Week 3: Non-Packers

[El Duderino]

I was actually surprised by the generally smart game Grossman played tonight, even with the game ending fumble. Multiple times he just threw the ball away when nothing was there instead of trying to force a pass in there as he used to do. He seems to have learned at least somewhat from mistakes of his younger days.

Watching him though, i think his bigger problem now is that he just isn't that skilled as a quarterback. He's a bit short for a QB, his arm is decent but not great, he's not immobile but he can't make plays on the move either, and his accuracy is only decent.

With a quality team around a quarterback with those skills, a team can maybe win 8 games or 9 at most, but that's the ceiling in today's NFL where upper tier quarterbacks dominate the league like never before. For the most part in the NFL today, the league is about 10 teams with a good to upper tier QB and then the rest who don't, except for teams with a young talent like say Cam Newton. Those without a good to upper tier QB have no shot at all to be a realistic Super Bowl contender. The days of riding a good running game, defense, and special teams to a title as say Tampa and Baltimore did with Dilfer/Johnson are over.

[Ayt]

Dude, it wasn't that long ago that Grossman was the QB for a SB team. He's grown a bit as a QB since that point, IMO, so he's better than the Grossman that played that season.

How much worse would the odds for the SB be for the Ravens if Grossman was the QB instead of Failco? What about the Jets? Even the Steelers?

[El Duderino]

Dude, it wasn't that long ago that Grossman was the QB for a SB team. He's grown a bit as a QB since that point, IMO, so he's better than the Grossman that played that season.

Even just five years IMO is fairly significant in just how much the NFL of today as evolved from a passing game perspective. The NFL of 2006 is different from the 2011 NFL.

The mix of rule changes which don't allow DB's to touch receivers, hit receivers hard after catching the ball, quarterbacks being pretty much off limits from being hit hard, and just how advanced many passing games are today via teams with a upper tier QB, it's largely rendered the running game to be irrelevant. Sure, teams still need a running game to keep defenses honest and for short yardage situations, but i simply have a hard time envisioning a team winning a Super Bowl that has a mostly run based offense. It's just to hard to win enough regular season games and then multiple playoff games today with an offense not QB driven because teams with upper tier to elite quarterbacks can score to many points. Also, the new kickoff rule lessens the impact that special teams can have like the 2006 Bears thrived on besides good defense.

How much worse would the odds for the SB be for the Ravens if Grossman was the QB instead of Failco? What about the Jets? Even the Steelers?

Flacco certainly has limitations, but he's better than Grossman without question to me. Remove Roethlisberger and replace him with Grossman during those years, i doubt they make it to any of those Super Bowls. Plus, you mention the Jets/Ravens. Both have won many games the last two years, but haven't made it to a Super Bowl, much less win it. To me, the main thing that has separated the Ravens from the Steelers the last few years as they've continued to butt heads is Roethlisberger is better than Flacco.