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RazorStar

Historical QB Rankings

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90. Jim Everett (Los Angeles Rams 1986-1993, New Orleans Saints 1994-1996, San Diego Chargers 1997)
Rams and Saints
Career Record 66-93-0 (41.51%) 94th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 46-22-0 (67.65%) 87th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 20-71-0 (21.98%) 83rd out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 68/159 (42.77%) 83rd out of 102 (-7)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.602)

Image result for jim everett

Jim Everett is a case of a player who probably held onto his career way too long despite having every reason to quit while he was ahead. He was the third overall draft pick by the Houston Oilers in 1986, but because they couldn't get a deal done, he started his career as a Ram. and his first 4-5 years were actually really good, making the playoffs in 3 of his first 4 seasons, the NFC Championship game in his 4th, and he managed to go to a pro bowl in 1990, despite the team selling off most of their players due to money issues. However, Everett was never the same guy after all the hard hits he took in the championship game against the 49ers, becoming very gun shy in the pocket and sack averse. He was benched a few times for guys you'll never hear about, traded to New Orleans (which is where QB's went to die historically), and eventually ended his career with the Chargers as a backup in 97. 

Perhaps the most famous thing he'll be remembered for was the time he attacked Jim Rome on air for being called Chris Everett. It was a classic insult in Rome's playbook, and Everett had warned him that things would get physical if he called him Chris again. Of course Jim did, he got a table flipped on him and shoved to the ground. Unfortunately, it made Rome popular for years, which sucked, but what can you do? Everett never had great teams around him, as you can see by his defense's ranking on this list but he wasn't good enough to overcome those poor performances. That's why he sits in the journeyman category despite a reasonable career.

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Rest in piss Jim Rome. Let's talk about someone most people wouldn't know.

 

89. Greg Landry (Detroit Lions 1968-1978, Baltimore Colts 1979-1981, Chicago Bears 1984)
2nd Place Lions QB
Careeer Record 44-50-3 (46.91%) 81st out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 32-15-2 (67.35%) 89th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 12-35-1 (26.04%) 59th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 49/97 (50.52%) 62nd out of 102 (-27)


Wins Above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.586)

Image result for greg landry

 

Greg Landry was for a long time, the best thing to ever happen to the Lions at the quarterback position. They had been cursed with beyond terrible play at the position ever since Bobby Layne left them in 1958. And while it was true that the Lions were cursed to lose for 50 years, at least with Landry they lost far less than they usually did. In addition to being a decent passer, he was a quality running option as well, which was rare in the 70's, because scrambling QB's usually got decked. However he struggled with injuries and just barely got to the 90 starts mark needed to qualify for this list despite playing in the NFL for 15 years. Decent at best was the best the Lions could muster in his 11 years with them, and he only made a single playoff appearance, a game in which they lost 5-0 to the Cowboys. he played for the Colts for a few years as a backup to Bert Jones, before being released during the 1982 lockout. He spent a few years in the USFL before ending his career with the Chicago Bears. If he had just stayed on another year there he would have had a super bowl ring. Hahaha, but that's just how the dice fall for these guys.  

Edited by RazorStar

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This kind of illustrates how hard it is to find a good QB. This is 40 years of the 100 best QB's and most of these guys are pretty bad so far. A couple surprises in guys you would think would be higher on the list but still. Imagine if you ranked all the best RB's over the same period of time. The whole list would be full of studs lol.

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50 years technically, but yeah, most of the guys early on were pretty abysmal. Think how this would look if my sample size was smaller than ~5.5 seasons worth of starts.

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88. Lynn Dickey (Houston Oilers 1971-1975, Green Bay Packers 1976-1985)
3rd Place Packers QB
Career Record 47-61-3 (43.69%) 90th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 32-15-3 (67.00%) 92nd out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 15-46-0 (24.59%) 69th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 50/111 (45.05%) 78th out of 102 (-10)


Wins Above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.533)


Image result for lynn dickey

 

