Pete Prisco ranks NFL starting QBs

[Shake n Blake]

(06-03-2016, 12:31 PM)Nately120 Wrote: So basically experts are terrible at analyzing, predicting, and ranking talent BUT here we are 5 years later still using "Everyone thought the 2011 Bengals were going to be terrible" as some sort of proof that Andy Dalton took over an absolutely god-awful and hopeless team?

I'm not targeting this at you specifically, it's just interesting how much stock we put into some knee-jerk and stupid predictions that are 5 years old when it suits our narrative.  For Bengals fans who actually knew the players who were returning to the team after 2010, who WASN'T returning, the fact that we kept this HC that gets an amount of credit, and actually watched the game to still act like Dalton was drafted by the Browns or something is just off-base.  We were one-year removed from sweeping a very good division and making the playoffs (you know...that standard by which we declare teams to be totally awesome?).  Ah, but Boomer Esiason said we'd be awful so let's just act like Dalton should have been terrified to come to this pathetic franchise!  I'm surprised he didn't demand an immediate Elway-style trade.

Ok, rant over.

I'm mixed on this. I do think some put too much stock in the 2011 turnaround, but I also think it should count for something. I was on the boards back then and I'm sure you remember the huge sig bet that took place. Well, the over-under for that was 4 wins. Only a tiny percentage of the biggest homers were predicting more than 5-6 wins. 9-7 was well above anyone's expectations.

You say that we were just a year removed from a playoff berth, but that was our only playoff berth from 2006-2010. Hardly evidence that the Bengals were a rock solid rebound candidate, IMO. 0-16 was probably a dumb prediction, but if you take any team that was 4-12, make no major FA additions, and replace the franchise QB and WR with rookies, the expectations aren't going to be high.

For Jay to get a rookie QB ready during a lockout (when he supposedly couldn't touch a playbook til August) was pretty amazing. For rookie Dalton to play the QB position better than 2010 Palmer was equally amazing. I'm not arguing that Dalton > Palmer currently, but Palmer was pretty bad in 2010. Moving on was a good thing for both sides. 

Now do I think that Dalton is 100% the reason for the turnaround and the sustained success we've had since? No, but I do think he's one of the biggest reasons and he certainly deserves more credit than he's received over the last 5 years.