re: Quarterback Play in the NFL is horrible these days

I feel like something not being talked about a lot is how much teams value possessions these days. Right now teams only get like 3 possessions a half so they are going for it most 4th downs. Because of this, teams are really emphasizing ball control and seem to be executing safer throws more often than not.

Oline play is connected to the QB. You don’t have many QBs who even know how to set protections these days and that makes olines look bad. The AR15 injury in pre season was a perfect example of this and it happens a lot.

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We might be in the best era of QB's in a long time.

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100% agree. I have almost made the thread several times this year but I was waiting for the KC receivers to get healthy so Mahomes re-emerges and reminds people of what he can do when he's not surrounded by scrubs. Herbert taking a big step into elite really helps. Burrow getting hurt again, however, kind of hurts.

But yeah this top 4:

Allen
Lamar
Herbert
Mahomes

is a tough top-4 in any era. Allen, Lamar, and Mahomes are in the rarified air of historical QBs, with 1 with a clear GOAT argument and 2 with the ability to get into the discussion.

Then there is another tier of excellent QB play:

Burrow
Daniels
Stafford
Love
Mayfield

Then you have a tier who could be close to elite in most eras

Goff
Hurts
Dak
Purdy

Then you have the "I need more data, but have played at elite levels" guys

Daniel Jones
Stroud
Darnold


Then there are the old/competent guys like

Rodgers
Geno

We've written off guys like Tua and only a few years ago he had the following lines:

4624 yards (8.3 ypa) and 29/14
3548 yards (8.9 ypa) and 25/8 (in 13 games)

I mean he was discarded as garbage last year and if we run his stats out over 16 games they would be:

4170 yards (7.2 ypa) and 27.6 TDs, 10.2 INTs

You put that line back in 2004 and he's comparable to the #4-6 QB, and comparable than Tom Brady (3692 @ 7.8, 28/14), at comparable ages (26 for Tua and 27 for Brady)

That year you get passed Brady (who was 10th in passing yards) and you get these guys next (in order)

Vinny T
David Carr
Kerry Collins
Matt Hasslebeck
Drew Brees (SD version)
Joey Harrington
Byron Leftwich
Drew Bledsoe (BUF)
Carson Palmer
Chad Pennington
Brian Griese
Big Ben (@ 22)
Kyle Boller

And this was 2004 back in Manning's prime. You think that QB slate is better than today?

I always lol when these top QBs have 60 yards passing at the half.

QBs were better in 70s

It ebbs and flows like everything else but QB play in the NFL is pretty damn good RN.

I mean sports social media is full of people that speak only in hot takes (adding things like “and it’s not even close”) and/or watch the sport solely through a FF/betting perspective

Basically a bunch of unserious fans

Colleges going for dual threats, and qb's who never read a defens, they slung it for big numbers throwing to wide open players

First read, check fo n it sack

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But I’m pretty sure team averages for scoring offense and yards has gone down a little compared to the 2010-2020 or so period. However that was also the peak offensive period in the NFL. Defense has caught up to some extent over the last few years

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Defensive schemes are prioritizing taking the deep threat away and making teams work their way down the field methodically. The thought process is that the more snaps an offense has to take in a drive the more likely they are to make mistakes and have turnovers. I can understand that strategy if you have a low to medium quality offense trying to keep up with an elite offense, especially if you don’t have a high quality secondary, but it’s not really a good strategy for every team and it does kind of suck the entertainment value out of the game at times.