NFL 2014-2015 Season: Super Bowl Champion Patriots

[Lord Raven]

Anna you forgot about the Pats, Colts, Chiefs, Cardinals, Saint, and Niners. Who the steelers would have to get through if they wanted to win it all this year. Also yeah I've pretty much made my picks for the entire post season except that 6 seed out of the afc. I'm leaning ravens or chargers, but I so much wanna say the texans.

You honestly think the Ravens will lose the division to the Bengals? Bengals have gotten marginally better since two years ago, Ravens have gotten much much better from last year.

[Anacybele]

I don't think Steelers is a playoff team yet this year.Since from their preseason games their defense just doesn't look good, but who knows they might surprise. Ravens look pretty good with their new offensive coordinator,Gary Kubiak, probably going to revitalize Flacco like Ken Whisenhunt did to make Philip Rivers an above average quarterback again.

You're in the minority then. There was an official vote done by NFL.com to see who people thought would win the AFC North this season. This is how it turned out:

1. Steelers

2. Ravens

3. BROWNS wtf

4. Bengals wtf lol

The Browns are pure suckage like they've always been and neither Hoyer nor Manziel were anything special from what I've heard. Heck, Manziel just had his college record shattered to pieces. Johnny Football my foot. xP

But yeah, most people, including the NFL.com guys themselves, see the Steelers going to the playoffs, and a couple of them even think they'll go to the Super Bowl (I kinda doubt this one though, I only see a good playoff run. Not even a trip to the AFC championships). They made some good points too.

The Steelers have a younger, faster defense now and Ryan Shazier is dangerous. I think this guy could eventually surpass Troy f***ing Polamalu. Jarvis Jones is really good too. And we still have vets like Ike Taylor and Cortez Allen (provided the former can stop being a bit of a penalty magnet). It's not the top ranked defense they once had yet, but it's going to get there again. Probably not this season, but maybe the next.

Ben also now has really fast weapons on offense as well, like Marcus Wheaton and Dri Archer. And I haven't even mentioned Antonio Brown. He keeps running circles around defenders too! How about that 76 yarder he did?

The only things I worry about are the o-line and our RBs. The o-line has gotten somewhat better recently, but they still have some issues. And our RBs got FUCKING BUSTED FOR SMOKING DOPE WHAT THE FUCK. Le'Veon Bell looks like a really nice guy too (his expression in his profile picture just gives me that vibe), I can't imagine why he and Blount would be so stupid. And now they're likely going to be suspended for a game or two. And the Steelers NEED a run game.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Anacybele

[Randa]

You honestly think the Ravens will lose the division to the Bengals? Bengals have gotten marginally better since two years ago, Ravens have gotten much much better from last year.

Raven I picked the bengals to be fourth in the north. I think the steelers are the most likely to win the north, if only because I think they have a better run game which will help open up there pass game significantly and make it so their defense isn't constantly running on and off the field. I just cannot see the ravens controlling the tempo of games very well. (Note: I have been wrong before, like a lot of times)

[Emeraldfox]

Wee, looking forward to the start of the season, Eagles and Jaguars play each other for their first game.

I'll root for both

[Jiac]

You're in the minority then. There was an official vote done by NFL.com to see who people thought would win the AFC North this season. This is how it turned out:

1. Steelers

2. Ravens

3. BROWNS wtf

4. Bengals wtf lol

The Browns are pure suckage like they've always been and neither Hoyer nor Manziel were anything special from what I've heard. Heck, Manziel just had his college record shattered to pieces. Johnny Football my foot. xP

But yeah, most people, including the NFL.com guys themselves, see the Steelers going to the playoffs, and a couple of them even think they'll go to the Super Bowl (I kinda doubt this one though, I only see a good playoff run. Not even a trip to the AFC championships). They made some good points too.

The Steelers have a younger, faster defense now and Ryan Shazier is dangerous. I think this guy could eventually surpass Troy f***ing Polamalu. Jarvis Jones is really good too. And we still have vets like Ike Taylor and Cortez Allen (provided the former can stop being a bit of a penalty magnet). It's not the top ranked defense they once had yet, but it's going to get there again. Probably not this season, but maybe the next.