There were some dark days in Green Bay, from Vince Lombardi's retirement to the advent of Mike Holmgren. For that near quarter century, the Packers struggled to find that legacy that brought them so many championships. Lynn Dickey represents the best of that dark era for the Packers, at a time where they couldn't find playmakers and had a real difficult time of drawing players to the frozen tundra. Dickey was a backup in Houston, never able to supplant Dan Pastorini for the job in the early 70's, and very turnover prone in relief, throwing 8 TD's and 28 INT's during his 5 year stint for the Oilers. He had a rough start as a Packer after being traded in 76, throwing just 12 TDs to 28 picks before breaking his leg in 77, missing the rest of that season, all of 78' and most of 79'. If his career had ended there it would have been a sad state of affairs, but after recovering from his injury he hit his stride in his 30's, putting up a lot of yards, a lot of points... and a lot of interceptions. Dude gave the ball away like a philanthropic leper gives away everything. He did however set the Packers record for yardage and points in a season in 1983 with 4458 yards, and 429 points, but those marks have since been broken by Aaron Rodgers. The Packers made the playoffs once in his tenure during the strike shortened season of 1982, but they were eliminated by the Cowboys in the second round thanks in large part for his propensity to throw picks. Dickey could sling it with the best of them, but he made so many crucial mistakes that he often gave up losses in games where his defense actually did decide to show up.

And as you can see he is only 1 of 3 Packer QB's on this list. Favre and Rodgers will be making appearances later, but Bart Starr did not qualify for starts in the super bowl era.

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87. Steve Beuerlein (Oakland Raiders 1987-1990, Dallas Cowboys 1991-1992, Arizona Cardinals 1993-1994, Jacksonville Jaguars 1995, Carolina Panthers 1996-2000, Denver Broncos 2001-2003)
7th Place Cardinals QB and 3rd Place Panthers QB
Career Record 49-57-0 (46.23%) 85th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 38-17-0 (69.09%) 81st out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 11-40 (21.47%) 88th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 55/106 (51.89%) 52nd out of 102 (-35)


Wins Above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.530)

Image result for steve beuerlein

 

Beuerlein is probably better known as an announcer, but as it turns out he did have a fairly lengthy career in the NFL, even if it took a long time for him to finally get a starting job. As a 4th round pick for the Raiders he mostly played backup to their revolving door of QB's but he was solid in relief so the Cowboys took him on when his first contract was up. He was a warm enough body to win with that stacked Dallas team in 91, and won a super bowl as a backup in 92 before finally getting a chance to start for real in Arizona. The Cardinals were alright under him, but they couldn't retain him when the expansion draft came around, and he ended being a backup for both the Jags and Panthers in a span of 2 years. Once Kerry Collin's alcoholism hit his team, he finally had a chance to lead the Panthers. While he never got a team past .500 as a starter, he was always a commendable backup and a fair starter when he needed to be. If you're judging him as a starter, he never really broke into that echelon save for his 99' and 00' season, he was just a capable backup who played long enough and got enough chances to just barely break the 90 starts needed for this list. And hell, the fact that he did better on this list than a lot of high draft picks is a testament to his grit. 

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And we're onto the last player in the Journeyman Rank. The guys from here on qualify as average. Behold, mediocrity!

86. Joe Ferguson (Buffalo Bills 1973-1984, Detroit Lions 1985-1987, Tampa Bay Bucs 1988-1989, Indianapolis Colts 1990)
3rd Place Bills QB
Career Record 80-90-0 (47.06%) 80th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 59-28-0 (67.82%) 86th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 21-62-0 (25.30%) 66th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 87/170 (51.18%) 57th out of 102 (-29)


Wins Above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.507)

Image result for joe ferguson

 

Joe Ferguson, aka the guy who handed the ball off to OJ Simpson had a long... very long career for the Bills. During his first 3 seasons in the league, he barely had to throw the ball more than 20 times a games, letting Juice do all the work. His fortunes changed around 1977 when he needed to become the centrepiece of the offense and sling it down field a lot more. Of course, the Bills got much worse as a result, toiling in mediocrity for most of the early live ball era. The Bills drafted Jim Kelly in 1983, but he went to go play in the USFL, so Ferguson got to start for a couple more seasons, but after an abysmal 1-10 showing in 1984, the Bills finally decided to move on. He bounced around as a backup in Detroit, Tampa and Indianapolis before finally hanging up the cleats in 1990. Ferguson's raw numbers for the era weren't very impressive but he stayed healthy, kept his TD:INT ratio around 1, and his completion percentage a shade above 50% for most of his prime, and he managed to have a long career, especially for the era he played in. Nobody will talk about Ferguson as one of the all time greats, but he was just a solid game managerwho was occasionally prone to a real stinker of a game from time to time. He was fortunate to play with OJ Simpson for most of the dead ball era which probably contributed to his long career, the game is a lot easier when you only have to throw 20 times a game. The Bills made the playoffs three times in his career, losing in the Divisional Round each time.

