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ESPN's Ranking of The 5 Top Young QBs

bills44

By bills44
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ACor58 Veteran

ACor58

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Cutler is awesome. Rivers I am not so sure about. A year from now, Trent is on that list.

 

I was thinking the same thing, except that I think that Rivers is the real deal. Through 2 games, Cutler and Rivers are almost identical

 

Cutler 6 TD, 1 INT, 650 Yds, 118.6 RTG

Rivers 6 TD, 1 INT, 594 Yds, 122.5 RTG

 

I don't think that you could go wrong with either one of them.

 

If Trent can stay healthy we will be fortunate to have him playing at the same level.

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The Dean Hall of Famer

The Dean

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Are these guys really "young" anymore? They have been in the league about 5-6 years by now (except Cutler), of course they have better resumes. When is the ball washing going to stop? I guess Trent is just too young to be considered young.

 

 

I think that's the real point. here. Obviously, they aren't really talking about guys who are just now, starting to prove themselves. Even though they mention Trent and Aaron Rodgers, they are going with guys who have at least a full season, or more starting in the NFL. They also have picked guys who, for the most part, are on winning teams.

 

I'd rank the list differently, but I can't argue with the 5 guys they picked, given that they really aren't ready to rank guys like Trent and Aaron (who look pretty damn good, two games in this season) above guys who have lead their teams (successfully, for the most part) for a season or more.

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The Dean Hall of Famer

The Dean

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Are Cutler and Rivers really that good? It seems their names always come up in the talk of top young QBs. I guess I just don't get it.

 

 

These are two QB's that I wasn't totally sold on (for various reasons), coming out of college, and did not want the Bills to pick. They both have performed far better than I thought they would, that's for sure.

 

Still, I think Trent is a better QB for the Bills, than either of these two guys.

 

Rivers is smart, accurate, a winner...all great things. He's actually a lot like Edwards, in a way. I simply thought that his arm wasn't strong enough to play in Buffalo (and wasn't sure it was good enough to excel anywhere in the NFL...I was wrong about that). Rivers has shown that he has the talent, and demeanor, to be a very good NFL QB. I still don't think he puts enough zip on the ball for the windy NE games, come November and December.

 

Cutler always had the big arm, that was never in doubt. But the hype surrounding him, coming out of college, was ridiculous, IMO. He wowed the scouts in the Senior Bowl (I think) practices, and then laid a giant egg, in the game itself. Well, landing in Denver, with Shanny as his coach, and (traditionally) a terrific running game, was probably perfect for him. Their running game had a down year, last year, and the team finished 7-9. Sometimes Cutler looks like a world beater, and other times like a mook. I think Jay and JP Losman are similar, in many ways (not every way). Had JP ended up in Denver, he may be getting those kind of accolades, too.

 

So, I admit to being wrong about these guys, but not for my feeling that they weren't right for the Bills. And, because Rivers has led his team to many wins, and shows great accuracy and poise he belongs. Cutler belongs, based purely on talent, IMO.

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MDH All Pro

MDH

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I'd rank 'em differently too. Personally, I don't know how somebody can watch Romo or Cutler play and then say Big Ben or Eli are better than either of them (and it pains me to say it because I hate the f'in Cowboys.) I believe they are overvaluing Super Bowl wins when it comes to evaluating an individual QB's play.

 

Eli was scattershot over 4 years and then caught fire for 4 weeks - does that make him better than Romo or Cutler? Not in my book (if he keeps it going all season I’ll change my tune though.) Big Ben game managing his way to a SB victory is quality team quarterbacking but not something that makes me stand up and say "Wow, that guy is amazing." Ben was very good last year but it doesn't wipe away his horrid season 2 years ago. To this day the Steelers still just have Ben manage the games - which I can't really take issue with given their defense and the success they’ve had doing it.

 

But when I watch Romo and Cutler I sit up and take notice of the QB play - their ability to hit the big play, to make something out of nothing or to fire the ball in there when there doesn't appear to be much space (Cutler dazzles at this last one.) The only thing one could really question about them is their success in the playoffs – but if you stick either of those guys on the Giants or Steelers in their Super Bowl years (with those great Ds) I think they’d have way more success than they have until this point. Of course, this is pure speculation on my part…

 

As you said all 5 of those guys have had loads of success at this point but in my book there is a rather large gap between Romo and Cutler and the rest of that list (particularly Rivers – who is a distant 5th.)

