Is There a QB In The League....

[-AC-]

This article seemed like an exercise in futility. It was basically, "Hey, who do you think is the most [fill in attribute] among these five guys?" And then these guys, many of them with little exposure to these QBs other than what they've seen on the field, weigh in on a wide range of intangibles. The durability thing is just plain dumb. Only RGIII has ever had issues with durability. How can you compare the rest when they have literally never missed a game?

Not going to go through them all individually, but I was struck by one in particular:

Intelligence

Rankings: 1. Luck 2. Griffin 3. Wilson 4. Kaepernick 5. Newton

I think Kaepernick is seriously underestimated in this area. I know it's not necessarily in-game intelligence, but Kap scored an impressive 37 on the Wonderlic, same as Luck. Wilson came in at 28, Griffin at 24, and Newton at 21. Kap is perhaps still adjusting somewhat to a pro-style offense and reading an NFL D, but he's a very smart guy and a very hard worker, working with one of the more successful QB whisperers out there.

I bet if you asked 10 different "experts" you would get 10 different answers...

 

[yossarian]

NFL Hot Read -- How do young QBs become great? - ESPN

In the intelligence section, they quote Warren Moon, who is the color commentator for the Seahawks. I've heard Warren Moon, and he is not an unbiased source at all about Wilson. Also having Moon comment about Wilson's "urgency" is absurd, Wilson doesn't work any harder than Kaepernick, I've read the local stories about Wilson and he's no different than Kaepernick. I can't believe that Moon was their go to source for two of these categories.

 

[MHSL82]

NFL Hot Read -- How do young QBs become great? - ESPN

Those rankings are biased lay wrong, in my biased opinion. I like this one better:

3 factors that differentiate rising QB stars - ESPN

Similar, a bit.

Dan Graziano's MVP Watch - NFL Nation Blog - ESPN

 

[yossarian]

One more thing about the intelligence section --- Goodwin said in the Atlanta playoff game that Kaep audibled about 40% of the time and had them in the correct call every single time. Harbaugh/Roman's offense is very complicated pre snap in terms of the calling out the plays and protections etc., Dilfer's comments I think are a little off the mark.

 

[willtalk]

One more thing about the intelligence section --- Harbaugh/Roman's offense is very complicated pre snap in terms of the calling out the plays and protections etc., Dilfer's comments I think are a little off the mark.

A little off the mark. LOL I think you are being very kind. I don't believe that Dilfer or a lot of the other so called experts have an actual clue about the complexity of the 49er offense. They don't understand the pistol or how many variations that can be run out of that formation alone let alone the complexity of the read option as it is run by the 49er's. Many of the writers and commentators purely do superficial research on the teams they comment on. They possess far less knowledge about the individual teams than a well informed fan of that team does.

I am often shocked at the lack of insight displayed by even the writers that cover the Niner's exclusively. They do this for a living so more should be expected from them.

 

[JDM]

He threw a late out route to the long side of the field. And he didn't step into it. It was a bad decision or a bad throw, take your pick. Either way it was bad on his part.

I already said he was having trouble stepping into his throws the entire first half. He took time to get comfortbable in the pocket and it showed. Despite that it still took an all star caliber play to intercept the ball. Sometimes you give your guy a shot.

He did settle into more comfortable play during the second half. Philly didn't ease up on the pressure, and they were playing pass the entir fourth quarter, and he came pretty damn close to bringing them back. Yes, his first half showed rust. That is to be expected. But if he can play more like he played in the second half, he is the guy I would be most scared to face in the playoffs. His team isn't enough support yet, so he will take a couple years to turn them into a strong contender, but in and of himself they have a legitimate shot to make the right run and win a Super Bowl. If you could put any QB in the league on a tough opponent and ask who I would like to play the least, the guy that scares me is RG3. I am not a big Shanahan fan, either, but RG3 was the best move of his career. He will be that good.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

In the intelligence section, they quote Warren Moon, who is the color commentator for the Seahawks. I've heard Warren Moon, and he is not an unbiased source at all about Wilson. Also having Moon comment about Wilson's "urgency" is absurd, Wilson doesn't work any harder than Kaepernick, I've read the local stories about Wilson and he's no different than Kaepernick. I can't believe that Moon was their go to source for two of these categories.