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Bills fans have been through a lot, man and it looks like Allen is pretty easily the worst QB in the draft class but it's still early lol. Whatever happens I think they should keep McDermott around. He's done a decent job. I mean, they're at least respectable now.

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85. Aaron Brooks (Green Bay Packers 1999, New Orleans Saints 2000-2005, Oakland Raiders 2006)
5th Place Saints QB
Career Record 39-53-0 (42.39%) 91st out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 24-15-0 (61.54%) 99th(T) out of 102 
Record in Games with Bad Defense 15-38-0 (28.30%) 49th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 39/92 (42.39%) 85th out of 102 (0)


Wins Above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.414)

Image result for Aaron brooks nfl

 

Aaron Brooks had a very weird trajectory for his career, and he's basically just Saints trivia at this point. His career was a very short 7 seasons, but he was the first QB to ever win a post season game for the Saints. While the Saints had made the postseason several times in the Dome Patrol era, they were bounced in the wild card each of the 4 times they showed up. Aaron Brooks led the Saints to the postseason in his rookie year, and outscored the Greatest Show on Turf in 2000 before folding to the Vikings in the divisional round. Brooks never tasted the playoffs again after that, but his play in his rookie season brought a lot of hope to Saints fans. However, the saints were plagued with poor defense for most of the 2000's, and Brooks could only keep the team around .500 before having a major collapse in 2005 that got him benched, got his coach Jim Haslett fired, and Sean Payton brought in. Drew Brees became a free agent, and Brooks' time in New Orleans was done in a rather ignominious fashion. He joined the Raiders the next season, but played musical chairs at the position with Andrew Walter and could never recover the magic he displayed early in his career. Brooks was released at the end of the season, and decided to hang them up at age 30.

Brooks was a remarkably inconsistent player, his record when his defenses showed up to play was among the worst of all players in this study, and yet he had a knack for the dramatic, always seeming to match the offenses he faced, and playing a lot of games tight until the 4th quarter. However, he took a serious decline at 29, and it may have had something to do with being unable to adjust to losing his speed as he got older, and his teams lost 18 of his last 21 starts as a result.

Edited by RazorStar
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84. Steve Bartkowski (Atlanta Falcons 1975-1985, Los Angeles Rams 1986)
5th Place Falcons QB
Career Record 59-67-0 (46.83%) 82nd out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 45-18-0 (71.43%) 75th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 14-49-0 (22.22%) 82nd out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 63/126 (50.00%) 64th (T) out of 102 (-20)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.413)

Image result for steve bartkowski

 

The man, the myth, the legend. Steve Bartkowski was certainly 1 of these things for Falcons fans in the 70's and 80's. Another first overall pick, which is a common trend at this point, QB is the position most likely to be taken at that spot after all, he was drafted ahead of hall of famers like Randy White and Walter Payton. Expected to be the saviour of the franchise early on he was.... not to say the least. He suffered a knee injury in his second season (something of a common trend in his long career), and was benched in his third while the Gritz Blitz was doing its thing. It took until his 6th season in 1980 to finally throw for more touchdowns than interceptions, and he actually gave the Falcons a fair shot to win the NFC that year, but when it mattered the most, his defense let him down in his playoff attempt. The Falcons never really had another opportunity to make the postseason, (sneaking into the 16 team race in 1982 at 5-4 but being quickly dispatched by the Vikings), as Bartkowski wasted most of his defense's good years being hurt, or terrible, or out partying. He did get his career together in the second half, but by that time his defense had folded. He had very efficient seasons in his last two years in Atlanta, but went 3-13 in those seasons, ended up being released, and finished his career with the Rams as part of a QB battery with the rookie Jim Everett and the bridge QB Steve Dils (Yes, that's his name). 

His defenses were exactly average for his career, but as you can see by this list, he skews below average for long term starters overall. What that means is that typically QB's who have long careers have strong defenses to thank for that. Although that doesn't necessarily mean there is a correlation, but it's something to consider at least. If Bartowski had found his groove earlier in his career, perhaps he would have been a threat for the top 50 on this list, but his skills took a long time to polish and that puts him strictly in the average / below average category he finds himself in now.

