Another day of heat wave and dodging power outages here… Hope you’re having fun with Ron Jaworski’s ESPN countdown of the Top 30 quarterbacks in the league. My problem has been in finding a complete listing of all the picks so far. I’ve been spending time tracking down a comprehensive scorecard of the rankings. Even ESPN.com lacks one at the moment. But after digging up the recent archives of individual picks by Jaws, I finally came up with this:
30. Tim Tebow, Jets
29. Blaine Gabbert, Jags
28. Christian Ponder, Vikings
27. Matt Flynn, Seahawks
26. Matt Moore, Dolphins
25. Kevin Kolb, Cardinals
24. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills
23. Mark Sanchez, Jets
22. Matt Cassel, Chiefs
21. Carson Palmer, Raiders
20. Sam Bradford, Rams
19. Andy Dalton, Bengals
18. Matt Hasselbeck, Titans
17. Josh Freeman, Buccaneers
16. Alex Smith, 49ers
15. Cam Newton, Panthers
14. Matthew Stafford, Lions
13. Matt Schaub, Texans
12. Michael Vick, Eagles
11. Matt Ryan, Falcons
10. Tony Romo, Cowboys
9. Joe Flacco, Ravens
8. Jay Cutler, Bears
7. Philip Rivers, Chargers
6. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers
5. Eli Manning, Giants
4. Peyton Manning, Broncos
3. Tom Brady, Patriots
2. Drew Brees, Saints (to be revealed)
1. Aaron Rodgers (to be revealed)
No real big shockers on that list for me. Maybe Jay Cutler at number 8…I like Matt Stafford higher than he was ranked, too. Jaws places a high priority on arm strength. I’m guessing that’s where Cutler got the nod by Jaws to rank higher than Tony Romo.
How did our starting QB in Philly fare?
Ranking No. 12 was revealed Friday morning on SportsCenter (you might be able to catch it still on one of the afternoon reruns), and it was Eagles quarterback Michael Vick.
Jaws professes his belief that there’s no other quarterback in the league with Vick’s combination of passing ability and running ability, which is true. His problem with Vick, as he puts it, is “his over-willingness to run — to play the position outside the pocket, outside the structure of the offense.” He shows a play from the game in Buffalo in which Vick faced no pressure and never set his feet to throw, clearly indicating that he’d already decided, pre-snap, to run the ball. On the play in question, Vick fails to see a wide-open Jason Avant.
Now you don’t have to be an inside football guy or a genius to observe that Vick is not always especially good at reading the field and finding open receivers. Perhaps this idea of Jaworski’s is part of that — perhaps he just makes up his mind too quickly.
All of that said, Jaws points out that this is the first full offseason since 2006 that Vick has worked as a starting quarterback, and he believes Vick can become a more disciplined player. “A more disciplined player will result in fewer turnovers,” he says. “I would not be surprised if we’re getting ready to see the best year of Vick’s 10-year career.”
Dan Graziano of ESPN.com: “I don’t know what kind of year Vick has, or the extent to which he’ll be a more disciplined player. But I certainly wouldn’t be surprised by anything we see from Vick. We know he’s capable of doing things no one else can — of giving the Eagles a huge matchup advantage at the quarterback position in any given week. The Eagles just need him to do it every week.”
Vick’s stats last year:
Michael Vick
#7 QB
Philadelphia Eagles
2011 STATS
- Att 423
- Comp 253
- Yds 3303
- TD 18
- Int 14
- Rat 84.9
I do believe Jaw’s fascination with arm strength persuaded him to rank Vick higher than I thought Vick deserved based upon his QB rating of 84.9 last season. One other factor in Vick’s case is he had a lot of catchable passes dropped last year. Drops are not reflected or accounted for in calculating completion percentage or overall QB rating. So perhaps Jaws is looking at the overall picture of Vick’s potential to do much, much better in 2012.
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