Tag Archives: pro football

Legends of The Fall: Dan Marino (Reissue)

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(Reissue of an article originally published 19, April 2014)

With the Netflix doc on John Elway holding sway its time to remind fans of the greatness of Dan Marino. With the sporting world overreacting to this new “ring culture” its time to provide a reminder…

When you ask someone what their definition of a great quarterback is, you invariably wind up with several answers. The one attribute in everyone’s criteria is that of a great passer. It can be argued that Dan Marino was the best pure passer in NFL history. Everyone mentions his quick release but forgets how fiery his delivery of the football was.

To define his quick release, for the football coaching impaired, is the time it took to complete his throwing motion. The easiest way to measure this back then were to slow film down to individual frames. The average QB release would take 15 frames where Marino was routinely between 8 & 9. So the ball was coming out half a second sooner.

Marino's legendary release.

Marino’s legendary release.

The direct results were more passes getting downfield and less sacks. If we look at his peak years of 1984-1986, Marino was only sacked 48 times while attempting 1,754 passes. The Dolphins led the league in fewest sacks all 3 seasons. Yet through that explosive delivery was the zip and hutzpah he put on the football. For he had one of the strongest arms in league history.

Unlike Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, who had league rules altered year after year to make them record breakers, Marino came in and shattered records through sheer ability. People talk of the great class of 1983 and most want to talk about John Elway first. Oh yeah?? Take a look at something:

  • Marino ’84-’86 – 1076 of 1754 for 13,967 yards & 122 TDs
  • Elway ’84-’86 – 821 of 1489 for 9,974 yards & 59 TDs

* To match Marino’s 122 TD total you would have to have Elway’s total from 1984 to the 13th week of the 1990 season! Almost 4 more years!

During this time both Marino and Elway had taken their teams to Super Bowl XIX and XXI respectively. Of these vids, if you only watch one, watch the 1986 vignette. Yet I digress… take a look at Marino’s record breaking fast pitch 1984:

Then you have 1985 where he led the Dolphins back to the AFC Championship Game. Had they won, we would have had a rematch between Marino and Chicago’s 46 defense in Super Bowl XX. Considering Miami gave the 18-1 Bears their only defeat, its something to think about.

Then you have perhaps his greatest season in 1986:

What made his 1986 season special is he was truly all they had and teams still couldn’t stop him. In 1984 he still had many teammates who had made it to Super Bowl XVII the year before he was drafted. The Killer Bs defense was there but aging. By 1986 most of those teammates were gone as a rebuliding phase had started. Still he went 378 of 623 for 4,746 yards and 44 touchdowns. The 44 was 8 more than the previous record and he was within 56 yards of Fouts’ other mark of 4,802.

Dan Marino bust

Also because it was the second time scaling those heights. He had set the record of 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns in his 1984 campaign. He shattered the old record of 36 touchdowns which had stood for 21 years. He did it in his first full season as a starter. Not his 7th or 8th when Manning and Brady finally topped his mark.

Or lets really bake your noodle for perspective: In 2004, Peyton Manning broke Marino’s record of 48 with 49TD tosses. If he destroyed Marino’s record to the degree Dan had in 1984, Manning would have needed to throw for 64 f’n touchdowns! Not just one more

Ultimately it was the fact that the game had passed by Don Shula as to why Marino didn’t make it back to the Super Bowl. The rest of his career the Dolphins failed to get a prime time receiver or runner. In 1995 they were the poster child for why the quick fix free agent route wasn’t the best place to build a team.

Yet when you look back at the promise of a young Dan Marino, the sky was the limit. He was definitely a legend of the fall.

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The Immaculate Reception: Before There Were Hail Marys

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Reissue of article July 30, 2011 -A year and a half before A Football Life’s version

NFL Films had a video of the 100 greatest touchdowns in NFL history that came out in the 1990s which labeled Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in the 1972 playoffs, as the greatest ever. It was a completely fair assessment.