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On 2/20/2019 at 10:09 PM, seanbrock said:

Bills fans have been through a lot, man and it looks like Allen is pretty easily the worst QB in the draft class but it's still early lol. Whatever happens I think they should keep McDermott around. He's done a decent job. I mean, they're at least respectable now.

Josh Rosen was also in that draft class, so I mean... small mercies. They did wait 20 years to make the make postseason only to put up 3 points against the jags so that's pretty rough.

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83. Daunte Culpepper (Minnesota Vikings 1999-2005, Miami Dolphins 2006, Oakland Raiders 2007, Detroit Lions 2008-2009)
8th Place Vikings QB
Career Record 42-58-0 (42.00%) 92nd out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 29-11-0 (72.50%) 70th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 13-47-0 (21.67%) 88th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 40/100 (40.00%) 91st out of 102 (+8)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.282)

Image result for daunte culpepper

 

Who remembers Daunte Culpepper? Dude was going to be the next big thing in Minnesota, he and Randy Moss were going to live the dream and be the next Montana and Rice and that... never happened. Randy Moss still had a hell of a career, but Culpepper's career took a big nosedive post 2004. The Vikings made it to the NFC Championship in his first year starting in 2000, but the team could not repeat that success as Culpepper struggled in 2001 and 2002. He got it together in 2003 and 2004, throwing all over the field, using his legs to extend plays and make plays of his own and nearly had a MVP season in 2004 throwing for 39 TDs, 11 INTs and nearly 5000 yards. If his career continued on that track, he would have been a Vikings legend. Sadly things weren't meant to be. Moss was traded at the end of the 04 season because Joe Buck was disgusted by his mooning celebration, and Culpepper had to operate without the best WR in football. He was interception prone and sack prone in 2005, and halfway through the season he got his knee shredded on a nasty hit, and never was the same dual threat ever again after that hit. The whole love boat scandal happened not soon after, and Culpepper was gone from the Vikings. He ended up becoming a Dolphin, struggling there, getting hurt and getting benched. Then he joined the Raiders after Moss had just left, to be JaMarcus Russell's backup, but once again struggled with injuries and inconsistent play. He joined the Lions after a brief retirement, but just happened to be one of the guys who helped contribute to the Lions 0-16 campaign before getting hurt once again.

Daunte's tale is one of two different careers, and it's so interesting to see just a dramatic divide between what could have been an all time great, and what ended up being a washed up Qb looking for his last semblance of glory. He's the first QB on this list so far to overachieve compared to his defensive ranking, but his record in either situation with his defense was not impressive and thanks to his prolonged career post 2004, he burned his chance of being considered an above average starter for his career.

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82. Doug Williams (Tampa Bay Bucs 1978-1982, Washington Redskins 1986-1989)
5th Place Bucs QB and 8th Place Redskins QB
Career Record 46-43-1 (51.67%) 56th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 36-16-1 (68.87%) 82nd out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 10-27-0 (27.03%) 55th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 53/90 (58.89%) 24th out of 102 (-58)


Wins Above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.270)

Image result for doug williams

 

Oh hey, we've got the first Super Bowl winning starter on this list. Doug Williams certainly made history for the Redskins, being one of the three guys to win it during the Joe Gibbs era, and perhaps more important historically, being the first Black Quarterback to make that achievement. The funny thing is that Doug Williams wasn't originally going to be on this list for a lack of starts, but I said fuck it, he won a super bowl and he's close so it's worth a look. After doing my adjustments for relief games and playoff games, he actually did qualify for starts so lucky us hahaha. Doug's career is a tale in three acts and it's honestly quite an interesting one. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Bucs by the recommendation of their offensive coordinator, one Joe Gibbs who loved what he saw out of him and wanted to make him into the Bucs franchise QB, after going through the hell that is the Gary Huff / Steve Spurrier... who the hell even are these guys battery that the Bucs suffered through early in their history. The Bucs made the playoffs three times in five years under his play, including a conference championship in his sophomore year. He was the lowest paid QB in the league and wanted to be 600k a season, but their owner at the time wanted nothing to do with that, so he quit the NFL and joined the USFL, making it so once again there were no black QB's in the NFL. He toiled in the soon to be defunct league until it collapsed in 1986, and rejoined Gibbs in Washington as the backup to Jay Schroeder. In 1987 he made magic happen in his games played, replacing Schroeder multiple times throughout the season and winning each game. Gibbs rode the hot hand in the postseason, and Williams became the first Black QB to win a super bowl. He stayed the starter in 88 but couldn't replicate the magic and was replaced soon after, and finally decided to hang up the cleats in 1989. 

