02-03-2022, 08:07 PM
(02-03-2022, 07:44 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Great QB does make everything look better, sure...but we've signed/drafted the following players in the last 2 years:
DJ Reader
Larry Ogunjobi
BJ Hill
Trey Hendrickson
(We suddenly have an elite dline now)
Logan Wilson
Awuzie
Hilton
Bell
Chase
Spain
Etc
Joe Burrow is great. Lots of credit to him...but I get triggered when people go overboard. He didn't make these guys great players. He didn't identify if they were a fit and go out and sign them.
They deserve credit for their own greatness without us assigning it to Joe Burrow instead. Same with the FO.
Joey is the same guy he was last year when he went 2-7-1. We just put a cast around him that's worthy. Now we're seeing his (and everyone else's) true ability.
I think it's a tricky argument to make either way. We're trying to put our finger on the source of the magic. Of course it can't only be Burrow- he plays in one phase of the game. But as a leader and just a guy who serves as the axis of the team (they literally call him "Franchise") it's hard to define how far-reaching and profound his influence really is.
If you look at the historical data, you'll almost never find a great quarterback who wasn't supplemented by supposedly great drafts, coaches or free agents. Not to say that the importance of those drafts, coaches or free agents can be summarily dismissed on account of the quarterback. But it's hard to ascribe something like that to coincidence. They sort of work together, don't they? The difference is, I think if you move the quarterback to another team, he'll excel there too... as we saw with Peyton in Denver or Brady in Tampa, for example. Whereas I'm not sure you could say the same for the drafts, coaches or free agents that are left behind.
I think the notion of an elevator is very real, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense. I might even be inclined to use the term "mask" instead of elevator, since they tend to hide weaknesses as much as they reinforce (or give rise to) strengths. One example of that might be our offensive line this year. I mean, this is a putrid line, yet it hasn't slowed down Joe Burrow. We're just a sliver away from having some people argue that you don't need pass protection to win in this league lol, "Look at Joe Burrow!" So not only can franchise players make their teammates look good, they can also challenge our value system as football fans more broadly. It's awfully intriguing to me.
