10-31-2018, 09:27 PM
(10-31-2018, 06:07 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: My point is about where he is (and where he seems to stay) and where he (maybe more, we) want him to be.
Brees, Rivers, Ryan, Wilson, Cousins, Rodgers, Brady and Roethlisberger are guys who are always in the top ten. Guys with 94+ career ratings.
Stafford, Newton, Luck, Carr, Tannehill and Smith are all guys that Dalton is actually lumped in with and they have career ratings in the mid to high 80s. Dalton is the best of the bunch with an 89.0.
The new guns, Mahomes, Goff, Wentz and Watson are all coming on the scene and putting up numbers better than him, so when the older guys finally retire, there's already other guys to take their place.
It's year 8 and there are still "reasons" why he hasn't climbed the ladder to those top 8-10 guys and his inconsistencies have always kept him right in the middle of the pack. Is he getting better? Sure, but he's only getting better at a pace that will keep him in the middle of the pack, not necessarily get him consistently in the top 10.
There's some truth to what you're saying, but you also have to account for all the Josh McCown's, RG3's, Kaepernick's and Ryan Fitzpatrick's that ranked ahead of him for 1-2 years then disappeared. All in all, there's only been 18 QB's to post multiple top 10 finishes since 2011, and 4 of them are retired. You could also exclude Fitzpatrick, because no one thinks he's better than Dalton. Then you have Luck, who is currently 10th, which would give him 2 seasons in the top 10.
So basically 12-13 guys have been better than Andy, if that's the criteria you're using. Still "above average". Tbh though, I'd say it's better than "above average" for 2 reasons. 1) There's more than 32 QB's that qualify each year and 2) Dalton has remained consistent. His down seasons haven't been as drastic as those of say...Luck and Cam.
It's been brought up many times on here, but it also hurts Dalton's stats when Marv takes the foot off the gas when we're steamrolling a team. I've seen a lot of games where guys like Drew Brees get to keep compiling stats because they never let up.
I also agree with Wyche that Dalton's play has been better than his numbers suggest. That 4 INT game hurt. His rating has been trending up, and I expect that to continue. We'll see.
One last point is this: I don't remember all this "average" talk with Palmer, and his average rank in passer rating was 13.3...not much better than Andy.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