As you can see, Williams had some incredible defenses in his career, between the Bucs getting their act together on defense in the early 80's, and the Redskins being the second best team of the 80's, Doug got to play with a lot of talent and was rather fortunate to have a hall of fame coach who liked him. His record when his defense showed up was well below expectations though, and he did tend to go invisible when the Bucs needed him the most. Still, he was a scrappy, intelligent player with a good arm, and he was an important part of NFL history.

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I am assuming Stan Humphries doesn't have 5.5 seasons to make the list. So I'd guess the remaining 4 Chargers are: Rivers, Fouts, Unitas, and Brees. I am going to wager it goes: 1. Brees 2. Unitas 3. Fouts 4. Rivers.

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Some kinda surprising names down here on the list.  Though maybe I'm just thinking that cuz they're "names" that I recognize.

I know it's just a pic and maybe not entirely accurate, but Ron Jaworski's throwing motion is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen.

 

Edited by Vin

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Well by virtue of the way this list is curated, I expect you'll recognize most of the names on the list, the only ones that may lead to some doubts are the guys from the 70's and 80's who just sort of snuck onto the list.

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81. Trent Dilfer (Tampa Bay Bucs 1994-1999, Baltimore Ravens 2000, Seattle Seahawks 2001-2004, Cleveland Browns 2005, San Francisco 49ers 2006-2007)
4th Place Bucs QB and 3rd Place Ravens QB
Career Record 61-56-0 (52.14%) 53rd out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 51-20-0 (71.83%) 73rd out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 10-36-0 (21.74%) 87th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 71/117 (60.68%) 19th out of 102 (-62)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.261)

Image result for trent dilfer

 

From one super bowl winning QB to another, Trent Dilfer is often remembered as the worst super bowl winning QB of all time. I don't disagree with that assessment in the slightest. Doug Williams may have finished a fraction worse by the raw numbers, but Williams spent a good chunk of his prime in the USFL, Dilfer doesn't have that excuse. Doug Williams also started his career on a Bucs team two years out of an expansion draft. Dilfer started his career on a Bucs team that had been around for nearly 20 years when he showed up. Dilfer's start in Tampa was miserable, he was a turnover machine, but by virtue of being a high draft pick, and a sheer lack of talent in Tampa, he got time to improve and settle for mediocrity as the Bucs defense developed into a legendary force with guys like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. He turned himself into a game manager, making safe throws, handing the ball off, and never rocking the boat... and thanks to the teams around him, that kind of pansy ass play worked. Trent Dilfer was never asked to win games, he was simply asked not to lose them, and he was a .500 QB for most of his time there. He never could get them over the hump and eventually Tampa got sick of him and decided to move on. Dilfer joined the Ravens in 2000 as a backup, and quickly got the start when Anthony Banks could not do a damn thing for them. Trent Dilfer may not have been good, but he could at least find a wide open Shannon Sharpe and hand the ball off to a wrecking ball in Jamal Lewis. And the Ravens defense... could do the rest as they carried him to a Super Bowl victory. His time in Baltimore was cut short after a season, and he spent his time as the backup to Matt Hasslebeck in Seattle, before going to Cleveland to become part of the hydra, before finally going to San Francisco to be the backup to wunderkind Alex Smith. He hung up the cleats in 2007 as the worst QB to ever win a super bowl.

 He was sub optimal when his defense did show up, and when they didn't he may as well not have even been on the field because he rarely helped pull his team out a clinch. He isn't the biggest underachiever when it comes to the strength of his defenses, but if he had played less games for Cleveland and San Francisco he probably would have been. He was quite fortunate to be the QB of two of the best defenses of the late 90's - early 00's and fortunate to break the 90 starts needed to get on this list after the terrible start to his career (seriously, he threw 18 picks to just 4 TDs in his first year starting). Still, he managed to be right around the league average and for a guy who looks more at home snorting meth out of his parent's bathtub, being a below average QB is really making a name for yourself. You're doing momma Dilfer proud, Trent.