Yeah, that was my thought. If Moon is one of these so-called "experts," I can't help but wonder. Moon is miles away from objective. I wouldn't be surprised if he ranked Wilson #1 across the board. And that's probably a natural inclination. He's had so much contact with Wilson compared to these other guys, of course he's going to think he's the smartest player in the league. Granted the 28 wonderlic suggests he's wrong. Not a bad score, but certainly in the hefty section of the bell curve.

Dilfer's comments also stood out, specifically this part:

He sees five coverages a game where Tom Brady sees five coverages in his first six snaps. All those guys who run the zone read are seeing about one-tenth of what defenses can throw at them.

That would include RGIII - who ran FAR more zone read than Kap last year - Wilson, and Newton. But it seems they didn't ding RGIII or Wilson for that. Or ding Wilson for throwing far less than any other QB last year, for that matter. And a team's willingness to make things easier on a QB doesn't mean that QB isn't intelligent. It's just good coaching.

There's just so much that goes into being a great QB that trying to break it down to five or six concrete areas is silly.

 

[MHSL82]

Colin Kaepernick Defines Game with Pocket Success

Colin Kaepernick continues to define his game with the backing of production.

He is probably known more as a runner than a pure passer because of his insane speed and record-181 rushing performance in the playoffs last year.

However, Kaepernick, who threw for a career-high 412 yards against Green Bay on Sunday, has the statistical backing to prove he is an excellent quarterback in the classic sense: He has dominated from inside the pocket.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, since last season, Kaepernick has thrown just two interceptions on 204 pass attempts from inside the pocket. The NFL averages for interceptions thrown inside the pocket is one every 38 passes. Kaepernick is at a clip of one every 102 passes from inside the pocket.

His pocket success doesn’t stop there. Kaepernick is completing 66.2 percent of his pocket throws, compared to the league average of 62.2. His yards-per-attempt average of 9.1 leads the NFL.

This is just more proof that Kaepernick is as solid with his arm as his feet. He has to be considered much more than simply a running quarterback.

 

[deep9er]

Colin Kaepernick Defines Game with Pocket Success

Colin Kaepernick continues to define his game with the backing of production.

He is probably known more as a runner than a pure passer because of his insane speed and record-181 rushing performance in the playoffs last year.

However, Kaepernick, who threw for a career-high 412 yards against Green Bay on Sunday, has the statistical backing to prove he is an excellent quarterback in the classic sense: He has dominated from inside the pocket.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, since last season, Kaepernick has thrown just two interceptions on 204 pass attempts from inside the pocket. The NFL averages for interceptions thrown inside the pocket is one every 38 passes. Kaepernick is at a clip of one every 102 passes from inside the pocket.

His pocket success doesn’t stop there. Kaepernick is completing 66.2 percent of his pocket throws, compared to the league average of 62.2. His yards-per-attempt average of 9.1 leads the NFL.

This is just more proof that Kaepernick is as solid with his arm as his feet. He has to be considered much more than simply a running quarterback.

as I've been saying since last season, he'll be defined by his passing skills. a 'running QB' just doesn't make it in the NFL. now if he can run on top of passing skills being 'equal', then you have a Kaep.

 

[cecilio]

Better than Kap? NOOOOOOOOOBODY!!

 

[deep9er]

Better than Kap? NOOOOOOOOOBODY!!

haaaaa

agree, right now today, can't see how anybody can argue it? as the season continues maybe things change, but today.................

 

[Flyingiguana]

it might take another year for kap to master the offense. if he can improve on his touch a bit, the sky is the limit. it's gonna be fun watching him develop over the next few years.

 

[deep9er]

it might take another year for kap to master the offense. if he can improve on his touch a bit, the sky is the limit. it's gonna be fun watching him develop over the next few years.

apparently the bigger issue now is......................'anticipation'?

 

[I_am_1z]

Bump

 

[TobyTyler]

McDonald is a fool. Seattle has really taken the 49ers out of the game. Losers play like this. Seattle got in the 49ers heads

 

[TobyTyler]

Terrible throw by Kaepernick. Davis didn't make much of an effort on that play

 

[TobyTyler]

Another hundred yard game for Lynch. Nothing for Gore. Where the fuck is Hunter? Harbaugh can't be that stupid, can he?

 

[TobyTyler]

I'm stunned at how easily Seattle shut down this offense. Zero catches for Boldin and one for Davis. 16 yards for Gore. Kaepernick completley intimidated. It doesn't get much worse.

 

[tallglassofwater007]

Wrong thread?

 

[TobyTyler]

Wrong thread?

Yep. Looks like the Seahawks got in my head as well.