Ben also now has really fast weapons on offense as well, like Marcus Wheaton and Dri Archer. And I haven't even mentioned Antonio Brown. He keeps running circles around defenders too! How about that 76 yarder he did?

The only things I worry about are the o-line and our RBs. The o-line has gotten somewhat better recently, but they still have some issues. And our RBs got FUCKING BUSTED FOR SMOKING DOPE WHAT THE FUCK. Le'Veon Bell looks like a really nice guy too (his expression in his profile picture just gives me that vibe), I can't imagine why he and Blount would be so stupid. And now they're likely going to be suspended for a game or two. And the Steelers NEED a run game.

Did you see Eagles vs Steelers?! It looked painful to watch. But then again, it's one game of the preseason.

The Browns might be a playoff contender this year, they got one of the best Quarterbacks and Cornerbacks, Johnny Manziel (QB) and Justin Gilbert (CB) and made good free agent choices. It wouldn't surprise me if Steelers win the AFC North but the Browns may become a threat with their new faces and strong players. You shouldn't doubt them due to their 4-12 record but the Browns are nothing more than the Browns, don't expect too much, they might just be 7-9 if they have a terrible season or be 10-6 if their player choices pay off. It's a bit early for me to predict their record but they look like they can be a play off team this year.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Zephyr

[Anacybele]

Did you see Eagles vs Steelers?! It looked painful to watch. But then again, it's one game of the preseason.

The Browns might be a playoff contender this year, they got one of the best Quarterbacks and Cornerbacks, Johnny Manziel (QB) and Justin Gilbert (CB) and made good free agent choices. It wouldn't surprise me if Steelers win the AFC North but the Browns may become a threat with their new faces and strong players. You shouldn't doubt them due to their 4-12 record but the Browns are nothing more than the Browns, don't expect too much, they might just be 7-9 if they have a terrible season or be 10-6 if their player choices pay off. It's a bit early for me to predict their record but they look like they can be a play off team this year.

Did you see Steelers vs Panthers? Our D held them to just ten points (the reason the Steelers didn't get any themselves in that game was because of the trash that is Landry Jones). You can't base a team's skill off of just one game, especially a preseason game. Plus, the defense was pretty pissed at their performance against the Eagles and they really want to avoid such embarrassment.

If Johnny Manziel is so good, why is Hoyer starting at QB for the Browns? And even if Manziel had skill, he can't do squat if he's not playing.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

That poll may have been more of a popularity contest than anything (Browns over Bengals?)

I'm unsure of who to predict as the AFC North winner this year. Bengals were obviously the best team last year, but they did lose their coordinators which may hurt their defense at least. Steelers are relying on a lot of newer players on defense which may or may not work. Ravens have a questionable running game and secondary. I expect these teams to all be in the 7 to 10 win range.

I can't predict much success for the Browns sadly, they're kinda...perennial losers and they lost their top WR from last year. I predict 2 to 5 wins for them. Manziel is an unproven rookie who isn't starting, calling him one of the best QBs is premature.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, there probably was some popularity involved, but I wouldn't say it was the main factor. Besides, the Browns more popular than the Bengals? lol I'll believe it when I see it.

[-Cynthia-]

I'm not sure why people would favor the 4-12 cellar dweller over the 11-5 division winner otherwise, it's not as if the Bengals roster was decimated or something. Maybe Manziel hype I dunno.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, I don't know either, but oh well. All I know is that I'll still be rootin' for mah black 'n gold. ^^

[Randa]

Well I cant speak for everyone but I think the browns defense will be one of the best this year and that's why I'm giving them 7 wins this year. Even then it still might be a stretch. But I just think the bengals are gonna be like the falcons. Theyre gonna have a year that makes no sense because the defense doesnt live up to the hype.

[Jiac]

That poll may have been more of a popularity contest than anything (Browns over Bengals?)

