3/1/2004 - Rivers belongs in great QB debate

[tbell ncsu]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_9_228/ai_113805517

very much worth the read. *scroll down the page for the article.

[jubei]

excellent read...except the part on where Eli was mentioned as having strong leadership qualities. He's more like a "do what daddy tells me to do" guy.

[ZzzzzzT]

You'll find very little love for shEli on the Giants message boards this morning....It's BRUTAL I tell ya!

[IdahoChargerfan]

:Helmet: What a great article. In the start of the season I asked about 30 Charger fans what they thought of the upcoming season and they all said the same thing: :"I don't know about this Rivers' guy, Is he any good?" Well, I guess our question has been answered.

[ftwbolt]

November 24, 2006 By MICHAEL LEV Orange County Register (http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/columns/article_1364206.php)

With help from personnel evaluators and colleagues, I ranked starting quarterbacks, backups and overall QB situations before the season. Determining the order for the three passers taken in the first half of the 2004 draft was among the easiest elements of a difficult project: Ben Roethlisberger was first (sixth overall), Eli Manning second (16th) and Philip Rivers third (26th).

Many people had many objections with the chart as a whole - Marc Bulger just 17th? - and there's no doubt it was a subjective exercise. But no one could dispute the sequence of those three '04 quarterbacks. Roethlisberger had had an unprecedented start to his career, including a Super Bowl victory; Manning had shown great potential, including a playoff berth; and Rivers barely had played.

Well, 10 regular-season games later, the NFL landscape has shifted dramatically, as only it can. And so has our view of those quarterbacks from the '04 draft.

In the what-have-you-done-for-me- lately world of pro football, Rivers has lapped his draft-class mates. Roethlisberger is now a distant second, and Manning is third. (In that third-QB role, he technically would be inactive on game days. Oh, the indignity!)

This massive swing illustrates several facets of the QB-evaluation business: It shows how quickly our perceptions can change; how difficult it is to accurately grade quarterbacks; that many external factors influence those assessments; and that the process is ongoing, even never- ending.

Just a month ago, one could have stated and won a case for Manning being No.1, which was where the San Diego Chargers drafted him before trading him to the New York Giants for Rivers and a bunch of other stuff. (Giants fans find that last part harder to digest than that extra half-piece of pumpkin pie Thursday night.)

Through four games, Manning had a 67.1 completion percentage, a 9-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio and had passed for at least 247 yards in every game. In the past six games, his completion percentage is 50.5, his TD-INT ratio is 7-8 and he has topped 200 yards only once.

Now, some of that is circumstantial; the Giants had sizable leads in some of those games, requiring less passing, and at least two featured prohibitive Meadowlands winds. It's also worth noting that the Giants won four of those six and just two of the first four.

But Manning doesn't look like the same confident, accurate passer who led the Giants back from the dead in a Week 2 overtime stunner at Philadelphia. He more resembles the rookie version of himself, throwing off his back foot and misfiring on passes he should complete.

It's premature to say he has regressed to that degree; he might be in a simple slump - even brother Peyton has 'em - or he might miss injured Amani Toomer more than he's letting on. (Plaxico Burress batted about .500 on passes thrown his way Monday night.)

There's no question, however, that Manning has been less effective than Rivers on a team with similarly lofty expectations. The same applies to Roethlisberger and Rivers, the former adding the unsightly turnover to a year full of post-Super Bowl misfortune.

Roethlisberger did not play well in XL, but his Pittsburgh Steelers prevailed, and life was good.

Then came the life-threatening, sans-helmet motorcycle accident; the season-delaying emergency appendectomy; and the boatload of interceptions that has everyone wondering whether Big Ben's prince-to-frog transformation is irreversible.

Roethlisberger has a league-high 17 picks on his ledger, many of them in-the- red-zone drive killers.

His decision-making has been questionable to say the least.

But how much of that is injury-induced? How much of it stems from the personnel losses around him? How much of it is indisputably Roethlisberger's fault?

The answers vary; basically, it depends on whom you ask.

But quiz anyone this side of Bill Cowher on which quarterback they'd rather have today, and the response is universal: It's Rivers in a landslide.

If he keeps playing the way he has, he won't relinquish the crown.

Check back in a few weeks, though, for an update. These things have a way of changing.

[JtBoY20]

here's my take on the best QBs in the league this year
1. Philip Rivers -----his first official season as the starter, possibly could make some fans forget about Drew Brees.
2. Peyton Manning
3. Drew Brees ----he played good in San Diego..
4. Tony Romo
5. Carson Palmer --even though his team has been playing poorly he still manages to play good