Chairman Kaga unveils today’s ingredient…Talent!
May 21, 2007 David Carr has Post-Concussion Syndrome, Mike Vick, Offensive (punch)Line, Randall Cunningham was a Tecmo god, Teams that aren't the Texans, Vinsanity
Call it variations on a theme.
It’s time for everyone’s FAVORITE gameshow–XTREME QB COMPARISON DEATHMATCH BOWL! [Insert lots of explosions and a voice yelling "EXTREME!" in an Asian accent.]
Let’s meet today’s contestants.
Quarterback #1’s 2006 statistics:
Rating: 66.7
Comp-Att: 184-357
Yards: 2199
TDs: 12
INTs: 13
Rushing Yards: 552
Rushing TDs: 7
Fumbles: 11 (3 lost)
Sacks: 25
Wins: 8
Quarterback #2’s 2006 statistics:
Rating: 75.7
Comp-Att: 204-388
Yards: 2474
TDs: 20
INTs: 13
Rushing Yards: 1039
Rushing TDs: 2
Fumbles: 9 (3 lost)
Sacks: 45
Wins: 7
Now, which QB would you rather have? Looking at the numbers, it appears that QB2 was superior in nearly every category, despite playing behind what was apparently an awful line. (For comparison, everyone’s posterboy for bad lineplay, David Carr was sacked only 41 times last year.) Yet, fans of QB2’s team have derided their signal caller as “a glorified running back” and a “below average QB.” Fans of QB1, on the other hand, are patently convinced that he is Jesus in a helmet.*
What gives?
Obviously, the two QBs in question are Vince Young and Mike Vick. But, putting aside any preconceived notions of “shoulda been drafted first” and “two dogs enter, one dog leaves,”** if you merely had the numbers above and I told you that QB1s supporting cast (at least on paper) was downgraded at both WR slots and at RB, while QB2’s team brought in Joe Horn, which player would you expect to be better in 2007?
Exactly.
Now, obviously, as a Texans fan, I have bore witness to the talent that lies with Vince Young. One need look only to a certain OT TD run to recognize that VY has talent in spades. Still, when you look at the rather pedestrian numbers he put up over the course of an entire season, one has to wonder where the expectations of playoffs (or even a match of last year’s 8 wins) come from.
And that’s without even mentioning the fact that QB1 will certainly fall victim to a certain curse this year.
Postscript: Two other points of comparison for you.
David Carr was 302-442 for 2767 yards, 11 TDs, and 12 INTs. He also had a rating of 82.1.
Randall Cunningham, in his first year as a full-time starter, went 223-406 for 2786, 23 TDs, and 12 INTs. He also rushed for 505 with 3 TDs. Oh, and he did all of this IN 12 GAMES.
*And without sandals; even Jesus needs cleats when he plays football. It’s in the Bible.
**After all, the first rule of Doggy Fight Club…
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May 21st, 2007 at 12:44 pm
One fatal flaw with the analogy is Vince wasn’t the starter until game 4. He didn’t play the full season, and the games in which he didn’t start he wasn’t playing until the fourth quarter. I think his numbers would be a lot different with three whole other games under his belt.
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May 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Possibly, at least with respect to the yards. There is no guarantee that his rating or TD-INT ratio would have improved, especially considering he’d have (a) had some first game jitters in a season opener and (b) would have faced the Chargers D in game 2.
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May 21st, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Living in Austin, being a fellow Longhorn and having watched Vince Young since he was a freshman at UT, there is one thing I’ve witnessed and learned to rely on. Vince is a winner. He doesn’t know how to fail. Period. He may not throw the prettiest spiral or have textbook mechanics but what he does have is an almost freakish will to win. I don’t think it’s fair to compare him to Michael Vick or Randall Cunningham when he’s only coming into his second year. What I can say, without a doubt, is that we’re a long way from seeing his best football.
Although I would’ve loved to have seen him in a Texans uniform, I honestly believe that getting drafted by Tennessee was best for VY and the Texans. Neither of us had to deal with what would have been a huge distraction for him and the team of not only playing for his home town crowd but also having to try and keep all of his old and ‘new’ friends at arms length in order to learn a new offense. Try and imagine how hard it would be to not spend A LOT of time with all of your friends after having been given millions of dollars to play football. Better to be removed from those temptations. And that’s all I have to say about that.
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May 21st, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Matt,
This Stacy girl, I like her.
Please Stacy, continue commenting on the Victorious Vince, I stand and gaze with eyes a twitter.
All joking aside, she does bring up a good point about Vince being away from most of his “homies”. This is most definitely a good thing.
So is Stacy a Texans fan?
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May 21st, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Yes,
Stacy is a Texans Fan. Stacy is also a MAN. But I’m flattered that your heart was going pitter-pat. Sorry to disappoint, you’ll just have to find someone new to fantasize about.
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May 21st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
You raise a very good point about Vince just being a winner. As a Michigan fan as well, I am doomed to spend my whole life watching Vince be amazing.
The point of this post was more the idea that a similar QB, who actually put up better numbers, could be seen as overrated, shitty, etc.
Another similarity: Vick took a Virginia Tech team that most people had never heard of and got within a half of winning the NC. And that was with less talent around him than VY had at UT.
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May 21st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
You know that commercial for either Coors or Natural Light where those two guys are in the beer store lookin’ at what they thought was a hot chick but really wasn’t?
Awwwwkward…..
Yeah, that’s about how I feel right now. The Stacy fantasy abruptly ends as quickly as it started.
HOW BOUT DEM TITANS!!!!!!!…..ahem…