I'm unsure of who to predict as the AFC North winner this year. Bengals were obviously the best team last year, but they did lose their coordinators which may hurt their defense at least. Steelers are relying on a lot of newer players on defense which may or may not work. Ravens have a questionable running game and secondary. I expect these teams to all be in the 7 to 10 win range.

I can't predict much success for the Browns sadly, they're kinda...perennial losers and they lost their top WR from last year. I predict 2 to 5 wins for them. Manziel is an unproven rookie who isn't starting, calling him one of the best QBs is premature.

His achievements in College football are justifiable to his skill but again NFL is a different skill level so who knows, he may be an Andy Dalton who can't work well with the pressure, but he is already regarded as a great QB.

[Anacybele]

And once again. he's not even starting. So his skill will mean diddly SQUAT.

[-Cynthia-]

His achievements in College football are justifiable to his skill but again NFL is a different skill level so who knows, he may be an Andy Dalton who can't work well with the pressure, but he is already regarded as a great QB.

Plenty of quarterbacks are good in college and totally bust in the NFL. Andy Dalton is also actually pretty good during the regular season.

Bengals had one of the top defenses last year and didn't seem to lose many players, so it's hard for me to predict their defense as becoming poor unless Zimmer was the key to the whole thing.

Edited August 30, 2014 by -Cynthia-

[Anacybele]

But I think we can all agree that the Steelers still have the best QB in the AFC North? :D

Big Ben puts up big numbers! Heh heh. I'm not kidding either, he's surpassed some of Terry Bradshaw's records.

[Lord Raven]

I don't really agree he's the best in the AFCN... I think he along with Flacco fall under that Tier 2 of QBs in the league. (Tier 1: Rodgers, Brady, Peyton, Brees; Tier 1.5: Rivers, Tier 2: Roethlisberger, Flacco, Ryan, Eli, Luck, Newton, Wilson, Stafford, Tier 2.5: Cutler, Smith, Dalton, Tannehill).

The only things I worry about are the o-line and our RBs. The o-line has gotten somewhat better recently, but they still have some issues. And our RBs got FUCKING BUSTED FOR SMOKING DOPE WHAT THE FUCK. Le'Veon Bell looks like a really nice guy too (his expression in his profile picture just gives me that vibe), I can't imagine why he and Blount would be so stupid. And now they're likely going to be suspended for a game or two. And the Steelers NEED a run game.

That's probably why they won't be too good early on, and I don't know anything about the Steelers dline. I haven't heard anything particularly good; it definitely doesn't match up to the Ravens or Bengals DL.

The Browns might be a playoff contender this year, they got one of the best Quarterbacks and Cornerbacks, Johnny Manziel (QB) and Justin Gilbert (CB) and made good free agent choices. It wouldn't surprise me if Steelers win the AFC North but the Browns may become a threat with their new faces and strong players. You shouldn't doubt them due to their 4-12 record but the Browns are nothing more than the Browns, don't expect too much, they might just be 7-9 if they have a terrible season or be 10-6 if their player choices pay off. It's a bit early for me to predict their record but they look like they can be a play off team this year.

You think Manziel or Hoyer are one of the best QBs in the league? Gilbert is also a rookie CB. As I've said many times, Jimmy Smith looked like a bust until 2013, where he turned into a borderline elite cornerback; many other cornerbacks have struggled their first year or two in the league because the learning curve is massive and the games are so different. It's their question marks on QB, WR, and RB that's going to keep the Browns out of contention, because I doubt Ben Tate is going to be able to carry the load.

Haden is a better CB than Gilbert right now but Gilbert is a rookie.

I'm unsure of who to predict as the AFC North winner this year. Bengals were obviously the best team last year, but they did lose their coordinators which may hurt their defense at least. Steelers are relying on a lot of newer players on defense which may or may not work. Ravens have a questionable running game and secondary. I expect these teams to all be in the 7 to 10 win range.