It launched a Hall of Fame career for Franco,  launched the greatest NFL playoff rivalry of the Super Bowl era, and was the birth of one of the greatest dynasties sports has ever seen. Although the Raiders did get revenge in the 1973 playoffs, Al Davis and the Oakland faithful vehemently disagree with the referee’s ruling that day.

Coach John Madden has said on numerous occasions how he disagreed with the officials not signaling touchdown when the play was over. the refs had a conference first before ruling the touchdown stood that gave Pittsburgh a 13-6 lead with 5 seconds left. So what led to the animosity and fame of this touchdown??

Before the rule changes of 1978, a deflected forward pass could only be caught by an offensive player unless it was touched first by a defensive player. It couldn’t bounce from one offensive player to another like we have now with a Hail Mary. By the way, The Hail Mary is also a nickname for a famous last second touchdown in the 1975 playoff win by Dallas over Minnesota and not the creation of Tom Landry…yet I digress.  The Immaculate Reception had everything: drama, controversy, and extreme importance.  What started the controversy is the lingering question: Did the ball hit Oakland Raider Jack Tatum or Pittsburgh’s John “Frenchy” Fuqua before deflecting to Franco Harris?

Franco Harris going in for a touchdown with the Immaculate Reception

Alright lets set it up for you: The Pittsburgh Steelers were experiencing their first real winning season in 39 years in 1972. They were powered on offense by a rookie running back from Penn St., Franco Harris. He had powered for 1,055 yards and 10 TDs to give the Steelers their first breakaway runner. He seemed to be the centerpiece for a team Chuck Noll had been building through the draft over the last 4 years. Pittsburgh had made the playoffs for the first time ever and on December 23, 1972 would host the Oakland Raiders in a AFC Divisional Playoff Game.

Meanwhile the Raiders had been mainstays in the postseason over the 6 previous seasons. They had made it to Super Bowl II before the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, and the 1968 and 1969 AFL Championship Games. After losing the first ever AFC Championship Game in 1970 to the Baltimore Colts, they were a team in transition and missed the playoffs in 1971. However with an infusion of new Raiders to put the team in the winner’s circle again, they won the AFC West and were back in ’72 and after that elusive first Super Bowl championship. First they had to go to Pittsburgh….

On a cold, dark and dreary day these two teams met and slugged it out in one of the most physical games of the era. We had two smothering defenses pounding the offenses into the ground and late in the 4th quarter the Steelers had a 6-0 lead. Desperate for some offense, John Madden inserted a young, mobile Kenny Stabler in for an anemic Darryle Lamonica which produced immediate results. On a last second desperation drive, the Raiders came scrambling downfield with their young QB in his first significant action in an NFL playoff game.

At the Steelers 30 with less than 1:30 to go, Stabler avoided the Steel Curtain, took off and scored on a 30 yard TD run to give the Raiders their first lead of the game 7-6.  “The Snake” had done it!! A hero was born!! There was bedlam on the Oakland sideline and with 1:13 to go began to make reservations for they would host the AFC Championship Game against the undefeated Miami Dolphins.

A confident Raider defense took the field expecting to thwart the Steelers final offensive attempt. After three failed passing attempts the Steelers were faced with a 4th and 10 from their own 40 yard line with :22 left in the game. The Raider defense had played a defensive masterpiece on the road. One more play and it was on to face the Dolphins. They hadn’t given up a touchdown all day…what could possibly happen?? Terry Bradshaw dropped back, this was the Steelers last chance, he scrambled to the right to avoid the rush and as two Raiders converged…Bradshaw stood his ground and heaved one down the middle to an open “Frenchy” Fuqua. However the late Jack Tatum was closing on the spot where Frenchy reached up to make the catch and….

