Vs Series: Ken Anderson vs Boomer Esiason

[*rfaulk34*]

(04-01-2023, 12:50 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Fun fact about Boomer. He would probably be a HOF lock if he'd spent his entire career with Coslet. He was a different player without him.

With Coslet:
7 seasons
51-43 record
22,719 yards
152 TDs to 86 INTs
89.0 passer rating (top tier for the era)

Without Coslet:
7 seasons
29-50 record
15,201 yards
95 TDs to 98 INTs
71.5 passer rating

This went for his time with the Jets as well. He made the Pro Bowl with Coslet, then fell off hard when Coslet left.

Then after looking completely washed for several years, he comes back to Cincy and plays like an MVP with Coslet.

Ken Anderson had a HoF career, no doubt. Against his peers he never lead the league in pass attempts but in completions, completion %, yards, TDs, YPA, YPG and passer rating, Anderson lead the leauge in one or more of those categories 15 times. Only Dan Fouts can exceed that during Anderson's career. In Boomer's career, he only did that 3 times. 

In argument for Boomer, who i picked regardless of any ignorant comments about how the only way someone would pick him was if they didn't see Anderson or either, he had a 6 year stretch ('85-'90) where he was an elite QB against tougher, HoF QBs. Boomer's Bengals career was much shorter but his overall numbers are comparable to Anderson's, in a different era. 

From '85 to '90 Boomer was:
#5 in Completions, behind Marino, Elway, Montana and O'Brien
#17 in Completion % (this is where Anderson has a huge advantage over Boomer)
#2 in Yards, behind Marino 20,851 to 24,122
#2 in TDs, behind Marino 147 to 173
#1 in YPA 8.1
#7 in YPG, behind Marino, Montana, Fouts, Moon, Everett and Rypien
#2 in Passer rating, behind Montana 86.7 to 94.0

Anderson had 8 winning seasons out of 13 where he had at least 9 starts. 61.5%
Boomer had 3 winning seasons out of 8 where he had at least 9 starts. 37.5%

Anderson had 4 pro bowls, 1 all pro, 1 MVP and 1 SB appearance.
Boomer had 4 pro bowls, 1 all pro, 1 MVP and 1 SB appearance. 

Anderson had 10 comebacks and 14 game winning drives.
Boomer had 16 comebacks and 22 game winning drives. 

In the post season:
Anderson was 2-4 with 9 TDs, 6 INTs and a 93.5 rating.
Boomer was 3-2 with 4 TDs, 3 INTs and a 71.1 rating. 

"Better career as a Bengal" is pretty subjective and requires a lot of context and who you saw or didn't see isn't the only reason you would pick one or the other.