Ravens run game isn't questionable anymore... Taliaferro is doing okay and Pierce is actually a beast. Rice is suspended for a few games, but Pierce was pretty good during his rookie season (and in the playoffs he turned it the hell on - around 800 total yards from scrimmage regular season + postseason despite sitting behind one of the, at the time, elite RBs in the game). I'm not going to say we're going to return to around 2009 or 2011 form where Ray Rice had at least 2000 yards from scrimmage but it's not going to be anything like 2013... do people know that we had the worst guard/center combination in the league last year, as well as many games of Big Mac as our LT? Or Michael Oher as our RT? 3/5 of our offensive line was horrific last year, and now we have Osemele back from injury at LG (look at the 2012 playoffs and you'll see Osemele at LG - he was ridiculous), Eugene Monroe at LT, Jeremy Zuttah at Center (Zuttah was a very good center until last year, when the Buccs oline in general was horrific - he was league average still), Marshal Yanda at RG (perennial Pro Bowler and one of the best guards in the league), and our only question mark is at RT which is not as important. Let's not forget that our offensive staff has completely changed, and all of our dudes on our offensive staff have an amazing track record at their position.

As I said before, the only thing keeping us from playoffs last year were offense, the third quarter, and sometimes the fourth quarter and we've completely revamped everything possible about our offense. Our secondary was weak last year, but the secondary is better than last year (especially once Will Hill comes back from his suspension, then we have Matt Elam/Jimmy Smith/Lardarius Webb/Will Hill which is a good starting secondary if they're all healthy) but we've got a really good NT now in Brandon Williams and Ngata seems to be reverting back to DE - which is the position that made him a star. Our pass rush is otherwise basically the same as it was last year. Daryl Smith is also a ridiculously good coverage linebacker (not really that good at run stopping which is what you need from an ILB, but we've got Josh Bynes for that) and we've got two other solid young ILBs (one is a rookie though so I'm not going to hold my breath) so we've got a very solid front 7.

You guys all know that Carolina's secondary was really bad last year right?

I'm not sure why people would favor the 4-12 cellar dweller over the 11-5 division winner otherwise, it's not as if the Bengals roster was decimated or something. Maybe Manziel hype I dunno.

It's not that their roster was decimated so much as it hasn't improved much and their QB is wildly inconsistent. Edited August 30, 2014 by Lord Raven

[-Cynthia-]

Carolina's secondary was supposedly bad, but they only allowed 15 ppg(#2) so they must have been doing something right. Baltimore only allowed 22 ppg which is better than I expected though(#12 overall). The Bengals were the #5 team in points allowed.

Andy Dalton had more yards (4293 vs. 3912) on fewer passing attempts (586 vs. 614) compared to Joe Flacco. He threw 14 more TDs and had 2 fewer interceptions. Based on last year, Andy Dalton is the consistently better quarterback (in regular season at least, but in discussing who will win the AFC North that's all that's relevant).

For the record, I'll agree with Big Ben being the best AFC North quarterback, but dismissing the Bengals due to poor QB play seems odd.

[Lord Raven]

Carolina's secondary was supposedly bad, but they only allowed 15 ppg(#2) so they must have been doing something right.

A lot of Carolina's secondary issues were masked by that front 7 and having a good slot corner (Captain Munnerlyn) to make it harder to throw to an outlet receiver. Luke Kuechly also won DPOY and he was very solid in coverage. Aside from that their safeties and corners were bad, but they didn't have to do much. We have much better outside corners and a very good coverage MLB compared to Carolina, and our pass rush was really really good (#2 in a lot of metrics in the first half, but injuries started to take their toll on Ngata and our backups didn't have the experience).

Baltimore only allowed 22 ppg which is better than I expected though(#12 overall).

Yeah but we held Chicago to 23 (16 in actuality because they scored off a pick six) points. Goal line stand in the first quarter, we did not allow a single reception to Brandon Marshall or Alshon Jeffrey in 7 straight plays. Chicago's offense struggled mightily against us, contrast to the offense that dominated a bunch of teams.

