Of the 8 backups currently starting that article focuses on, only 2 of them have won the job from a former starter that is now healthy: Levis and O’Connell.
Interesting to read Gannon’s comments on those two, especially in the context about his non-player-specific comments that the article featured, which are mostly about the importance of understanding protections:
Levis: “He’s one of these guys that when you’re the youngest kid in the neighborhood he wants to challenge all the kids to see how far he can throw it, he’s that guy. The accuracy and the decision-making and the lack of experience is a problem.”
O’Connell: “He’s got a lot of the intangibles you like — he’s poised, he’s comfortable in the pocket, he’s got good feet, good mechanics, he makes all the throws, he doesn’t get rattled, when he makes a mistake he’s able to quickly turn the page and come back. I think that kid’s got a chance.”
Keep my man Tommy Chicken Cutlets outta the damn thumbnail
I don’t feel like QBs have been that this season.
It’s just that the guys who get hyped ( Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Lawrence…basically the AFC QBs) have not been good and it’s actually clouding the excellent play of NFC guys who perennially never get ANY credit.
Purdy, Dak, Cousins, Stroud ( I know he’s in AFC but he’s a an OSU rookie people said would bee a bust) and Hurts have generally been good-great this year.
QB play is not as baad as people think…it’s jusst that the guys media generally push down our throats have not played up to the standard people expected…and so the general consensus has become “QBs are bad this year” when it’s not true
Right now there’s only two real elite guy (a first ballout HOF), Rodgers and Mahomes, and Rodgers is probably at end of his career. If you look at past decade or two, there was probably 4 or 5 at least.
There’s a bunch of players with a lot of potential but that don’t consistent perform at regular season, much less at playoffs. Right now there isn’t a manning/brady in sight. Maybe burrow was supposed to be that guy, but it’s the second time with a major injury in 4 years.
There is a giant emphasis on having a big athletic quarterback, even though if you go back and look at Super Bowl winning QBs, almost none of them are like that. The QBs that win are more often than not pocket passers who make good decisions and can throw the ball downfield. Makes no sense why teams don’t build around QBs like that anymore. Daniel Jones for example is a terrible QB. Has been given 5 years to prove himself and hasn’t really improved at all since his rookie year. But he is athletic and can run, so he gets a chance… again, makes absolutely no sense
- QBs athleticism and arm strength is more valued than their decision making skills and ability to read the defense. So when defenses force the QB to stay in the pocket, they miss all their reads and settle for a screen. 2) The run game isn’t used as much as it used to be. So instead of 2nd and 7, it’s 2nd and 10 a lot more which is a passing down and defenses are better prepared
O-line’s hung out to dry by pass happy OC’s.
Owners not understanding that you need a line before a QB.
O-line play in the trash can.
RB’s devalued.
Brady said the same thing:
https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2023/11/27/tom-brady-nfl-mediocrity-comment-quarterbacks-read-defenses-line-of-scrimmage-check/When Tom Brady said that there’s “a lot of mediocrity” in today’s NFL, some were confused and debated his point.
The Patriots icon further explained what he meant in the latest episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast, focusing more on the inability of quarterbacks to read defenses and check out of plays at the line of scrimmage. As Brady was discussing how well of a game the Eagles’ overtime win over the Bills was, Jim Gray (one of Brady’s co-hosts) asked him why we don’t see as many games as intense or as well-played as that one, calling back to Brady’s “mediocrity” comment.
“I think the point is, you want to see the game continue to grow and evolve,” Brady said. “That means better coaching, better quarterback play, and better defensive playcalling. I think a big difference too is the lack of time that coaches have with players, coaches have together in the building, people don’t understand the full picture a lot of the time.”
As Brady said that players at most positions only need to know how to do a few things well, he explained that quarterbacks “need to know what everyone is doing.” But he doesn’t think quarterbacks in the league now necessarily know as much as they should, placing some of the blame on coaches because they’re trying to “control the game from the sideline.”
“When you try to control the game from the sideline, you don’t have the answer for everything that’s happening on the field,” Brady said. “Ultimately, as a quarterback, I had all the things at my disposal to get us into a good play. … I had the ability to change the play to get us to a play that I thought would be more successful.
“I just don’t see as much of that in the NFL,” Brady added. “There’s a lot less time that people are spending on it. That’s just the reality. When I started, there was a lot more time we spent on it. Over those years, I developed a lot of those tools in my arsenal to get us into the best play.”
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Brady said that his ability to check out of bad plays at the line of scrimmage helped him win Super Bowls and made other quarterbacks, such as Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers, great. Now, he thinks that only Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and maybe a couple of other quarterbacks have the ability to check plays at the line of scrimmage.
Brady laid blame on the constant pressures of getting things right in the league for the lack of quarterbacks in the league today who are able to check out of plays at the line scrimmage, saying “in an effort to get it right, people are actually getting it more wrong.” As he thinks it’s particularly affecting young quarterbacks, he recalled that being able to spend time with the Patriots’ coaching staff during the offseason helped him check out of a play that led to an overtime win over the Chargers in his third career start.
“We were talking about how they were going to max blitz us,” Brady said. “We said, ‘OK, if they max blitz us and they get us in that look, we’ve got to check the protection to a seven-man protection, and let’s get the receiver a shot down the field.’ [They said that] to a second-year quarterback!
“I was in the system my whole first year. I was being taught by Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis. We had quarterbacks school and the offseason program. We get into overtime after going the full 60 minutes and I recognized they called this all-out blitz. I said, ‘[Expletive] this, I’m changing it.’ I changed the protection, I threw a deep ball to David Patten, pass interference and we got a 50-yard gain. We win the game on a field goal in overtime.”
Instead of seeing quarterbacks doing what he did at the line of scrimmage throughout his whole career, Brady believes there are too many quarterbacks and teams being “reactive” and trying to fix problems after the snap.
“The more you can be decisive as a quarterback, the better outcomes you’re going to have, the better your process is going to be,” Brady said. “You want to be really decisive as a quarterback. You want to be really sure of what you’re doing. But you need to be sure of the gameplan, the protections, who’s responsible for who if they blitz, and where all of the receivers are going. All of that takes time. We’ve got to allow these guys time to develop.
“The pro game is reflecting what the college game is as opposed to the college game reflecting what the pro game is,” Brady added. “We’re asking pro players to play college football. That’s the biggest difference I see. It’s way more checkers than it is chess. I tried to play chess. I wanted to have three moves ahead of you at all times.”
Why is the highest QBR of last week shown in this picture? He’s also a 5th round pick who was 3rd string and got zero first or second team snaps until a few weeks ago.
Wow Trent Dilfer and Rich Gannon are average Reddit commenters
Tom Brady was right.
Sounds like New York Post is projecting.
Lol
Time to nerf defenses I guess.
I’ve been saying this since last year. The middle of the pack guys only look good, because the bottom tier is that bad.