The fashionable question to ask quarterbacks is if they believe they are elite. Which franchise has their guy that can lead them to the promise land. But I have a different question, which is what franchise quarterback is setting them farther away from a Super Bowl? Here are a couple of suspects:
1. Matt Cassel-The Chiefs have paid a lot of money to the former Pats backup and he has not produced. Outside of 1 playoff appearance, that was really on the legs of Thomas Jones and Jammal Charles, Cassel has been terrible. Cassell has not protected the football and has not been able to lead this franchise back to respectability in the mediocre AFC West. Scott Piolo, the GM, was trying to create the Patriots of the Midwest by bringing Cassel over, has put his job in jeopardy. The backups are Brady Quinn and Ricky Stanzi which neither guy is impressive. It looks like the Chiefs will have to use a high draft pick to get a quarterback.
2. Blaine Gabbert-It might be too harsh to say this after two years but Gabbert has been just awful in Jacksonville. What makes his stats even worse is MoJo (Maurice Jones-Drew) is in his prime and a good ground game normally helps a young QB grow faster, Gabbert is just the opposite. He has regressed from his rookie season and his new head coach is quarterback coaching guru. The Jags may be better off either getting an established QB so Gabbert can learn or just starting over in the draft. Who knows maybe Tebow is on the horizon.....
3. Carson Palmer-At first glance of the trade of Palmer, everyone said the Raiders got the better end of the deal because Palmer was a perennial Pro-Bowler, he was coming home and hit was the missing link to the Raiders success. Boy were they wrong!! Late last year, the Raiders were contending in the weak AFC West but this year, the offense looks confused, out of sync, and Palmer looks disinterested in playing. Losing can do that to you. The Bengals on the other hand look great with Dalton and Green and have used the Raiders pick to begin building a more stable franchise. Yes that last sentence was actually typed. The Cincinnati Bengals are in way better shape as a franchise than the Raiders.
4. Tony Romo-As previously chronicled in my prior post Extra Points, Romo is not the answer in Dallas.
Honorable mentions to this list are: Josh Freeman, Mark Sanchez, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kevin Kolb or John Skelton.
Other points:
The Rams were terrible few years with Steve Spagnulo at the helm, so is it any surprise that Saints defensive side is awful this year with him in charge. Look Spags is a good guy but he has lost his touch in developing talent and inspiring players. For a team that is already void of leadership, his passive style of coaching is not helpful.
Jeff Fisher has the Rams over .500 for the first time since 2006 and I'm not surprised. The Rams have had a ton of top picks but no one to lead them, this why Fisher is the right coach for this franchise. The Rams play harder, do not quit and play inspired on offense and defense. Kudos to Fisher for making them relevant again.
The NFC West, once the laughing stock of the league know has arguably the best defense's in the NFL. The Niners, Seahawks, Rams and Cardinals all have had games of 5 sacks or more on a quarterback. Defense reigns supreme in this division.
Enjoy the games....
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