A bloody playoff rivalry was born and from 1972-1976 these teams met every year in the playoffs. The Raiders gained some revenge in 1973 with a 33-14 thrashing. Then Pittsburgh turned the tables winning the 1974 and ’75 AFC Championships over Oakland before winning Super Bowls IX and X. Then when the Steelers were going for a three-peat, ran into a 13-1 Oakland team that defeated them 24-7, on their way to their first Super Bowl win in the 11th edition over the Vikings. It all started with the ’72 playoffs and The Immaculate Reception.

Tatum hitting the ball and Fuqua.

Tatum hitting the ball and Fuqua.

In Columbus Ohio in Winter 1991, I had the good fortune of running into Franco Harris and James Lofton who were there for the Archie Griffin Tennis Classic I believe. Anyway, sitting at the bar and prying him with beer I could not get Franco to admit the ball had bounced off Frenchy Fuqua and therefore should have been incomplete. “Come on, its just us sitting in a bar. Who would know?” I kept prodding him. Lofton was just laughing his ass off because Franco would just grin and shake his head every time I asked him.

Franco grabbing the ball just inches from the turf a second later.

Franco grabbing the ball just inches from the turf a second later.

It was cool talking football with him and for the record… I believe the ball bounced off of the back of Fuqua’s helmet.  Follow the replay and you’ll see Fuqua flash in front of Tatum who the ball was headed for. If Tatum was in front of Fuqua, he would have put out his hands to knock the ball down, not brace for impact.  When was the last time you saw a football hit someone on the shoulder pads and bounce 15 yards (45 feet) away??  Lets have it ….What say you?? Did the ball bounce off of Frenchy Fuqua or Jack Tatum??

Epilogue: My initial thought of the ball bouncing off Fuqua, maintained for decades, I have changed my mind. After blowing it up and slowing the footage down, you can see the ball move past Fuqua and hit somewhere on Jack Tatum’s right shoulder / chest. I magnified the footage and slowed it frame by frame. It’s still the greatest play in the history of the NFL and I know the debate will rage on.

frenchyThanks for reading and please share the article.

me.franco.jpg

Epilogue:  Now that we’re 3 years removed from Franco’s passing just days before his jersey was to be retired, its time to share how the Steelers should have had this moment many years before. I had been looking forward to it posting on social media as early as September expressing how great this moment would be with the once hated Raiders in town. Secretly I had worried about how late this was happening being it was a 50 year anniversary ofThe Immaculate Reception, with many of his contemporaries having passed.  When I received the word of Franco’s passing from my wife who had gone to work before me I was devastated hence I’m jotting this down many years after the fact.

Contrary to popular belief I struggle when it comes to remembering our friends lost and there are so many times I learn of player’s passing when I wake up and see a historical article read more often than usual. With Franco it just seemed to hurt more as he was a great player from my youth as my love for football grew. Than meeting him a few times over the years his inviting personality made it feel like I had known him over the decades. In 2018 at the Pro Football  Hall of Fame he not only gave me crap about prying him with beer to  get him to talk about this famous play, he sat and drank with me and friends into the early hours of the morning talking about great games gone by as though he knew Vance, Ryan and I for years.

This article nor my words will ever do him justice but the football world lost a tremendous man and his jersey retirement moment should have been much sooner.

RIP Franco Harris Pro Football Hall of Famer…Thanks for the memories

 

On This Date In 1977: The Ghost To The Post – Oakland Raiders v Baltimore Colts

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During the 1970’s, the NFL would reach the playoffs by the time we made it to Christmas and in 1977 we were treated to one of the best ever. The Baltimore Colts hosted the Oakland Raiders, who were defending Super Bowl Champions. In all honesty the Colts under Head Coach Ted Marchibroda were one of those really good teams that seemed to be forgotten. From 1975-1977 this was one of the NFL’s best teams. Those three years they were powered by RB Lydell Mitchell, who rushed for over 1,000 yards and was a Pro Bowl performer in each of those seasons.  Bert Jones was the quarterback who in our CEO’s estimation was who John Elway reminded him of. Tall, mobile with a rocket arm. He made the 1976 Pro Bowl with Mitchell after throwing for 3,104 yards 24 TDs and only 9 interceptions.