Bengals offense and Carolina's offense had a run game to lean on. Baltimore's offense had a lot of 3 and outs. On top of that, Baltimore's defense had 4 horrific games (though the Vikings game was horrific by the eye test) and 12 very good games. You take out our three worst games (@Cincy, vs NE, @DEN which were incredibly outliers) and we only allowed 17 ppg. To NE we gave up 2 TDs in garbage time (Taylor had a pick six and fumble recovery so they scored 41 instead of 27) and D we played in Denver was crushed because Ed Dickson kept dropping a lot of third down passes in the third quarter.

Andy Dalton had more yards (4293 vs. 3912) on fewer passing attempts (586 vs. 614) compared to Joe Flacco. He threw 14 more TDs and had 2 fewer interceptions. Based on last year, Andy Dalton is the consistently better quarterback (in regular season at least, but in discussing who will win the AFC North that's all that's relevant).

Look at his receivers that year.

AJ Green

Marvin Jones

Muhammed Sanu

Tyler Eifert

Jermaine Gresham

Then he has Giovani Bernard and BJGE (who is a steady back, good for grinding out those consistent 3 yards) as RBs, behind an offensive line that gave him time to throw without nearly as many pressures, hurries, or sacks (Dalton had 29 sacks) that other QBs seemed to get (see: Roethlisberger, Flacco, Luck, Newton, etc). Dalton had a lot of good things going on in this offense, and he had weapons and time; two things a QB likes. Yet he threw 20 picks and was incredibly inconsistent. Once the playoffs hit he completely shit the bed. As I said he threw 7 picks against the Ravens, but he was also horrific against the Steelers, that first Browns game (and the D did a lot of work in the second one), both times against San Diego, and Miami/Chicago.

Flacco was throwing to these guys:

Torrey Smith

Marlon Brown

Ed Dickson

Dallas Clark

Ray Rice

Bernard Pierce

Dennis Pitta was out for most of the season due to a hip injury, Rice/Pierce were injured, Clark was like 35, Dickson had stone hands, Marlon Brown was a UDFA, and Jacoby Jones was out for most of the season because his teammrate ran into him in the season opener. Brandon Stokley was also supposed to be with us, but he retired due to concussions after the season, and saw the field for very very very few snaps.

And his offensive line was the worst center in the league, one of the worst LGs in the league, and one of the worst RTs in the league. They surrendered 48 sacks, a ton more pressures, and they also had nothing resembling a good run game because the RBs got hit in the backfield before they could even get a run off; we could never get more than like 2 yards against a nickel or dime defense which we were almost always up against. Our receivers were incapable of getting open, and our playbook was exactly Cam Cameron's which seems to have rarely any plays designed to have receivers open quick, or even things resembling route combinations. Outside of that playoff run we rarely played in Bunch formations, we rarely ran pick routes, we rarely threw screens. We rarely used route combinations to help receivers get open, and we rarely threw short (which the Bengals were able to do). QB's stats are going to be poor if they don't have a lot of things going for them, and players like Manning/Rodgers had good receivers to mess with. Of those 22 interceptions around 4-5 were tipped by his Tight Ends or WRs, there were a few interceptions that happened because of really egregious shit like this where our receivers seem to be running to the same spot and give up on their routes so they don't collide. Brown was definitely supposed to go closer to the outside.

Last year, Brady struggled in a lot of his games (point to his TD/Int/Yards as much as you want but he missed a lot of throws) because his receivers were bad and his line gave up a lot of interior pressure. His receivers were also rarely in the right place. Are you saying that based on last season Dalton is better than Brady? And Eli Manning had a lot of the same issues as Flacco (and he threw MORE picks), are you saying Dalton is better than Eli Manning too? Roethlisberger has had some dumpster fire seasons that were worse than Flacco's 2013 yet based on a one season sample you're saying Dalton's better than Roethlisberger too? And Rivers 2012 makes him seem worse than Dalton's 2013, even though Rivers has been a spectacular QB.

