NFL.com's Marc Sessler ranks the league's current QBs

[beanfigger]

It's really just because he hasn't had gaudy regular season numbers. Where analysts place him is pretty accurate with/to his regular season individual statistical output.  

 

Also, he's a D-II Quarterback. He still hasn't posted Kurt Warner like numbers in the regular season though.

 

The University of Delaware is not D-II.

[MrPlankton]

Total joke of a list.  Flacco is just never going to get any respect.  The way the pundits and everyone excuses Romo out of the debacle in Dallas and continues to place him so high on every list... it's disgusting.  In the same breath they'll never admit that any time Flacco has been less than perfect it was because he didn't have any help coming from his coaches (Cam Cameron sticking to a gameplan that isn't working), his offensive line (running for his life all day), or from his receivers (complete failure to get open and sometimes dropping easy catches).  Flacco is usually not playing poorly even in the games he has bad statistics, it's usually a matter of him having a total lack of support to help him have good stats.  Like Giselle would say... he can't throw it and catch it all by himself.  There are other players and other factors on the field and in play and I watch Flacco religiously and when he's "off", there is always one thing in common: the whole *team* is off... So how can you blame him and call him inconsistent?

 

Flacco should be above Ryan.  100% for sure.  Anybody that says different is just discounting Flacco out of bias.  That's reality.  Flacco plays against tougher defenses in elements. Ryan plays at least 9 games a year in a dome, usually more, and he does it against some of the softest defenses in the league.  And he has a way more consistent, reliable, and talented cast of receivers and offensive coaches than Flacco has ever had.

 

Flacco has proven himself, and Ryan has not.

 

Yeah, apparently when the Ravens lose it's all Flacco's fault. When he plays poorly, it's all his fault. And people still think it was just pure luck that the entire offense starts performing better when Caldwell let Flacco control the tempo of the offense.

[callahan09]

I may be alone on this, but I'm fine with the category that he was placed in and the way he explained it. 

 

 

 

 

He showed Flacco respect, I don't expect anyone to put him in that elite category yet. But if Flacco has a solid season like 25/9 Touchdowns to Interceptions than he will be given the respect he deserves. 

 

You think it's showing Flacco respect to rank him lower than 3 rookie quarterbacks and an additional one-year starter?

 

I showed some folks earlier that if you compare Flacco to Kaepernick head to head, during the time frame that Kaepernick was playing last year, Flacco comes out on top.  Kaepernick started in Game 9... In that time span of game 9 through the Super Bowl, Flacco had an overall higher QB Rating, more touchdowns and fewer turnovers, playing a tougher schedule with more road games, and beat Kaepernick head to head to win a Super Bowl MVP award.  And yet people want to put Kaepernick with his small sample size of games above Flacco, where Flacco beats him both statistically and in wins head-to-head in the same sample size?

[poescrows]

I've given up on ever expecting these guys to rank Flacco where he belongs. He's not the media's darling (Ryan), he's not playing on "America's Team" (Romo), and he's not "for the cameras" (RG3, Tebow, etc.). Flacco knows how good he is and so do we...........he said he was the best and went out and proved it. The talking heads can stuff thier lists.

[TXRavensFan]

At least in a follow-up column about what quarterback you would want if you had to win one game, one of the NFL.com analysts shows Joe a little love (never heard of this guy, but...):

 

• 
• Adam Rank NFL.com
• When the pressure's on, Flacco's the man
• What kind of game do you want to win? If you want to dominate a low-stakes mid-October skirmish with an overmatched opponent, there is no better quarterback than Peyton Manning. Seriously, if we're going up against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 10, give me Manning. He'll toss six touchdown passes and look smashing doing it.
  
  But if we're talking playoffs, Manning is not the guy.
  
  In that scenario, the only choice would be Joe Flacco. It's not a sexy pick. He doesn't do commercials. His dad wasn't an NFL player. He's not going to help your fantasy team. Nobody will give him the respect he deserves. But I'll stand by the numbers, and they say "Flacco." He's posted a passer rating of 95 or better in seven of his past eight playoff games -- six of which were on the road. His run through the AFC last season speaks for itself. How can you go with anybody else?

