QB issues around the league

[CGI_Ram]

What a strange start to 2015. Several top QB's are struggling and an amazing amount of teams have issues at the position.

There are some doing well; Brady, Rodgers, Dalton, Palmer

Some are doing "okay"; Ryan, Rivers, Taylor, Mariota, E Manning

A couple teams have their starters out: Roethlisberger, Romo

Typical studs, are off to slow starts; Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Stafford, Flacco, Wilson, Brees

The "next tier down" guys are up and down each week; Tannehill, Bridgewater, Bradford, Foles, Cultler, Kaeperdick, Alex Smith, Bortles, Cousins, Winston

As a general rule... The QB play this season seems really down, IMO.

 

[HometownBoy]

QB quality has just been falling in general, and defenses are just getting faster and finding ways to work around all these rules that basically make it so you can't even sneeze at the QB. I feel like we're seeing defenses adapting to the new NFL and as a result QBs that usually look fine are starting to feel pressure they're not used to.

 

[V3]

Perhaps it's partially due to poor O-line play many teams are dealing with right now?

There's too many QB's and O-lineman coming from spread offenses that have a tough time adjusting to the pro game.

 

[iced]

seems like the draft has had a lot more better pass rushers than blockers for awhile now, and this is a result

 

[Fatbot]

The QB play this season seems really down, IMO.

Agreed, it's all pretty bland and bad, but the funny thing is I think the reason is the opposite -- it's that QBs have actually become too good!

They are doing exactly what they are supposed to -- that is, completing short, safe passes that "take what the defense gives you", reducing risk and trying not to lose games instead of win them. NFL passing is all McDonalds now, the same happy meal for everyone that doesn't have a huge specialty markup but is cheap and easy and wins by volume.

Just for fun, in 1979 right after the major passing rules changes were enacted, barely half of the top 20 QBs had more TDs than INTs. Today 90% of all QBs, no matter how bad, have more TDs than INTs. Hall of Famer Roger Staubach posted an unheard of passer rating of 92.3 in 1979. Today, that's about the level of Brandon Weeden.

 

[OldSchool]

You can do this with OLines as well. There are probably 4 or 5 teams in the NFL right now happy with their Oline play the rest have problems.

 

[Mackeyser]

With spread offenses in college, colleges can use their best athletes at the skill positions and on D while putting less athletic players at OL and use scheme to win.

That doesn't work in the Pros. You need guys on the OL who can WIN in the Oklahoma, WIN their assignments, WIN when they need to get to the next level.

Essentially, you have college coaches who make $5M+ per annum to win, not to make pro players and the very best way to do that is to specialize. And they are.

What the pro game is finding out is that the college game has a much greater talent differential and larger rosters create a totally different dynamic. That much they knew. However, coaches are using those and exploiting those to their advantage to ever increasing degrees.

College coaches no longer seem to care about how many kids they send to the pros. They make their bank on National Championships and Conference Championships and Bowl games. College coaches are UNAPOLOGETIC about running systems which don't translate at all to the pro game.

When the NFL stops drafting kids from these spread systems, you'll see coaches go back to pro-style offenses. Not because they want to or because the spread doesn't work, but because the best recruits, the ones who want to go pro INSIST on a pro-style offense.

Until that happens, the NFL will continue to have QBs, OL and WRs who simply don't understand fundamentally how to play football at the pro level and teams are faced with having to teach someone like Greg Robinson, a person of IMMENSE physical talent something he should have learned in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

 

[Athos]

Some of the elites are getting older. Manning.

O-Lines probably factoring in too. The spread systems are probably impacting O-line play just as much as rookie QB development. Which is why I never trust those Baylor lineman. Yuck.

 

[rams2050]

Brady will do well until he can no longer hear the forbidden signals in his earbud that are being transmitted on that unknown frequency by Ernie 'Freakin' Adams.

Or until his old, creaking body gives out.

He will never leave the Cheats because if, when he does he will be found out to be a fraud. I know if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin' and Brady is always tryin' his best.

No wonder he takes less to play for the Cheats. If he played elsewhere there is no way he would do as well as he has.

 

[RaminExile]

Poor o-lines, guys getting older, most college QB's coming from a spread system. Perfect storm. The offensive line dearth is a really big problem though.

 

[Mackeyser]

It doesn't help when coaches are on a carousel that's shorter than the time it takes to coach guys up. That's part of why Fisher is such a big deal. If he succeeds in year 4 or 5, then his case will be used to try to impart on rebuilds that rebuilds take time and you can't replace 53 players in 3 years. A few teams have, but not every team can because not every draft pick works out and not every FA works out.

I just think that HS players need to get more savvy. They used to want money and girls, but they are getting smarter. If they have ANY designs on anything more than college ball, they need to restrict their choices to schools that run systems that are run BY the Pros so that their skills can be seen translating directly to the pro game.

 

[fearsomefour]

I don't know if I have seen a less convincing 5-0 team than the Broncos. They easily could have lost to Oakland yesterday. Their O just has no juice to it at all....

 

[Mackeyser]

That D is sick. That O is sickening.

And it's just not fun to watch Peyton Manning play such poor football.