Gruden was holding the team back about as much as Dalton, given that Gruden had Dalton throw deep to Green on fourth and short on top of abandoning the run game in stupid times, but Gruden's playbook wasn't nearly as bad as Cameron's (which had been used from 2008-2013). Cameron was effectively the same as those Don Coryell offenses in the early 80s/late 70s, which was dominant at the time because nobody had seen anything like it before but fizzled out because there needed to be more to it. We also did not have anything resembling the threat of a run game, and it's telling when we've had a game or two where Flacco was our leading rusher. In fact, if we take out Flacco's contributions to the run game, our YPC goes down a whole .1.

Kubiak's system is modern, relies on route combinations, and calls for more short passes (and will make use of run game and bootlegs). He also worked closely with that same ZBS that TD had with those 90s Broncos teams, and he was also OC for those 96-98 Broncos that basically ran train on the league. He was also an OC where players like Brian Griese and Jake Plummer, not as good QBs as Flacco, made Pro Bowls. His assistants are very accomplished and very solid as well. Last year's guys were pretty bad both in comparison and in implementation. I still have no idea why Caldwell stuck with Cameron's playbook, maybe he thought our line was going to stay in 2012 playoffs form? (The 2012 Playoffs line is why Flacco went nuts in that playoff run, it definitely was not a fluke).

Edited August 30, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

I don't really agree he's the best in the AFCN... I think he along with Flacco fall under that Tier 2 of QBs in the league. (Tier 1: Rodgers, Brady, Peyton, Brees; Tier 1.5: Rivers, Tier 2: Roethlisberger, Flacco, Ryan, Eli, Luck, Newton, Wilson, Stafford, Tier 2.5: Cutler, Smith, Dalton, Tannehill).

Except I was talking about ONLY the AFC North, not the whole league. xP

But one guy in an NFL.com video ranked Ben as number 4 in his top five QBs lol, I liked that. My top three are definitely Pey-Pey, Ben, and Cam Newton, in that order though. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees are overrated, imo. I don't hate any of their teams either (except maybe the Pats), so there's no bias. But Rodgers IS good enough to be number five on my list, I think.

Flacco is pretty decent though, I won't deny that. He's got a strong arm and some speed, but that's pretty much it. Ben has an even stronger arm, does well under pressure, can extend plays, and he converts 3rd downs like nobody's business. The only thing he lacks is speed.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

How are Rodgers, Brady, and Brees overrated?

The latter two have shattered records. Roethlisberger doesn't even compare to these guys, and he's definitely a step below Rivers (who is well on the cusp). There's no reason he should be #4 out of all 32 starters.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

How are Rodgers, Brady, and Brees overrated?

The latter two have shattered records.

And that's WHY I find them overrated. They're hyped because of stuff like that. But I've never seen them pull off some of the stuff QBs like Pey-Pey, Ben, and Cam Newton have done. Ben has shattered defenses and has the best 3rd down conversion record, Pey-Pey has done pretty much everything, and I've seen Cam Newton evade six tackles in one play and turn a 4th down into a deep TD. All by himself.

And Antonio Brown broke a record or two as well. But no one is calling him one of the best WRs in the league (even though I think he is).

But maybe I haven't watched them enough, I dunno. It's just that as far as I've seen, none of those three you quote live up to the hype they get.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Anacybele

[Randa]

Anna, brady and brees held all the records that "Pey-Pey" broke this year. and guess what. brady did it with less in '07. he didn't have two number one recievers, the best number two reciever, a top five tight end, and a solid backfield. he did it with essentially moss and welker. not thomas, welker, decker, and thomas. and name any reciever on the saints. aside from brandin cooks. also you are biased. stop denying it. newtown is a top ten qb but not top five, ben is top seven, but i got an andrew luck boner right now so he doesnt make the top five. and before you complain everybody here is biased, thats why we, or at least i do, read analyst who neither hate nor love the team so i can get objective information instead subjective information.

[Anacybele]

Firstly, my name only has one N in it.

Second, I already said there's no bias.

Third, I also said that maybe I didn't watch these QBs enough, meaning that I'm admitting I might be wrong.

You don't have to get angry with me about it, geez.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

That's because they're different kinds of QBs than Ben and Cam.

