Best QB in football

[mraynrand]

I wonder where Eli Manning fits into this conversation.

He has 2 rings and is 8-3 in the playoffs.

Feast or famine with that guy

[woodbuck27]

pbmax:

My apology. I wasn't aware of your post #6 'this thread' when I made my post #15.

[pbmax]

Feast or famine with that guy

Eli needs time and deep routes to be most effective. He is very similar to Flacco, though perhaps less accurate short.

[vince]

This seems to be a pretty accurate assessment of Flacco's strengths and weaknesses from 2013 before the Ravens Super Bowl win.

Flacco has prototypical size. At 6'6" and 232 pounds, he's about as tall as they come but relatively lean. His height, length and good mechanics give him a very high release point. His frame and strong base make him hard to bring down.

Flacco's footwork and arm strength are quite good. He can set his feet and drive the ball on all intermediate and deep routes. Flacco's biggest weakness is in his accuracy.

Despite sound mechanics, he often fails to place the ball catchably on short routes, which stalls a lot of drives with incomplete passes. Flacco completed just 59.7 percent of his passes this regular season, 19th in the NFL.

He also often misses deep and/or wide on sideline routes. This is Flacco's game: the hit-or-miss deep ball.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Joe Flacco launched it 20 yards or deeper on 17.3 percent of his passes, the highest in the NFL this season. His "Accuracy Percentage," or completion percentage adjusted for drops, on those passes was just 40.2 percent. That slots him 18th in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 25 percent of their team's attempts.

Incredibly, though, Flacco connected for 11 deep touchdowns this season—and he didn't throw any interceptions.

This is what makes Flacco effective as an NFL quarterback. When it comes to moving the chains, he's below average, even bad. When PFF applies their Accuracy Percentage to all pass attempts, removing spikes, batted balls, throwaways and times when quarterbacks are hit while throwing, Flacco ranks 33rd.

Yes, 33rd, behind such studs asKevin Kolb and Brady Quinn.

But when Flacco goes deep—and he goes deep more often than anyone else—it's all upside. He either connects for a game-breaking pass, or it falls incomplete.

[mraynrand]

^^^ wow, I always saw him as pretty accurate - but of course I'm no expert.

[pbmax]

^^^ wow, I always saw him as pretty accurate - but of course I'm no expert.

Before the Super Bowl (even after) the fan question on the Ravens O was why would they ignore the fantastic running game to allow the inaccurate QB to throw more.

[smuggler]

Great post, vince. Goes to show how a good defense and well-timed deep shots can be so effective in the modern game.

[ThunderDan]

So Flacco isn't the greatest of all-time? Who knew?

[woodbuck27]

Tom Brady has won an NFL best 18 playoff games. Brady's overall record is 18-8.

Joe Flacco sits at a playoff record of 10-4. If he wants to be in the argument as being the best playoff QB he needs to lead the Ravens to a 'W' this weekend in New England.

18-9 = 0.667

11-4 = 0.7333 and that's very good !

It looks like 'a walk the talk' situation to me.

[mraynrand]

So Flacco isn't the greatest of all-time? Who knew?

All of us. Of course, that wasn't really the point up for debate.

[ThunderDan]

All of us. Of course, that wasn't really the point up for debate.

BINGO!

[mraynrand]

BINGO!

And my conclusion is that it makes total sense for Harbaugh to say that he has the best QB in football. Greatest of all time? No. And the coach wasn't arguing that either. A QB who wins as much as Flacco, and has won playoff games for you, even when the defense broke down, is worthy of that kind of support from his coach. Just like Starr, who was physically limited, and who also benefitted from a great supporting cast, but not all the time.

[Bossman641]

Putting on my pregame NFL/CBS hat here...in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE..you need a complete team to advance in the playoffs. Judging QB's by W/L record is pretty pointless

As evidence, the Packer D has given up an average of 39 ppg over the past 4 playoff losses. Tough to win with that kind of support.

[woodbuck27]

Putting on my pregame NFL/CBS hat here...in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE..you need a complete team to advance in the playoffs. Judging QB's by W/L record is pretty pointless

As evidence, the Packer D has given up an average of 39 ppg over the past 4 playoff losses. Tough to win with that kind of support.

If that continues this weekend Aaron Rodgers must be at his very best.

Packer receivers need to catch and hold onto the ball.

[pbmax]

Flacco Deep Passing:

Five Nights at Flacco's. You probably did not find Brady's Actual Deep passing statistics particularly shocking. Well, get ready to have your face melted.

Here are Joe Flacco's Actual Deep passing numbers: 15-of-40, 548 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. That's right, Flacco throws deep less frequently than Brady and less frequently than the NFL average. Gary Kubiak has shaved some of the 60-yard heaves off the Ravens offense this year, replacing them with his signature play-action rollouts to tight ends or receivers on crossing routes.

Tanier: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...road-underdogs