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80. Drew Bledsoe (New England Patriots 1993-2001, Buffalo Bills 2002-2004, Dallas Cowboys 2005-2006)
4th Place Patriots QB and 2nd Place Bills QB and 6th Place Cowboys QB
Career Record 100-97-0 (50.76%) 62nd out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 73-40-0 (64.60%) 95th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 27-57-0 (32.14%) 31st out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 113/197 (57.36%) 29th out of 102 (-51)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.253)

Image result for drew bledsoe

 

Well we've got the first Patriot to fall, and it was the golden boy himself, Drew Bledsoe. This former first overall pick spent his entire career basically being a cannon. Completely immobile but could fire bombs anywhere down the field. He was famous for being in a lot of shootouts with Jim Kelly and Dan Marino. He had his fair share of success with the Patriots, making it to a super bowl in 1996 but coming up short against a stacked Packers squad. He got wrecked by Mo Lewis, and that started the legacy of a player we'll be seeing a lot further down the list. He was able to relieve mister Brady in the AFC Championship game against the Steelers and get a big win before conceding the starting job to Brady, taking a super bowl ring as a backup, and finding himself exiled to Buffalo. He started three seasons there, but unable to take the Bills to the promised land, they dumped him for their shining star of the 2004 draft class... JP Losman. Yeah, that's rough buddy. He ended up on the Cowboys where he started for 1 and a half seasons, but ended up getting benched at halftime and replaced by another player who will be showing up much later on this list in Tony Romo. At least two of the three guys who ended up replacing him turned out to do pretty well for their teams. 

Drew was known for three things when it came to his play. Slinging it down the field, throwing costly interceptions, and taking a whole lot of hits. He managed to be pretty resilient, only missing games due to injury once in his long career. He played in a lot of shootouts, and actually did really well in those games winning nearly 1/3rd of them which is incredible when the average is around 22% for QB's overall and is skewed high by basically 2-4 guys an era. However, his gambling style did lead him to lose a lot of games a steadier QB would win, going a miserable 73-40 in games with good defense, and basically ruining the great defenses he played with throughout his career. That number of good defenses kind of surprised me, but then you remember that Belichick and these dynasty Patriots inherited a lot of defensive talent, and the Bills and Cowboys happened to have some real stars in the years Bledsoe was there, like DeMarcus Ware, Terrence Newman, London Fletcher, Nate Clements, etc... So all in all, Bledsoe comes in a little bit below average, but that's more due to inconsistency than game managing like the previous two entries on this list.

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Seems crazy that Bledsoe is only one spot better than Dilfer lol

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79. Richard Todd (New York Jets 1976-1983, New Orleans Saints 1984-1985)
4th Place Jets Quarterback
Career Record 49-56-1 (46.70%) 83rd out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 37-14-0 (72.55%) 69th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 12-42-1 (22.73%) 79th (T) out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 51/106 (48.11%) 69th out of 102 (-10)


Wins above Average starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.249)

Related image

How odd, another AFC East QB right after this last one. Richard Todd, or as no one ever called him, Dick Toddy, was the Jets plans to replace their legendary soon to be hall of fame quarterback, Joe Namath in the 70's. He's also the beginning of the long line of mediocrity the Jets have come to expect at the position. For a while he held the record for most completions in a game with 42 (later broken by Bledsoe actually) and simultaneous most games with an interception in a season with picks in 15 of 16 games. He's had a game where he's had a passer rating of zero, and a game where he's had a perfect passer rating. The Jets made the playoffs twice in his career, once in 1981 losing to the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round after a 4 INT day. And once in 1982, making it all the way to the AFC Championship game before getting shut out by the Dolphins and capping it off with 5 interceptions. Once the Jets drafted Ken O'Brien the next off-season, the writing was on the wall for Todd, who had been embroiled in QB competitions before. And at the end of the 83 season, he was jettisoned out to New Orleans, where QB's went to die. He started 1984 as the starter there, but got pulled near the end of the season, and was down to being the third string QB in 1985. He had a brief stint as a Jets backup in 86, but never saw the field and was cut midway through the season.