Over this time period, the Colts were 31-11 posting 10-4, 11-3, and 10-4 seasons. An even closer look shows that after starting 1-4 in the ’75 regular season and before a 3 game losing streak near the end of ’77, they had gone 29-4 during the meat of these seasons. Three of those losses came from playoff bound teams. Baltimore’s only problem was in both 1975 and 1976, they fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. So 1977 was the year where they had to prove they were more than just a team that won during the regular season. Much like the Atlanta Falcons have to in our time. They’re mission, should they choose to accept it, was to knock down the defending champion Raiders at home in a divisional playoff.

Oakland having won Super Bowl XI had enjoyed the fruits of finally becoming a champion. From 1967-1976 they had played for the AFL or AFC Championship 8 times with a ninth possible appearance if they made it past Baltimore. For all the talk of the Dallas Cowboys during the same era, just stop and think about the winning this organization had for this 10 year period. They won the AFL championship and faced Vince Lombardi’s Packers in Super Bowl II. They lost the AFL’s last two championship games to the Jets, and Chiefs. Once the AFL / NFL merger took place they even made it to the first AFC Championship Game. They lost that one to John Unitas and the Baltimore Colts 27-17. Four championship appearances in a row and the Raiders of the late 60s finished 45-8-3 in those years….but no Super Bowl championships to show for it.

ken_stabler_1977_12_24It looked like the Raiders were a team in decline and needed to be rebuilt. Holdovers like Hall of Famers WR Fred Biletnikoff, CB Willie Brown, G Gene Upshaw, and T Art Shell taught the Raider way to newcomers to forge a new team by 1972. They transitioned new blood into the team with S Jack Tatum and moved CB George Atkinson to safety to forge a ferocious secondary. They lost in the 1972 playoffs in Pittsburgh with the controversial Immaculate Reception, a game they were winning with :22 seconds away from making it back to the conference finals. Starting the following year they made it to the AFC Championship 4 straight years, finally winning the championship in 1976.  Now they were an established champion with QB Ken Stabler, RBs Clarence Davis, Mark Van Eeghen, TE Dave Casper, and Cliff Branch teaming with Biletnikoff to form the league’s best offense. With a win on Christmas Eve in Baltimore, they would make it to a record 5th straight conference final.

This was the end of the run for the mid 70’s Baltimore Colts. Within a few years, Lydell Mitchell was traded to the San Diego Chargers. Bert Jones was never the same quarterback. His career was marred with injuries after that and his potential went unfulfilled. Head Coach Ted Marchibroda went on as a successful offensive co-ordinator, most notably with the 4-time AFC Champion Buffalo Bills in the 1990s. He then returned as head coach in Indianapolis for several years after that. However none achieved the successes they had as members of the Baltimore Colt years.

As for the Raiders, they returned to a record setting 5th straight AFC Championship Game where they lost to the Denver Broncos 20-17. Again the loss was shrouded with another controversial fumble non call when the late Rob Lytle was hit by the late Jack Tatum at the goal line in the 3rd quarter. The Raiders over a 6 year period had gone 66-15-2, played in 5 AFC Title Games and won one Super Bowl. If you’re keeping count that is 111-23-5 over an 11 year period. John Madden became the first coach to win 100 games within a decade and was enshrined in Canton in 2006. A younger generation came to know of him through broadcasting and his likeness and involvement with the popular video game series that bears his name.

This era of Oakland Raider football came to a close when Coach Madden, Biletnikoff, and Willie Brown (all Hall of Famers) retired after the 1978 season. Within two years the team was revamped and they went on to win Super Bowls XV and XVIII under former Raider assistant Tom Flores. Yet for one space and time these two teams met and gave football fans a playoff game for the ages. A six quarter epic that saw each team give all they could. Which leaves us with the obvious question: Had the Raiders beat the Colts in a four quarter game instead of one so draining, would they have had enough energy to beat Denver the following week in Mile High??