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000168496/article/tom-brady-aaron-rodgers-peyton-manning-among-goto-qbs?icampaign=ATL_newsdriver

[BirdWatcher]

At least in a follow-up column about what quarterback you would want if you had to win one game, one of the NFL.com analysts shows Joe a little love (never heard of this guy, but...):
 

• 
• Adam Rank NFL.com
• When the pressure's on, Flacco's the man
• What kind of game do you want to win? If you want to dominate a low-stakes mid-October skirmish with an overmatched opponent, there is no better quarterback than Peyton Manning. Seriously, if we're going up against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 10, give me Manning. He'll toss six touchdown passes and look smashing doing it.
  But if we're talking playoffs, Manning is not the guy.
  In that scenario, the only choice would be Joe Flacco. It's not a sexy pick. He doesn't do commercials. His dad wasn't an NFL player. He's not going to help your fantasy team. Nobody will give him the respect he deserves. But I'll stand by the numbers, and they say "Flacco." He's posted a passer rating of 95 or better in seven of his past eight playoff games -- six of which were on the road. His run through the AFC last season speaks for itself. How can you go with anybody else?

 
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000168496/article/tom-brady-aaron-rodgers-peyton-manning-among-goto-qbs?icampaign=ATL_newsdriver

A little odd you never heard of this since it has its own 3 page thread just a few down from this one.

http://boards.baltimoreravens.com/topic/52883-adam-rank-says-he-would-pick-joe-flacco-with-game-on-the-line/

[HomeoftheBRAVENS]

At least his receivers will never drop his passes.

Back on topic:
To be fair, it's hard to separate perception from reality in sports. Ravens fans complain that Flacco doesn't get respect because no one takes Cam's departure into account. Bengals fans complain that no one takes into account Dalton getting a #2 receiver, Steelers fans complain that no one thinks Ben can last a full season, Browns fans complain that the Browns suck. The problem is that no one is a fan of every team in the league enough to have the perspective required to accurately judge.

As for Flacco, I feel that Flacco is a lot like Matt Ryan.

Flacco tied the record for the greatest postseason ever by a QB, but he had a pretty rocky regular season. The key changes in the team between the end of the regular season and the postseason were the loss of Cam and the establishment of the O-line.

Matt Ryan ditched his training wheels OC at the start of the last year, and had a good O-line throughout the year and he put up Brady-esque numbers and was cruising through the postseason despite the lack of a run game and lightweight defense.

I think Flacco this year can be every bit as good as Ryan, and can benefit from not being let down by the defense and having a run game that isn't embarrassing.

 

Ryan wasnt cruising through the postseason and the falcons didnt lack a run game lol.You just did exactly what mgridda says people do.You looked at the stats instead of judging the players game.Ryan nearly lost the divisional game for the falcons in the second half  with bad throws and turnovers before he was finally able to put some kind of points on the board.The next week he did lose them the game.He choked in the second half of the championship.Those two turnovers was all on him and that lightweight defense kept the niners from scoring after both of his mistakes even though the were put on very short fields.Even though Ryan was at home in dome conditions with those weapons,he still couldnt even manage to put 3 points on the board in the second of the championship.1 touchdown in the second half wouldve put that game away.And as for the run game,the falcons put up 170 rush yards vs the seahawks and they never even tried to establish the run the next week.If they wanted to,they could run the ball at any time.Thats not the type of offense they want thouh.They gave up half a draft to move up in the top 5 and get Julio so that they could neglect the run game.And as for you saying "I think Flacco this year can be every bit as good as Ryan",Flacco has been better than Ryan for the last 2 years.It just doesnt show in the stats because we refuse to surround Flacco with top flight guys like Roddy White and Juio Jones.Ozzie saying that hed rather let Flacco throw to Doss,Streeter and Jones is the reason why he wont finish top 5 in qb stats this year.

[ratedr]

Ryan wasnt cruising through the postseason and the falcons didnt lack a run game lol.You just did exactly what mgridda says people do.You looked at the stats instead of judging the players game.Ryan nearly lost the divisional game for the falcons in the second half  with bad throws and turnovers before he was finally able to put some kind of points on the board.The next week he did lose them the game.He choked in the second half of the championship.Those two turnovers was all on him and that lightweight defense kept the niners from scoring after both of his mistakes even though the were put on very short fields.Even though Ryan was at home in dome conditions with those weapons,he still couldnt even manage to put 3 points on the board in the second of the championship.1 touchdown in the second half wouldve put that game away.And as for the run game,the falcons put up 170 rush yards vs the seahawks and they never even tried to establish the run the next week.If they wanted to,they could run the ball at any time.Thats not the type of offense they want thouh.They gave up half a draft to move up in the top 5 and get Julio so that they could neglect the run game.And as for you saying "I think Flacco this year can be every bit as good as Ryan",Flacco has been better than Ryan for the last 2 years.It just doesnt show in the stats because we refuse to surround Flacco with top flight guys like Roddy White and Juio Jones.Ozzie saying that hed rather let Flacco throw to Doss,Streeter and Jones is the reason why he wont finish top 5 in qb stats this year.