Todd's career arc is actually pretty similar to Bledsoe's in that he was remarkably inconsistent. However while Bledsoe was less effective at winning the easy games, Todd didn't quite win at the same rate against great defenses, in fact those were the games where he usually compiled his high interception totals. In the end, his inconsistency meant that he couldn't end much higher on this list but he did overcome a fair share of adversity in his career. Although the end result was slight underachievement, you can see the Jets have clearly had worse days than the Todd Era.

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77. Chris Chandler (Indianapolis Colts 1988-1989, Tampa Bay Bucs 1990-1991, Phoenix Cardinals 1991-1993, Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams 1994 and 2004, Houston Oilers 1995-1996, Atlanta Falcons 1997-2001, Chicago Bears 2002-2003)
6th Place Cardinals QB and 5th Place Oilers/Titans QB and 4th Place Falcons QB
Career Record 68-76-0 (47.22%) 78th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 49-21-0 (70.00%) 78th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 19-55-0 (25.68%) 61st out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 70/144 (48.61%) 67th out of 102 (-11)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.117)

Image result for chris chandler

 

I just want to say before starting this thing up, fuck Chris Chandler. If I had to point one player who made this study as difficult as possible, I'd point to ol glass bones here. Most QB's I only had to adjust 3-5 games for them. If they had a longer career, the number may have gone up to 7-9, maybe as high as 10, but more often than not I wasn't doing a lot of adjustments for starts. Chris Chandler needed 23 adjustments. He only started 144 games, no where near the top of these lists. He had a long ass career, that's for sure, but it was constantly mired by random injuries, so much so that he earned the nickname Crystal Chandelier. M Night Shaymalan made a movie about his evil twin called Unbreakable. Ok, that's enough about his durability, let's get into his ability. Chris Chandler was a journeyman, in every sense of the word. He managed to start for 7 different teams over his career, which is tied for the most in league history. He was a third round pick for the Colts in 1988, but after two hot and cold seasons, and the arrival of Jeff George he became a Buc for a year and a half before being traded to the Cardinals. he played most of the season in 1992 for them, but got injured early in 1994 and was replaced by Steve Beuerlein. He played for the Rams for one season in 94, splitting time with Chris Miller, before moving to the Oilers in 1995 where he acted as the bridge QB for Jeff Fisher and his team's move to Nashville. He actually managed to stay somewhat healthy in Houston, only missing 7 out of a possible 32 starts, and seems to inspire enough confidence to get a starting job on his 6th team, the Atlanta Falcons. And if his career had ended before he got to the Falcons, he would have never sniffed averaged, but he seemed to get healthier in his early 30's, and he managed to lead his team to a super bowl in 1998 after going 13-1 in the regular season, and knocking off the favoured Vikings in an offensive shootout, more remembered for Gary Anderson missing a kick than anything the Falcons did in that game. He wasn't able to capitalize on that success, but the Falcons kept him around until 2001 where he helped mentor Michael Vick. He ended his career going to the Bears, and having one last stint with the Rams before finally hanging it up. 1998 was the only season where he made the playoffs, he spent most of his time being a bridge quarterback for bigger and better players.

If not for the portion of his career with the Falcons, Chandler may have ended up much closer to the bottom of this list. I don't think he would have supplanted Archie for last place or anything, but the dude was basically Proto Ryan Fitzpatrick but with injury issues. Teams kept taking a chance on him, and he kept doing mediocre jobs, his only winning seasons were his rookie year (where he handed off to Eric Dickerson a lot) and his insane 1998 season that really just came out of nowhere (and also he handed off the ball to Jamal Anderson a lot). His defenses were a shade below average, his play in games was a shade below average, and in the end, he ends up a shade below average. Chris Chandler won't be fondly remembered by many people... and I won't remember him fondly either. Actually running the numbers yields that Chandler would have tied with Jim Harbaugh if 1998 never happened. Wild.