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On This Date 1971: The Longest Game Ever Played – Kansas City Chiefs v Miami Dolphins

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The Miami Dolphins outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in the longest game in NFL history. Christmas Day 1971 they played well into 6 quarters or more than 82 minutes of playing time.

Here at Taylor Blitz Times, we for one don’t like the fact the NFL buckled and gave in to juvenile thinking when it came to the NFL’s overtime rule. Everyone must touch the ball once?? What is this, second grade girl’s soccer??

Our CEO loved the thought of sudden death overtime. You had four full quarters to win a football game. The two point conversion was introduced in 1994 so that a team can win it in regulation yet NFL coaches are too soft and won’t roll the dice and win it in one play. If you don’t, you’re involved in a winner take all overtime where the game can be won on offense, defense, or special teams. Play was heightened with players realizing one mistake, a blown coverage, fumble, interception, or penalty could cost your team its season. It made for great theater.

One such game happened shortly after the AFL/NFL merger in 1970. The upstart Miami Dolphins were facing a perennial heavyweight in the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC Divisional playoff.

Why do we mention the AFL??

For one, both teams were rooted in the rival league. Second, it was the Baltimore Colts with Head Coach Don Shula that lost Super Bowl III that legitimized the merger. In the aftermath of the Baltimore Colts’ embarrassment losing that game, Don Shula amid tense corporate pressure, decided to move on and take the head coaching job in Miami.  He quickly whipped the Dolphins into shape and they made the playoffs in each of his first two seasons there. In 1970 they were bested by a veteran Raider team in an AFC Divisional Playoff in Oakland and many felt the same way about them traveling to Kansas City for the ’71 playoff.

Another reason we mention the AFL was this was the last game ever to be played in Municipal Stadium. One of the AFL’s great stadiums through the 1960’s as the Kansas City Chiefs had been perennial winners there. It would be left behind as the Chiefs moved on to Arrowhead Stadium as the NFL moved on to future years of prosperity with new antiseptic ballparks.

The newer stadiums lacked individual culture as the 70’s dawned and it was as though teams were leaving a piece of their soul when they left old places behind. This was where Lamar Hunt had moved his team in 1963, to keep the fight along with league brothers against the NFL and won. Sure they were going to live on in the American Football Conference of the NFL, but it wasn’t going to be the same.

The Kansas City Chiefs were an older team and 1972 would be their last hurrah. They had finished as the AFL’s winningest team going 87-48-3, appearing in the first Super Bowl, then winning the fourth edition over Minnesota down in New Orleans. The team had just parted ways with All-time All AFL DE Jerry Mays and team leader C/LB E.J. Holub to retirement  in 1970. Even RB Mike Garrett was gone to the San Diego Chargers by this time, replaced by Ed Podolak.

These men along with holdovers QB Len Dawson, WR Otis Taylor, LBs Bobby Bell, and Willie Lanier had led the Chiefs for much of the 1960s as they worked to get owner and AFL Founder Lamar Hunt that elusive Super Bowl trophy. They were an older team lead by Dawson 36 yrs of age, Taylor turning 30 within a year, Bobby Bell was 31 and FS Johnny Robinson was 33. Various retirements were coming but they had finished 1971 with a 10-3-1 record and if they could get through this postseason, win it all, then they could go their separate ways. All they had to do was get through Miami and…

Fleming scores the tying TD that forced the game to overtime.

After this game the Dolphins went on to defeat the Baltimore Colts 21-0 in the AFC Championship Game which put them in Super Bowl VI. It was further satisfying for Shula for he defeated Carroll Rosenbloom and the Colts for whom he once coached. In the same stadium as Super Bowl III no less. Within a year, Rosenbloom was so disenchanted with owning the Colts who would have to rebuild, he swapped franchises with Robert Irsay who owned the Los Angeles Rams. Within 6 years he would marry Georgia, drown and that is how Georgia Rosenbloom-Frontiere became owner of the Rams. All aftermath of Super Bowl III.

