My hope all along has been that either Moore or Garrard played well enough to let RT sit the year. The reports from camp generally indicated that Garrard was doing that and easily ahead of Moore. I wasn't overly surprised b/c Moore is a poor fit for this system. He tends to be better when he can hold the ball rather than throw it as soon as his back heel hits. When I watched Moore in the game he seemed less comfortable than RT or even Devlin. He played okay and his stats were fine, but the quick passes don't seem to come natural for him. I believe that the team knew this and pursued Garrard and RT b/c Moore was never a possible future. At best he was fall back plan. If they were comfortable with Moore it would be easier to just stick with their plan of naming the starter before the third preseason game. He's the vet. The players like him and he performed well last season. After Garrard's injury, the only reasons to not follow the plan are if you don't think Moore's the guy or you want to give RT hope. I think it's obvious that RT is much more natural in the system and that he has better accuracy. His greater athleticism and mobility also help. RT looked like the better QB in the game and according to the majority of the camp reports after the OTAs. I think they're delaying it b/c they expect want RT to be the clear choice or they're hoping Garrard returns quickly.
I respectfully disagree. It really doesn't matter how great Rodgers is if the guy on the other end can't get open, catch the ball, or make a play after the catch..... and Jordy can dominate a defender in that regard. I'm not saying he does it every play, but he does it more often & better than 99% of the league IMO. [video=youtube;gxybRuj4jCU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxybRuj4jCU&playnext=1&list=PL00B208933CCA 926A&feature=results_video[/video] IMO one thing that has to be remembered is that Rodgers has the MAJOR benefit of having 2 receivers who rape isolated coverage; it makes life a lot easier for a QB when you know somebody should be open on nearly every play, and all you have to do is buy enough time to find him and then get him the ball. The group of Nelson, Jennings, Driver, Jones, Cobb, and Finley are a QB's dream and would make a lot of average QBs look much better than they really are. That group allows Rodgers to showcase his immense ability, just as the talent of that offense allowed Flynn a 480 yard, 6 TD game. And we can't say it's strictly "because" of offensive design b/c the players still have to execute. When was GB's only 2011 regular season loss? - Week 15 vs the Chiefs, 1 of 2 games GB didn't have Greg Jennings. GB scored only 14 points. - Rodgers' worst game of the regular season by far: 80.1 QBR, 48.6%, 6.7 avg, 235, 1 TD. - Compare that to his first 14 week per game avg w/ Jennings: 123.3 QBR, 69.6%, 9.42 avg, 320, 3 TD.
To further get into how WRs affect QB play, look at Peyton Manning's 2010 stats 1st 6 games............................ 103.4 QBR... 67.3%... 7.54 avg... 13 TD.... 2 Int... 5.12 TD%... 0.79 INT%. 3 games w/o Clark (with Collie)... 88.3 QBR... 69.0%... 6.47 avg.... 7 TD..... 5 Int... 4.93 TD%... 3.42 INT%. 7 games w/o Clark & Collie......... 83.4 QBR... 64.0%... 6.59 avg... 13 TD... 10 Int... 4.59 TD%... 3.50 INT%. **At one point Peyton lost 4 of 5 games with Clark & Collie injured. Then look at Manning's best 3 seasons, 2004-'06 * marked the only time Peyton had his 3 best 1st round weapons [Harrison, Wayne, Clark] on the field starting full seasons together. * '04 was Clark's 2nd season [first full one as a starter] and Wayne's 2nd season as full time starter, his breakout year. * Manning's only 100+ QBR seasons * Manning's lone SB win * Harrison was All-Pro all 3 years; Wayne became a ProBowler. * '04-05 featured All-Pro, 1st rounder, Edgerring James.... '06 saw ANOTHER 1st rounder, Addai. 2004-06 avg season.... 108.5 QBR... 4234... 36 TD (7.2%)... 10 INT (1.9%)... 67%... 8.4 avg. (with 3 weapons, 4 if you count Edgerrin) <compare that to seasons before & after> 2007-10 avg season..... 96.0 QBR... 4310... 31 TD (5.3%)... 15 INT (2.5%)... 67%... 7.4 avg. (2 great weapons) 1999-03 avg season..... 91.5 QBR... 4229... 28 TD (5.0%)... 16 INT (2.9%)... 64%... 7.5 avg. (1 major weapon) * I omitted his mediocre '98 rookie season so as to not skew the stats. * The above stats clearly show how much the surrounding talent means to a QB. * Efficiency clearly improves as more weapons are added. (I can probably dig up more examples to further show it) * Manning's 96.0 QBR ['07-10] was 18% higher than the 81.5 league-wide average. * Manning's 108.5 QBR ['04-06] was 37% higher than the 79.2 league-wide average, more than double that of '07-10. * What's more glaring is--- it's not like Peyton became a worse QB after '06. * Manning is obviously an elite QB [I'm not taking away from that], but his 3 seasons with those 3 guys (4 if you include James & Addai) were on another planet. * Any QB is lucky to have 1 HOF caliber WR like a Harrison or a Wayne, but having BOTH is crazy. Having BOTH along w/ Clark & Edgerrin is just plain unfair.
Yeah, Cruz is sick! Having Eli definitely helped him break out. When defenses start worrying as much or more about you than Hakeem Nicks, I'd say you're pretty good, no? On the flip side, it wasn't until Cruz went gangbusters that Eli emerged as a top NFL QB, broke into the NFL Top 100, and had his best season.
2007: Randy Moss & Tom Brady vs their best individual prior year Moss 2007: 98 catches (62.0% complete)..... 1493 yards... 15.2 avg... 23 TD... 293 yac... 74% 1st Down (with Brady) 2003: 111 catches (64.5% complete)... 1632 yards... 14.7 avg... 17 TD... 439 yac... 76% 1st Down (with Culpepper) Brady 2007: 4806 yards, 68.9%... 8.7 avg... 50 TD (8.7%)... 8 INT (1.4%).....117.2 QBR (with Moss, Welker, Stallworth, Ben Watson) 2004: 3692 yards, 60.8%... 7.8 avg... 28 TD (5.9%)...14 INT (3.0%)......92.6 QBR (with David Patterson, David Givens, Deion Branch, Daniel Graham) Almost seems like the WR had the greater affect on QB than QB on receiver.
I thought we should of went wr in the 2nd round it sucks major balls we didn't but not much we can do now. I felt this was a rebuild year anyways so wasn't expecting much just wanted to see some players progress. The way vontae is looking and acting is troublesome could see him gone next year and that would set us even further back.
My comments were not meant to be a sleight to WRs. Just as there are a lot of WRs that are made to look great by their QBs, there are a lot of talented WRs who look like garbage because the QB throwing them the ball sucks donkey balls. Most WRs that make it to the NFL level and have more than a couple years in the league are very talented athletes. Most know how to catch a ball. And there are varying levels of talent among WRs just like any other position. But in my humble opinion, great QBs make their WRs look better much more than great WRs make their QBs look better. Would Victor Cruz or Jordy Nelson be studs on other teams without a top 10 QB? It's possible. But I think people too often get way too wrapped up in the numbers certain WRs put up and give too much credit to the individual WR and not near enough to the QB throwing them the ball or the system they play in. Fin D is right that system plays a huge role as well.