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MDH All Pro

MDH

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Sometimes Cutler looks like a world beater, and other times like a mook. I think Jay and JP Losman are similar, in many ways (not every way).

 

Such is the nature of a young QB. Both Eli and Ben have looked up and down as well - I'd say Cutler's "up" is much higher than either of the other two though.

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quikchomp Rookie

quikchomp

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I was thinking the same thing, except that I think that Rivers is the real deal. Through 2 games, Cutler and Rivers are almost identical

 

Cutler 6 TD, 1 INT, 650 Yds, 118.6 RTG

Rivers 6 TD, 1 INT, 594 Yds, 122.5 RTG

 

I don't think that you could go wrong with either one of them.

 

If Trent can stay healthy we will be fortunate to have him playing at the same level.

I definitely wouldn't argue against Rivers at all...I just haven't seen enough Chargers games to know any better. His stats look really nice though.

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Bagel UDFA

Bagel

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Is Romo even that "young?" Wasn't he a backup for like 4 years or something like that, and this is his 2nd year starting? That's a lot of years in the league to be considered "young."

 

I had the same thought -- Romo is 28 (29 next spring). To put that in perspective Tom Brady just turned 31.

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BuffOrange Veteran

BuffOrange

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I'd rank 'em differently too. Personally, I don't know how somebody can watch Romo or Cutler play and then say Big Ben or Eli are better than either of them (and it pains me to say it because I hate the f'in Cowboys.) I believe they are overvaluing Super Bowl wins when it comes to evaluating an individual QB's play.

 

Eli was scattershot over 4 years and then caught fire for 4 weeks - does that make him better than Romo or Cutler? Not in my book (if he keeps it going all season I’ll change my tune though.) Big Ben game managing his way to a SB victory is quality team quarterbacking but not something that makes me stand up and say "Wow, that guy is amazing." Ben was very good last year but it doesn't wipe away his horrid season 2 years ago. To this day the Steelers still just have Ben manage the games - which I can't really take issue with given their defense and the success they’ve had doing it.

 

But when I watch Romo and Cutler I sit up and take notice of the QB play - their ability to hit the big play, to make something out of nothing or to fire the ball in there when there doesn't appear to be much space (Cutler dazzles at this last one.) The only thing one could really question about them is their success in the playoffs – but if you stick either of those guys on the Giants or Steelers in their Super Bowl years (with those great Ds) I think they’d have way more success than they have until this point. Of course, this is pure speculation on my part…

 

As you said all 5 of those guys have had loads of success at this point but in my book there is a rather large gap between Romo and Cutler and the rest of that list (particularly Rivers – who is a distant 5th.)

 

My only disagreement is on Ben. When you look at his 4 seasons and his nightmare 05-06 offseason of injuries, I think it is pretty clear that his horrid 06 was the anomaly. Another good season this year should erase any doubt of that.

 

Otherwise I agree w/ most of your stuff. The "Romo in big games" knock is ridiculously overblown - people act as if he's choked away the top seed 3 years in a row. Him not sucking as much as Bledsoe as a 1st year QB was the reason they were in the playoffs 2 years ago; and in an underdog role he took them down the field with the game on the line in what is supposedly the toughest stadium in the league to play in. Yeah he choked on the FG hold, but I mean he doesn't hold FG's anymore - it was certainly a better performance than Eli's first playoff game - a shutout loss to Carolina at home. He could've done better in the Giants game, but he wasn't terrible - Brady obviously didn't fare much better against that defense.

 

Rivers' stock basically went up tenfold by gutting out the title game @NE last year. I respect that as much as the next guy, but really he doesn't get the "big game" criticism because they played a Titans team that couldn't do anything offensively in the wildcard round, and then Volek beat the Colts. Meh...

 

Cutler obviously has a lot of upside, but a lot to prove as well.

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