Don Shula’s Dolphins would lose Super Bowl VI but would return and win VII & VIII becoming one of the great teams in NFL history. He went on to coach Miami through the 1995 season where he went on to win more games than any other coach with 347 wins. This was his first postseason win with the Dolphins that launched them as an NFL elite member for many years to come.

The AFL Logo of the Kansas City Chiefs

The AFL Logo of the Kansas City Chiefs

As for the Chiefs, the mystique of who they were as an AFL power was gone as they would not return to the playoffs for 15 years. Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, and Head Coach Hank Stram went on to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. However Johnny Robinson and Jerry Mays have been glaring omissions.

Each of which played most of their careers over in the “other league” and have been treated like such by the writers who make up the voting panel for the Hall of Fame. The late Jerry Mays should have had that honor bestowed upon him before his death in 1994. Although he didn’t play in this game, the legacy /era of the old AFL Kansas City Chiefs closed Christmas of 1971.

The Miami Dolphins outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in the longest game in NFL history. Christmas Day 1971 they played well into 6 quarters or more than 82 minutes of playing time.

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Ole Man River… Sigh Phillip Rivers That Is

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Phillip Rivers coming back at 44 out of retirement to play for the Indianpolis Colts is a crazy prospect. So many would like to romanticize this signing where the ole’ gunslinger shows he can still do it when reality often shows us something drastically different.
Remember Kurt Warner being knocked out by Bobby McCray in his final game in the 09 playoffs? Kurt didn’t know it was his final game until his wife intervened and said that’s it. You can’t have your family go through this anymore. If you can recall, Warner was on the ground for several minutes after he tried to track Will Smith after an interception.
Remember Joe Montana laying knocked out in Rich Stadium in the 93 AFC Championship Game? Joe was caught in a vice after being hit by Bruce Smith, Jeff Wright, and Phil Hansen. Yes all 3 Bills defensive linemen on the field converged and hit him simultaneously and his helmet hit the turf and the lights went out. He never returned to the game.

What about when Roger Staubach got knocked out at 3Rivers Stadium in 1979 after taking a solid shot from the late LC Greenwood?
Staubach had one of the 5 concussions he suffered in the NFL and retired a few months later. One interesting aspect was how he looked in the famous come from behind 35-34 win over the Redskins in the finale but seemed out of sorts when they lost to the LA Rams…yet I digress but remember these men were 38, 38, and 37 at the time.
Why aren’t the Colts going after younger players who just retired in Nick Foles, Derrick Carr, Taylor Heinecke, or Sam Howell? These men are much younger and knowing Coach Steichen’s playbook isn’t the high point of competence. Surviving to finish multiple NFL games and make a playoff run seems more important.
It all sounds fantastic and romantic until a 24 year old edge rusher with 4% body fat clears the Left Tackle’s outside arm getting to full speed on an NFL football field. The closer we get to the playoffs where each game means more, the speed, intensity, and hitting ratchet up on a football field.
Yes QBs are supposed to get hit! Yes you should be able to land on them!
This isnt tennis and a 44 year old QB on a football field isnt going to end well.
I hope in Phillip Rivers sake he isn’t seriously injured and here where Coach Steichen needs to take his lumps not developing 1st round pick Anthony Richardson to be the insurance to be cashed in at this point. Well  I know he is on IR for another week or so but they signed Rivers to take them through the playoffs, not the next regular season game.
Phillip Rivers… your mission and you chose to accept it is…. Sigh
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The Lie Behind Quarterback Passer Rating & Several Useless Statistics

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The NFL’s quarterback rating system has been in place since 1973 but wasn’t a mainstay when it comes to statistics until the mid 1980s. Think about it, for the championship games and seasons of the 1960s and 70s you can’t think of the quarterback passer rating of any qb of the past. Yet you can rememeber the NFL record for TD passes with 36 (YA Tittle, George Blanda 1963) or the first 4,000 yard passer in Joe Namath in the AFL in 1968. Yet none of us old heads could tell you what Johnny Unitas Quarterback Rating was in any of his record breaking MVP seasons because it wasn’t around.

