SB Nation User Blog: JR_G

Yet another QB comparison and a question

JR_G — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 05:06:31 -0000

Who would you rather have? Steve Young or Ryan Leaf?

"Just win baby." - Al Davis

In this Fan Post I'm primarily going to talk about three people. Jake Plummer, Chad Pennington, and Kyle Orton.

These three quarterbacks have a lot in common. They've been challenged by the media and the fans wherever they've played. They've been tagged as "system" quarterbacks and accused of having arms like wet noodles. The confusing part of all of this is that all they've done in their careers is have success. Each has a mark(Plummer didn't have the most fan friendly demeanor, Pennington has had some injury issues, and Orton, well mostly people just want to jump on his weak arm), but ultimately they have had some amount of success in games.

Let's start with Jake Plummer. I'm sure all of you remember the days of Jake the Snake with his play action roll outs and left handed throws. His record in Denver? 40-18. Number of Playoff appearances in his career? 5. This includes at least 1 in each of his 3 years with the Broncos.

ON the subject of Jake Plummer, he wasn't the flashiest, he didn't have the biggest arm or the most touchdowns. He wasn't Peyton Manning. He didn't have to be. He just had to do what he was asked and let the coach worry about that kind of stuff.

Let's fly across the country now and discuss Chad Pennington. Here's a guy who was hated in New York when he played for the Jets. He came out of Marshall and was taken in the first round. He put up some pretty crazy numbers in college, but he had that knock on him. "Weak arm". He also had some injury trouble. Here's "the thing" about Chad Pennington: every year he's played more than 11 games his team has made the playoffs. That's 4 years('02, '04, '06, '08) where his team went to the post season. This includes taking one of the worst teams in league history to the playoffs from a record of 1-15 to a record of 10-6.

Now let's talk about the "weak armed" Kyle Orton. 21-12 Kyle Orton. 1 playoff season and he didn't even get a chance to start in the season he helped build Kyle Orton.He had a 10-5 record his first year as a starter. His team went to the playoffs and eventually won the Super Bowl. Last year he compiled a 9-6 record and his best statistical season in the league.

Here's the gut check for all of you out there in Bronco land: Would you rather have a quarterback who fits a "system" and a vision from a coach who might not have the perfect physical makeup you look for or a willful, ultra athletic rebel who makes plays with his legs and arm that don't fit the coach's scheme?

I'll give you 2 lists of names. Take your pick:

"System"/"noodle arm" QBs

Steve Young, Chad Pennington, Jake Plummer, Tom Brady, Marc Bulger, Jeff Garcia

"Athletic and willful" QBs

Brett Favre, Michael Vick, Jeff George, Dante Culpepper, Vince Young, Kordell Stewart, Ryan Leaf

Think about it

Our defense is the same as last year???

JR_G — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:37:39 -0000

I'm confused right now. I keep looking at what we've done this offseason and hearing these comments that just don't compute.

Does anyone remember these names: Bob Slowik, Marlon Mcree, Dre Bly, Jamie Winborn, that other safety we had...

No? Why not? They aren't here anymore. Why aren't they here? They couldn't produce.Most were too old to be the same as they were in their youth and in their prime.

So who do we have now? Mike Nolan, and the assistants he brought with him(all stars at DL and LB coach), Andra Davis, Reynaldo Hill, Andre Goodman, Ronald Fields... Again I could go on... Oh there's one more thing we have: A new head coach and a completely different scheme.

Now I'm not going to ask you to name Steelers defensive players or Ravens defensive players let's pick a team that's a little less obvious, like say Atlanta. Name 2 defensive players for that squad last year. Tough, right? Ok then try naming some of Miami's defenders... What do those teams have in common(and more importantly what do they have in common with us?

Last year both of those teams started almost from scratch with their rosters. Both of those teams had new people in important positions in the front office and on the field. Both of those teams went to the playoffs.

Right now we are at the same point.

I want to understand why everyone keeps saying this is the same defense. Go look through our roster and remember how a base 3-4 or a nickle 2-4-5 look. Go look at where we've projecting some of the guys we already have on our roster(like Dumerville, Thomas, Powell) and I dare you to tell me it's the same defense we had last year.

I'm going to borrow Brandon Marshall's quote here. I'm gonna follow the guys with the rings.

Classy fans for a classy organization...

JR_G — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:10:48 -0000

Dozens of brawls reported at Raiders game

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10421066

Wow...

Police said fans were particularly rowdy in sections 224 and 324, and officers used stun guns on several people to break up fights during the game. Oakland police reported at least 30 arrests for drunkenness, fighting and assault and about as many ejections for more minor offenses, such as sitting in the wrong seat. The Alameda County Sheriff's Department also made 15 arrests for such things as drunkenness, fighting and some drug charges, and ejected 55 people from the stands.

And they wonder why they have such a bad reputation...

Interesting theory regarding Hillis' fall

JR_G — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:00:28 -0000

http://houston-nutt-news.newslib.com/story/10807-92/

It appears that Houston Nutt(former Arkansas football coach) on his way out of town potentially caused some serious harm to the former Razorback. At one point he made statements disparaging Hillis. Apparently this caused many scouts some nervousness about Hillis.

I found a site that discusses all of the insanity surrounding the problems he caused while he was coach at Arkansas.

http://realhognews.blogspot.com/

There's some pretty damning stuff in there. If you google it there are lots of other sites out there with information.

Just thought I'd share, and as much as I tried I couldn't find more than one source for this.

I've about had it with Marshall

JR_G — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:16:28 -0000

Where there's smoke there's fire. It's a tired cliche to be sure, but right now the smoke is getting thicker surrounding Marshall. It may be time to get below the smoke and find the escape route.

I was reading an article in the Post today(I'm a sucker for punishment) and came across a couple of comments defending Marshall that scared me. In the midst of all these allegations(and more have come out today) he wants to believe in him. So do I, but I am finally really starting to see the pattern.

Article here

His quote,

Marshall is a good person, he justs is in the wrong place at the wrong time and does not know how to handle it. He does not go out looking for trouble. Sure he needs to grow up but he also is still young and still learning. He will be just fine as long as you messed up Bronco hating writers and analyst stop writing negative garbage about the Broncos and the players. Every player makes mistakes, look at Marshawn Lynch, Chris Henry, Travis Henry, all these other players but everyone concentrates on Marshall, come on now give it up. He is the Broncos franchise player and he will be here for the next 12 years. He will be great just like Rod trust me.

I understand what this poor guy is trying to say. He wants desperately to believe that Marshall is going to be here and be everything he's been billed as and shown us glimpses of. "Wrong place wrong time" This is so naive. If you're in the wrong place as a multimillion dollar football player, you're just wrong.

I'm about out of trust with BMarsh. Just like Chris Henry and Adam Jones right up until they each had "that one incident" they were defended vigorously by the local fans while everyone else was shouting them down. Now that it's happening here it starts to clear up... This is the same thing that happened with them.

It's time to stop coddling Marshall and start putting the pressure on him to clean it up now, before it's too late.