long term great QB's. Indy has had Manning and Luck the last two decades while Green Bay has Favre and Rodgers. New England has been lucky with Bledsoe and Brady the past two decades. Philly has done well with McNabb and now Foles. Cincy has done well the last decade with Palmer and then Dalton.

 

Baltimore had to depend on a good defense until finally finding their first decent QB Joe Flacco. Carolina,Seattle,San Francisco have done well with stout defenses and dual threat QB's. Washington although they have dual threat RG3 have a problem because their backup QB Colt McCoy looks like the real deal but they may have to let him go in 2015 due to RG3 huge contract being cemented at starter.

 

Down in Texas Houston is finding it hard to win after Matt Schaub went downhill and now they have Ryan Fitzpatrick. Dallas has a good QB in Romo and doing well with a stout running game and good defense.

 

Pittsburgh,New York and San Diego all got good QB's in 2004 in Roethlisberger,Manning and Rivers. That draft will go down as one of the best ever for QB's. 1983 will always be best.

 

New Orleans got very lucky with Drew Brees in 2006 especially since Miami passed on him and are still trying to find a successor to Marino. Glennon i thought showed promise in Tampa last year not sure what the deal is now. I've always liked Stafford in Detroit and they are doing well this year. Not sure what is going on with Matt Ryan and Atlanta this season.

 

Another team struggling is Chicago who does have a good QB Jay Cutler and good offense but struggling on defense.

 

Brian Hoyer could leave Cleveland after this year since Manziel could play and teams like St. Louis could be on the lookout for a good up and coming vet like Hoyer.

 

Every year or two a veteran QB comes out on the market and teams get lucky if they pick the right one. Colt McCoy and Brian Hoyer aren't top of the crop vets but will get big contracts from new places.

 

Sometimes good defenses will get you there but long term if you don't have a good QB things will eventually come to a head as Rex Ryan is finding out.

[FISHHEAD]

Yup

[Brutus Buckeye]

A quarterback makes or breaks your team. If you have a good o-line even better.