Ben and Cam rely on extending plays because that's what the system calls for. However, the reason Brees/Brady/Rodgers excel is because they get rid of the ball a lot quicker because they know exactly where their receiver will be and they nail their receivers quickly. They know exactly what the defense is doing.

Rodgers has done a lot of stuff like Cam has; there's a reason he's the best QB in the modern day. He's almost as athletic as Cam while being almost as strong as Peyton and having better accuracy than Drew Brees.

Tom Brady has also led the greatest offense of all time. He threw 50 TD passes in 2007, for the record. Brees has thrown 40 multiple times, and thrown over 5000 yards 4 years in a row. Brees also has very perfect downfield accuracy, and has the single-season record for highest completion percentage (for >100 passing attempts or something) at 71.6%. Brady's also been on some prolific offenses that scored 550+ points while he scored around 36 TDs himself, including a season where he threw 36 TDs to 4 interceptions (Patriots went 14-2). That season he had the longest streak of passes between interceptions, and he didn't throw a single interception for the last 12 or so games of the season.

Brady's intermediate and short accuracy are also ridiculously amazing, and he's in a system that requires him to throw to open space and hope his receiver is there. Fact is that he finds open space very very quickly and doesn't need to extent plays like Ben and Cam do (because they read defenses a lot slower and their release time is a lot longer). Ben and Cam's skills will also fall apart as they get older, whereas Brady's 37 and still kicking. Brees is 36 and he's catching up to Favre and Manning in all-time passing yardage.

For the record, I don't agree with ppg as a metric so much as I believe in points per drive, because if you score slowly but always score it's better than scoring a lot but not always scoring (since it's more consistent). The 2007 Patriots had 3.5 points per drive which is the highest in league history or something similar; the next highest is 3.1 at the 2011 Saints. Many Saints teams have hovered around 3, many Green Bay teams with Rodgers have had 3 or more, Steelers teams have had maybe 2 which is not bad but it's not amazing.

The fact is that their playstyle is much different and leads to a lot more points and scores. Brady and Rodgers have even had 11+ win seasons despite their defenses being atrocious; this means that their defenses gave up 20-25 points a game and their offenses had to score around 30+ to keep up. Roethlisberger hasn't had this kind of detriment to his team to show he can carry an offense, and his playstyle has led him to playing only 12-13 games a season very often. Brady's missed an entire season due to a freak ACL tear, Rodgers has only ever missed half a season and at most one game/season, and Brees hasn't really missed a game since he became a free agent in 2006.

I'd prefer a QB that gets rid of the ball quickly, stays healthy, and still gets a first down. They are much, much better pocket passers and much much more accurate than both Cam and Roethlisberger.

EDIT: Brees is also very elusive int he pocket, as is Rodgers. Those four are also very good at setting protections for their offensive line and running backs to pick up blitzes, so they use their mind basically to buy time rather than their bodies, which is ultimately safer and more consistent.

Second, I already said there's no bias.

No bias means you can look at the facts. You have virtually none but some highlight reel plays that result from their inefficiency in reading defenses. Also you're a Steelers/Panthers double fan and you've seen those guys more than you've seen Brady/Brees/Rodgers tear up defenses.

Cam is more comparable to Andrew Luck in terms of playstyle, but even Luck hasn't progressed to the sheer level of pocket passing that Brees/Brady/Rodgers/Peyton have progressed to. Roethlisberger is also not as good a pocket passer as Rivers. As I said, he stands in Cam/Flacco/Ryan/etc tier where he's a really good pocket passer but not legendary or teetering on legendary.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Randa]

Firstly, my name only has one N in it.

Second, I already said there's no bias.

Third, I also said that maybe I didn't watch these QBs enough, meaning that I'm admitting I might be wrong.

You don't have to get angry with me about it, geez.

I'm not getting angry ana, i am merely stating that you are biased. its that simple. you will never hear me bad mouth brady and i will probably never hear you bad mouth ben simply because we are both biased towards them. i try to think objectively about 31 teams in the league sometimes i fail, so i do under or overrate players. and tell me how you saying your favorite teams have top three qbs isnt bias. especially when very few people would consider either of them as top three qbs.