NFC North Quarterback Ratings 2011

[gbgary]

chuck cecil would hit guys so hard he'd injur himself sometimes.

[Joemailman]

Week 4

Aaron Rodgers 124.6 (Last week 120.9) 1st overall
Matt Stafford 100.3 (Last week 110.7) 7th overall
Donovan McNabb 80.9 (Last week 78.1) 18th overall
Jay Cutler 77.8 (Last week 82.4) 25th overall

Rodgers somehow is still getting better.
Stafford slipping a bit.
McNabb takes 3rd with very modest improvement.
Cutler is sliding.

Week 5:

Rodgers at Atlanta
Stafford vs. Chicago
NcNabb vs. Arizona
Cutler at Detroit

[hoosier]

At Chicago will be an interesting test for Detroit and Stafford. His stats weren't all that impressive against Dallas but what a comeback. Will Cutler benefit from Detroit's relatively weak secondary or will he get planted in that miserable Soldier Field turf by the Lions' D line?

[Joemailman]

That game is at Detroit on Monday Night. I think protecting Cutler will be a major problem for the Bears.

[pbmax]

Brutal Week 5. Rodgers plays well, throws 2 TDs, 66.7% completion rate and 369 yards. And drop 2 points in your Quarterback Rating.

[mraynrand]

Brutal Week 5. Rodgers plays well, throws 2 TDs, 66.7% completion rate and 369 yards. And drop 2 points in your Quarterback Rating.

But he rose six quatloos in his Total QBR™!

[Joemailman]

Week 5

Aaron Rodgers 122.9 (Last week 124.6) 1st overall
Matt Stafford 101.4 (Last week 100.3) 6th overall
Jay Cutler 82.7 (Last week 77.8) 17th overall
Donovan McNabb 80.0 (Last week 80.9) 20th overall

Rodgers continues to make the outstanding look almost routine.
Stafford and Calvin Johnson a dynamic duo.
McNabb and Cutler define mediocrity.

Week 6:

Rodgers vs. St Louis
Stafford vs. San Francisco
NcNabb at Chicago
Cutler vs. Minnesota.

Look for Rodgers to lengthen his lead against St. Louis while Stafford deals with a tough 49er defense.

Look for Cutler and McNabb to put the nation to sleep Sunday Night.

[smuggler]

Cutler had one of the best games of his career. It's not his fault the Bears oline literally cannot block a single dude. The Lions did not blitz a fifth man all game long, and still there were people running free and terrorizing Cutler. I think 3 of every 4 throws were under duress and he still had a good game.

[Guiness]

Cutler had one of the best games of his career. It's not his fault the Bears oline literally cannot block a single dude. The Lions did not blitz a fifth man all game long, and still there were people running free and terrorizing Cutler. I think 3 of every 4 throws were under duress and he still had a good game.

Mmmm. And outside of Wynn, we made them look like world beaters.

[smuggler]

Our linemen all use finesse moves. That will change if we can get Neal out there.

[bobblehead]

This is the part of the story that is hard to remember. Long before concussion discussion was all the rage, there weren't that many players trying to knock players out with shots to the head. Look what Charles Martin and Turkey Jones did, they grabbed the QB and tried to pile drive them through the turf.

During the White and Brown era (and prior to that in the 80s) the focus was on multiple players taking shots to the QB. Which led to the "in the grasp" rule, which was controversial in its day. A form of that rule still exists. And at the time, there was the same bleating they were trying to turn the game into soccer and that the league should put a dress on the QB.

Peter King had a piece last year on how the hitting in the game has changed, from form tackling to kill shots. His source was from the League Office and I don't remember the name but it was a former player or coach. They said that if you watch film of other eras, there were far fewer head shots than there are today.

The game evolved; rules changed and techniques evolved. With an emphasis on putting a hat on the ball, the obvious consequence was that more hits with the top of the helmet would occur.

Packer fans must remember Chuck Cecil, whose kill shots landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated around 1989, 90 or so. He was the exception at the time and the reason was obvious. Every observer knew Cecil was a limited player who if he missed his target, was useless.

It used to be that making a receiver pay for going across the middle meant getting clobbered by a shoulder or arm or two players at once. Now, its accepted that some DB is coming in like Cecil, Darius or Ryan Clark and hitting with the head first.

The real twisted thing is this: the one weapon the league had to combat this kind of recklessness was intensive coaching. Coaching and practicing how to form tackle. With the developments of the last 30 years and the new CBA, there is far less of that now. And the better helmets get, the more they will get used to bring down ballcarriers.

Put them back in leather helmets. In the never ending attempt to protect the players, they have allowed defenders to get ridiculously aggressive (since they are dictating the contact).

[vince]

I'm sure there were never any concussions when they donned the leather.

[Upnorth]

put spikes on the qb's helmet, that will limit head shots!

[pbmax]

Our linemen all use finesse moves. That will change if we can get Neal out there.

I don't think Raji, Pickett or Wilson are using much finesse out there. It just isn't working.

[pbmax]

Put them back in leather helmets. In the never ending attempt to protect the players, they have allowed defenders to get ridiculously aggressive (since they are dictating the contact).

Its the Law of Unintended Consequences. The current helmet shell was a reaction to skull fractures and lacerations, which it prevents quite well. Deceleration is another matter. Maybe a mobile HANS device from NASCAR.