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Greetham: It's All about the Quarterback


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Bernie Kosar and Brady Quinn By Fred Greetham

 

Posted Feb 10, 2010

 

 

 

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The evidence was never clearer than on Super Bowl Sunday: Elite teams need elite quarterbacks.

 

 

Any casual fan watching Super Bowl XLIV could tell the reason the Colts and the Saints were in the big game was because of their quarterbacks.

 

Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are difference makers and Browns fans know the team’s quarterback play has to improve immensely for the team to take it to the next level.

 

Beyond what our instincts tell us, there is substantive data to support the theory. Of the 12 teams to make the playoffs in 2009, 11 of the 12 team’s quarterbacks were ranked in the top half of the NFL. Also, eight of the top 10 ranked quarterbacks in the NFL made it to the playoffs, including the top four. In addition, ten of the top 13 ranked quarterbacks made the postseason.

 

Brees was the top ranked quarterback in the NFL and he was the MVP of the Super Bowl. Carson Palmer was the 16th ranked quarterback at 83.6 QB rating. The only exception to the rule was rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, who was ranked 28th in the league with a 63.0 rating.

 

Ironically, Brady Quinn was one notch ahead of Sanchez at 27 with a 67.2 rating, the sole playoff quarterback bested by the Browns third-year signal-caller. Derek Anderson had a rating of just 42.1 and most feel he will be let go in the near future thanks to having nearly $9 million in salary and bonuses due him in 2010.

 

Obviously, Quinn has not played close to the level that he would need to play at in order to take the Browns to the elite level in the NFL. Whether Quinn is the franchise quarterback or someone else is brought in, the Browns have to find the guy to lead them.

 

Brees came out of Purdue and was drafted in the second-round by the Chargers. At the time, the knock against Bree was his 6'0" height. He has developed into one of the best in the NFL. One of the big decisions that Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert will have to make in the next month or two is if they see the potential in Quinn to develop into a franchise quarterback. If you look at Browns’ history in the 1970’s, it took the Browns three years for the team to settle on Sipe as the quarterback. They rotated between Mike Phipps and Sipe in the 1974-76 seasons.

 

If the new brain trust isn’t sold on Quinn, they must sign a veteran in free agency or trade for a quarterback. Another option would be to sign a veteran and draft a quarterback in April.

 

If you look at Browns’ history, whenever the Browns had good teams, they usually had a good quarterback. Hall of Famer Otto Graham led the Browns to AAFC and NFL Championships in all but one of his seasons. Frank Ryan led the Browns to the team’s last championship in 1964. Brian Sipe led the team to the playoffs and he was the league MVP one season. Bernie Kosar led the Browns to three AFC Championships . Ryan might not be considered an elite quarterback, but he did have Jim Brown.

 

The Browns have not had a franchise quarterback since the team returned. There’s been Ty Detmer, Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson and Quinn.

 

Holmgren’s specialty is finding and developing quarterbacks such as Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre and Matt Hasselbeck. This is one of the biggest decisions--if not the biggest—that Holmgren will be ultimately responsible for making.

 

 

 

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eh.

 

Apparently, it doesn't take a great qb to win the superbowl.

 

Manning was looking pretty helpless out there this year.

 

It IS about matchups. If you have the oline, wr's, and rb's...

 

then a good field general with the skills can get to the superbowl.

 

Great qb's who go to very poor teams, get the ()*&&*%*( beaten out of them,

 

Archie Manning style.

 

Brady was a 6th round draft pick, who was a great field general, who had the skills.

 

Great qb's and rb's give their offensive line credit for doing fine jobs for them.

 

Team. More than one guy who gets the job done.

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eh.

 

Apparently, it doesn't take a great qb to win the superbowl.

 

Manning was looking pretty helpless out there this year.

 

It IS about matchups. If you have the oline, wr's, and rb's...

 

then a good field general with the skills can get to the superbowl.

 

Great qb's who go to very poor teams, get the ()*&&*%*( beaten out of them,

 

Archie Manning style.

 

Brady was a 6th round draft pick, who was a great field general, who had the skills.

 

Great qb's and rb's give their offensive line credit for doing fine jobs for them.

 

Team. More than one guy who gets the job done.

 

Colts are a 4 win team without Manning.

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The Colts would have won another superbowl if they had a running game.

 

The Saints were playing 3-3-5 in the second half. No respect for the run.

 

 

The Saints played out of the nickel almost the entire game. They alternated 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 for most of the game. Addai should have been able to tear them up.

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^ I followed the Colts some this year. Addia doesn't tear anybody up. They really need an upgrade.

 

The colts rushing game is weak. They rely on Peyton too much, which is fine cause he is so damn good, but the Saints played the pass the entire game and it payed off big.

 

 

 

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Addai? They need an upgrade alright. THE OFFENSIVE LINE.

 

It's the oline. The Colts don't have one that matches up well

 

against a very good aggressive defense.

 

That was painfully obvious to them in the superbowl.

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