2013 Offseason Update, Week 15

The 'Patriot Killer' is now a member of the Tennessee Titans and has
chosen not to attend the Raven's White House visit in June.
Photo credit to IBN Sports Wrap.

There were a few interesting pieces of news this week. In addition, a friend of mine has been arguing with me that Joe Flacco is an elite quarterback due to his recent Super Bowl MVP award. So I’d like to go over my top current NFL quarterbacks and cover why I don’t consider Flacco one of the NFL’s elite just yet.

Bernard Pollard to Boycott Ravens’ White House Visit

When the Ravens visit the White House as Super Bowl champions this June, Bernard Pollard will not be with them. The safety was released by Baltimore in March and is now with the Titans on a one-year deal.

Some think Pollard is being childish, holding a grudge, and that he will regret this decision when he is retired from the NFL, especially if he fails to win a Super Bowl with another team. But I respectfully disagree. I would not want to carry the memory of visiting the White House with my former teammates and the team executives who released me so soon after helping them win it all.

Freeney, Cribbs Land on West Coast

Josh Cribbs has been in the NFL since 2005, Freeney since ’02, and both have known only one team during their careers.

In eight years with the Browns, Josh Cribbs has made three Pro Bowl rosters and was named to the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team. He is also tied with Leon Washington for the most kickoff return touchdowns in NFL history with eight. He signed a one-year deal with the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday.

Dwight Freeney is entering his 12^th year in the NFL after spending the first 11 in Indianapolis. He was a major part of a strong defensive unit that helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI and was a part of their AFC Championship in 2009. A 7-time Pro Bowler and the Colts’ all-time sacks leader, Freeney was a part of the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team with Josh Cribbs. He agreed in principle to a two-year deal with the Chargers on Saturday.

NFL’s Top Quarterbacks

At any given time, there can be several elite active quarterbacks in the NFL. There have also been times when there were no elite active quarterbacks. Right now, I see four of them.

1) Aaron Rodgers

2) Peyton Manning

3) Drew Brees

4) Tom Brady

I also see two quarterbacks who have shown flashes of brilliance but who have minor inconsistencies keeping them from being truly elite.

5) Matt Ryan

6) Eli Manning

Then I see a few more quarterbacks who could get there but have either been severely too inconsistent or are just too young to be considered in that group so soon.

7) Joe Flacco

8) Tony Romo

T-9) Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick

My Take on Joe Flacco’s ‘Elite-ness’

Now, before the Flacco lovers rip my list to shreds, let me first say that I was more generous to Joe than NFL.com, who this week ranked him the 13^th best quarterback in the NFL, behind Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, RGIII, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson and even Cam Newton. They put Flacco in a group of ‘Solid Dudes’ with Tony Romo, Matt Stafford and Jay Cutler.

Now, the real question you probably want answered is: why do I rank Matt Ryan and Eli Manning not only ahead of Flacco, but far enough ahead that they deserve their own group in which I do not include Flacco?

Well, in Eli’s case, he has shown consistent growth over his career. He had a solid, if under-reported, season in 2007 helping his team to a wild-card birth and a Super Bowl victory over the 18-0 New England Patriots. He was a big part in the Giants constantly getting better over the course of that season. He continued his growth until he had a truly elite season in 2011. Last year was the first time in his career that he took a step back from his previous accomplishments. For that, I do not consider him elite, but he could join that group with another strong season or two and more consistency afterwards. Remember that Manning had a much better season than Joe Flacco did during the Giants’ 2011 Super Bowl run.

Matt Ryan has been one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks since his sophomore season, consistently putting up great regular season numbers. He would have been the league MVP last year if it wasn’t for his 5-INT game against the Cardinals. In fact, in just about every way except for passing yards, I think Matt Ryan is a better quarterback than Drew Brees and Tom Brady. The thing holding him back is a very poor game or two every regular season and the postseason troubles. Granted, most of their postseason failure has been more due to poor game planning than due to Ryan – with the one exception being their 24-2 loss to New York in 2011 – but until he clearly gets over that hump, it will be difficult to make a strong argument for him being elite.

Now, what about Joe Flacco? He’s won a playoff game every year of his career, the first quarterback to do so through five seasons in the league. He just won Super Bowl MVP – though I do call your attention to the fact that other non-elites like Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien have also won that award – and threw for 11 TDs and no INTs during the postseason, leading the Ravens past the Colts, Broncos, Patriots and 49ers. So why in the world don’t I consider him elite?!

It takes more than 4 spectacular postseason games to make you elite. “But it’s the playoffs,” you might say. “They’re the most important games.” Not so. If you don’t play well in the regular season, you generally don’t make the playoffs. Based on his playoff numbers, he should have been able to throw for 44 touchdowns during the regular season. He threw just 22. He played two terrible games against the Steelers when Big Ben wasn’t even playing. The only truly elite game he played during the 2012 regular season was in Week 1 against the Bengals – you could make an argument for the Raiders game, but it’s the Raiders, they don’t count.

So Matt Ryan had one non-elite game in 2012, Joe Flacco has one actually-elite game in 2012. It’s not even close right now, in my opinion. That doesn’t mean that Flacco couldn’t rip off a season for the ages in 2013. If he does so, I’ll concede that he is an elite quarterback. But that won’t mean that he was elite before 2013 began. He’s just not there yet. Joe Montana wasn’t elite yet when he won his first Super Bowl MVP in 1982. So stop rushing the process Flacco Faithful.