In reality new statistical data is created to prop up a player whose performance doesn’t match an evaluator’s appreciation. You should never have to invent a statistic to improve the view of a player you support but people do it all the time. Now with NextGenStats or PFF…sigh just stop it.

Lets face it these ratings are just another way for people to sound smart who can’t play football and show they have expertise. How many times have you asked yourself “Why is a perfect Quarterback Rating game 158.3?” What even makes up the current rating and how can you equate it to winning? The bottom line is you can’t. It’s as scientifically useless as analytics has been to NFL Head Coaches in recent years.

Sometime around Super Bowl XXVII I came across a statistic that ran true for every champion. Each had a quarterback who averaged 7-9 yards per pass attempt and from that moment on this became a go to measure that usually told you the fortunes of the football team as well. Take a look right now for the 2025 season:

All of these teams are in the playoff hunt. Mac Jones started 8 games for the 9-4 San Francisco 49ers and was 5-3 in those contests with several pundits saying he ran the 49ers offense better than incumbent Brock Purdy. You see last year’s MVP Josh Allen along with Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, and Dak Prescott who have been discussed as this year’s frontrunners.

So let’s take a look at the bottom of this exact same list for 2025 for the worst rated quarterbacks (for record here is the complete list):

Now you might need a drink as everything you knew is about to be blown away. Dillon Gabriel is ranked 34th with 5.1 yards I gave you the link to see the entire list. Five of these quarterbacks have been benched with a 41 year old Joe Flacco being traded. Only Bo Nix and Baker Mayfield in a bad division are the only 2 in playoff contention. They’re tied for the NFC South lead with a 7-6 record and if they lose the division won’t make a wildcard.

Yet this doesn’t hold true when you plug in the NFL’s quarterbacks by because a benched Spencer Rattler who went 1-7 (78.9 passer rating) is just below Bo Nix (86.1 passer rating) & Trevor Lawrence  (90.1 passer rating) and only Lawrence (20th) made the NFL’s top 25. Where can you equate team success when Denver looks like they will have homefield advantage??

However statistics like this can be completely manipulated by scared quarterbacks who complete 4 yard passes on 3rd and 6. His team is punting but his QBR and completion percentage will go up. The Chancellor of Football has been arguing againt this with fans and lets show it to you.

Did you know if an NFL QB went 8 of 9 for 27 yards and 1 TD you’d have a 116.2 passer rating? Consequently if that same QB went 16 of 25 for 229 yards and an interception his rating would be 76.2. Yet this would be 7.75 yards per attempt and face it the additional 8 completions and 202 yards would gain how many 1st downs and put his team in scoring position how many more times?

So for my man Quincy Carter, my friends at Pro Football Reference has the NFL passer rating calculator for you to plug in numbers at your leisure. When you want to look at the quarterback and always go with their yards per attempt, yardage and touchdowns to interceptions. Toss the NFL passer rating away as its a useless stat to easily manipulated. Same with this current QBR that has been pushed lately.  The same with completion percentage as a quarterback can throw 10 bubble screens in a game and bloat their stats as well. Its all about yardage as this is the unit used to measure the NFL’s best defense, best offense, rushing champions, etc…

Keep all of this in mind when you hear the talking heads who just cite statistics without context to showcase they understand pro football.

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For the record… the great Chris Berman is NOT a talking head, he is the Walter Cronkite of football coverage and glad he and Booger McFarland are doing NFL Primetime on ESPN+.