Edited by RazorStar
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76. Jeff Blake (New York Jets 1992-1993, Cincinnati Bengals 1994-1999, New Orleans Saints 2000-2001, Baltimore Ravens 2002, Arizona Cardinals 2003, Philadelphia Eagles 2004, Chicago Bears 2005)
5th Place Bengals Quarterback
Career Record 39-60-0 (39.39%) 96th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 21-11-0 (65.63%) 93rd out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 18-49-0 (26.87%) 56th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 32/99 (32.32%) 102nd out of 102 (+25)


Wins above Average Starter in a 16 Game Season (-0.110)

Image result for jeff blake

 

We're getting very close to the end of quarterbacks who finished just below average, and Jeff Blake provides an interesting case study on things I could maybe improve upon in my study, or tweaks for the future to adjust players with either really good defenses throughout their career, or in Blake's case really bad defenses. I'm not sure what exactly those adjustments would entail, but allow me to ramble a little bit about an underrated player. Jeff Blake, out of all the quarterbacks on this study comes out with the worst defenses on average. He only managed to make 99 starts, but only in 32 of them did his defense allow less than 21 points, which is just pathetic. Blake was the primary starter for the Bengals in the 90's, he was drafted by the Jets, but never really broke through in New York as a late round pick. He went to the Bengals to backup David Klingler (yeah, him), but eventually took the job after Klinger got hurt. He established great rapport with the offense, but his defenses were abysmal, and he was only able to win 39 games in his career. The Bengals never really bought into Blake, constantly trying to replace him with guys like Neil O'Donnell, ancient Boomer Esiason, and eventually first round pick Akili Smith in 1999. Blake ended up leaving to join the Saints afterwards, but found himself replaced by Aaron Brooks in his only winning season after he broke his foot, and he never got his job back. He bounced around as a backup to a lot of different teams, including starting most of the season for 2003 Cardinals, and almost won a super bowl as an Eagles backup in 2004, but he never really got a team to believe in him and his potential.

The big dig on Blake is that his record wasn't impressive when his defense actually did show up. Though these were often defensive brawls with division rivals and the Bengals were woefully outmatched most of the time. He did do a lot to keep his team in a lot of games they had no business being in, the Bengals of the 90's were easily one of the worst teams of the decade, if not the worst. He was adept at extending plays and getting a lot of YPA, but he could never overcome his bad defenses. Still, despite all of that, he ended up just a hair below average, and ahead of some super bowl winning quarterbacks. He obviously never got a chance to play in the postseason.

Edited by RazorStar

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78. Jim Zorn (Seattle Seahawks 1976-1984, Green Bay Packers 1985, Tampa Bay Bucs 1987)
5th Place Seahawks Quarterback
Career Record 43-61-0 (41.35%) 95th out of 102


Record in Games with Good Defense 28-10-0 (73.68%) 67th out of 102
Record in Games with Bad Defense 15-51-0 (22.73%) 78th out of 102
Percentage of Games with Good Defense 38/104 (36.54%) 99th out of 102 (+21)


Wins Above Average in a 16 Game Season (-0.211)

Image result for jim zorn

 

What? The numbers are out of order? I fucked up? Impossible, it's just your imagination. I may have forgot to carry over the numbers from the first two seasons of Zorn's career but uh, don't worry we're back on track now. Good thing for meticulous double checks right? Something the real Zorn could have learned in his coaching career (See the swinging gate for more details). In any case, Zorn was the first quarterback for the expansion Seahawks, and his NFL career went a good deal better than the expansion Bucs' first QB in the same time period. Though, as the QB of an expansion franchise, the early road was rough and bumpy as he struggled to develop rapport, deal with a flimsy offensive line, and the defensive prowess of the Raiders, Broncos and Chiefs in that time period. However, he quickly found a connection with hall of famer Steve Largent, and the Seahawks started to take off by the end of the 70's, and strung together a few winning seasons. However the team was often outmatched, and Zorn could never break into the playoffs on his own, and only got a shot once the Seahawks handed over the reins to Dave Krieg in 1983. Zorn stayed the backup, but got a fair amount of playing time as a backup because Krieg had issues staying on the field. The only playoff game he got to play in was in relief of Krieg after he threw 3 interceptions in 9 passes, and he couldn't overcome that massive hole he was put in. He bounced around to a few different teams after the Hawks cut ties in 84, but he didn't get more than a spot start here or there, even taking a trip to Winnipeg for a season.

As you'd expect from the QB of an expansion team, Zorn had some truly awful defenses. He wasn't the worst on this list, but honestly he was close enough. He got a lot of respect for grinding through some difficult times, and is still well beloved by old school Seahawks fans, even if he isn't breaking records on this list. He didn't stray too far from what you'd expect from a quarterback placed around here, he was just a tinge below the average marks in situations with good and bad defenses, he just had a lot more bad defenses on his part that he needed to overcome. 

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