grantland.com: Gang of Four: The Sequel

[Califan007 The Constipated]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9482930/bill-barnwell-breaks-nfl-young-elite-quarterbacks

 

RG3Hunna posted a link to this article in the "How Is RGIII" thread...too good to end up buried there.

 

 

 

There may not have been a season in NFL history like the one we saw in 2012, the season of the "Gang of Four." It was a year when four young quarterbacks — rookies Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Russell Wilson, and sophomore Colin Kaepernick, who touched the ball only seven times during his rookie year — immediately emerged as above-average starting quarterbacks for playoff teams. There's just no precedent in recent league history for that many quarterbacks with no experience to step onto the field and immediately become upper-echelon signal-callers overnight. It's a revolution that has changed the league overnight, and one that we're blessed to witness as fans.

 

So which one of those four aces was the best quarterback last year? And, more importantly, which of the four will be the best quarterback during this upcoming season? The truly cool thing about this argument is that you can make pretty strong cases for each of them. That's exactly what I'm going to try to do.

 

 

[...]Robert Griffin III

The Argument: The franchise savior

 

Unlike with Luck, the numbers do a decent job of conveying just how special RG3's season was. He led the league in yards per pass attempt, averaging 8.1 yards every time he threw the ball. No other rookie in NFL history has ever led the league in yards per pass attempt, arguably the most meaningful simple measure of efficiency and effectiveness for quarterbacks. Griffin threw interceptions on only 1.3 percent of his dropbacks, the best rate in the league and the 14th-best figure in NFL history. He averaged 6.8 yards per rushing attempt, also the best rate in the league, and the 10th-best single-season average in league history. Do you see a trend here? No rookie quarterback in the history of the NFL was more effective on a play-by-play basis than Robert Griffin.

 

 

It's hard to imagine Alfred Morris having such an enormous impact on the team without Griffin's presence, too. While Morris was an effective runner both inside and outside of the zone read, he undoubtedly benefited from the locked-up defensive ends and terrified safeties who lay in Griffin's wake. One game doesn't tell us a heck of a lot, but it's worth noting that he averaged just 3.2 yards per carry on his 27 rushes during the Week 15 game against the Browns, the one game Griffin missed last season. Oh, and remember that stat about how the Colts got more receiving yards out of their rookies than any other team in league history? Washington's rookies ran for 2,450 yards last season; only one group of rookies since the merger (the 1986 Saints) managed to make it past the 2,000-yard mark. Griffin turned a team that was 20th in rushing DVOA in 2011 into the league's second-most efficient rushing attack overnight.

 

Click link for rest...

[Gamebreaker]

A very fair evaluation of all four quarterbacks. I agree with choosing RG3 as the best of 2012, and I can agree with Wilson being the best in 2013, based on the logic he presented. 

[Hitman21ST]

Going off of the reasoning he was giving, Wilson makes sense for 2013, but he's making a leap with Griffin IMO.

 

The one telling thing though was for 2012 he had to fineagle the numbers (discounting the first five weeks and prorating the rest over a season for Wilson and prorating Kaep over the whole season) to make CK and RW even close to Griffin.

 

Overall though, a good article.

[Riggo-toni]

Easily the best and fairest article I have read on this subject.

[KCClybun]

Yeah, I'd say this is pretty fair, and I could see how he reaches his conclusion.

 

 

If only more media outlets could be so thorough.

[ZRagone]

Very nice and fair article on this. Easily the best I've read.

 

The first 5 games may be an abberation for Wilson, and I agree that if he played the first 5 like the last 13 he'd have a better year than RG3 did last year. HOWEVER, had RG3 not been out or severely gimpy for the final 4 games of his season his numbers would've been better as well so the whole "IF" argument is a wash for last year. Which is good, because he didn't put Wilson over Griffin.

And I can't really fault his logic in terms of 2013. I think IF Griffin is healthy he has the best year, but there's an if there that isn't football related. The addition of Percy Harvin, a still stout running game and o-line, and still stout defense plays for a good repeat season by Wilson. The "IF" for Wilson is football related...IF that final 13 weeks was a fluke or not. I don't think it was.

[Henry]

Projecting Kaepernick's numbers out like that was a bit of stretch but at least the writer acknowledged that. A pretty fair assessment I thought, and one of the best cases for putting Wilson at the top of the 2013 list I've seen.

[sjinhan]

Although this guy does give a fair assessment...

 

It seems the only knock on RG3 that they can drum up really is all surround his health. 

 

I am curious to see if people were to just assume all 4 QBs would be healthy for rest of their careers then what the rankings would be.

 

I really think based on what we saw it would have go down between Wilson and RG3 if they all stayed healthy.  Of course RG3 would be my pick because he has higher ceiling based on the better arm, athletic ability, and offensive system.