Sporting News Ranks AJ McCarron League's Best Backup QB

[Brownshoe]

(07-08-2016, 08:37 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: He did well with what he was asked to do...for the most part. That said, there was more negatives than just 3/4 of one game.

1. The fumble @Denver. It pretty much cost us the BYE. The kid had as many fumbles as Dalton in only 4 starts. It's something to keep an eye on if he winds up starting for an extended stretch again. People have attributed the 3 fumbles vs Pitt to the weather, but how many fumbles did Ben have in the same conditions?

2. He holds the ball too long, leading to sacks (and possibly more fumbles). Without looking it up, I think he was sacked like 15 times in 5 games.

3. The offense wasn't productive with him under center. They had less than 300 total yards like 4 times, after dipping below that number only once under Dalton.

4. Kid throws some real ducks and head scratchers at times. He has a below average arm and if he doesn't fully set his feet, he can throw some passes that look straight out of div III college football.

Kid looks like a backup. A good backup, but a backup. Hue did a great job of managing him and keeping him from killing our chances. The playoff game was bordering on disaster and McC was the biggest reason we had zero points through 3 quarters.

I did like that he hung in there and made some clutch throws near the end, but without an outstanding effort from our defense, none of it would have mattered. Dalton had maybe 1 game where the defense was even semi-respectable (Texans 2.0). So who knows if he could be "clutch"?

Btw, that game proved (again) that multiple turnovers from a QB don't kill the defense. Which is an argument you used to make when Dalton had turnovers and the D gave up around 30 points and 400 yards.

The only game Dalton really had a turnover problem in the playoffs was against the Chargers. I know some people are going to bring up the 2011 wildcard game, but 2 out of the 3 INTs he had really wasn't his fault. One was just a freak play by JJ Watt and another was on 4th down and an INT was a better option than the sack he was about to take.