Great post. I don't want Flacco to be "every bit as good as Ryan," because that would mean Flacco is averaging 2 turnovers per postseason game.

[Clayton Bigsby]

Once Flacco puts together consistent production throughout the course of the season, he'll finally get his respect.

[Speed Kills]

I think you insulted Flacco already with the mention of an argument being made with Matt Ryan being placed above him? Ryan is not even close to what Flacco is in my opinion. Come on man, Flacco has won a SB and 9 playoff games with 7 on the road! Ryan has won 1 and with a lot of luck and at home! Stop it please... In my opinion an argument could be made with only Brady and Peyton being ahead of Flacco. I think Flacco is on par with Rodgers and better than Brees. Honestly!

 

Come on man Joe is great and I do classify him as "elite" but lets not get carried away here. Aaron Rodgers is the best QB in the league. Period. End of discussion. The man is almost as young as Flacco, he already has one ring and he puts up the crazy regular season stats the analysts and fantasy football fans all love before showing that he can get it done in the playoffs. Has he choked before? Sure has. But so has Brady and Manning who you seem eager to place ahead of both Flacco and Rodgers. Someone asked earlier would I trade Flacco for anyone else. The answer would be Rodgers because of his age. As much of a sure thing as Luck is I don't even think I would trade Flacco for Luck and certainly not RGIII due to his injury risk. But I would move Flacco for Rodgers in a heartbeat. I love Joe, but just being honest here. As for where Flacco ranks, the bar of judging a QB should be off championships won. In that case you can't rank Joe lower than 7 (Brady, Manning, Manning, Rodgers, Brees, Roethlisberger, Flacco). I personally put him at 6 because Eli had a down year last year.

[callahan09]

I continue to see a lot of people mention Flacco's statements about him being "the best".... And I think a lot of people, especially in the media and non-Ravens fans, still completely misinterpret what he was saying.  It's simple, really:

 

He means that he believes in himself to the extent that he thinks he should be the starting QB on the field, for whatever team he's on, in whatever situation they're in, regardless of who the other quarterbacks available are.  He believes he should be playing.  That's all he meant.  He wasn't saying "Hey, compare me individually to other QBs, and you'll see I'm better."  He was saying, "Hey, I'm confident and given the choice of any QB, you won't regret it if you pick me to put on that field."  And that's the attitude you want in a QB.  Whether it's true or not that they're the best option, you want them to believe it.  You don't want to put a QB on the field who honestly believes that some other guy deserves to be on that field more than them.  That's a loser's mentality and that's the kind of mental fortitude deficiency you don't want in your team leader.

[scrock]

I saw this the other day and I just had to laugh it off, HYPE is an amazing thing, these rookies played well their rookie years, Capernick didnt even play a full season and yeah he got that team to the SB but Alex Smith almost got them there and he would have if not for a couple special teams fumbles to the Giants.

 

Wilson, RG3, Luck, Cap....they may all become franchise QBs but they aren't there yet, and how long will they last? Guys are already missing games, getting hurt....Flacco has never missed a game but he's not considered one of the toughest in the game. Do you know who is? Big Ben!! LOL...dude gets injured every game and hasn't played a full 16 but one time in his career. it's laughable for sure.

 

The list is biased and mostly based on fantasy production.

 

I could understand a list like this:

 

Rodgers, Brady, Peyton, Brees, Ben, Flacco, Ryan....but to have guys who have done nothing yet and a Matt Ryan who folds under pressure and does whatever he can to fumble the game away in pressure moments, he's another Tony Romo..

 

...but we live in a fantasy football world and stats matter...not winning

 

I thought Flacco winning would give him some respect and elevate him in the minds of the media but apparently that was short lived, he'll always be considered average franchise QB until he puts up numbers, thats sad but true...maybe when he leads this team, HIS team, back to the playoffs he'll get his just dues

[easternshore97]

I saw this the other day and I just had to laugh it off, HYPE is an amazing thing, these rookies played well their rookie years, Capernick didnt even play a full season and yeah he got that team to the SB but Alex Smith almost got them there and he would have if not for a couple special teams fumbles to the Giants.

 

Wilson, RG3, Luck, Cap....they may all become franchise QBs but they aren't there yet, and how long will they last? Guys are already missing games, getting hurt....Flacco has never missed a game but he's not considered one of the toughest in the game. Do you know who is? Big Ben!! LOL...dude gets injured every game and hasn't played a full 16 but one time in his career. it's laughable for sure.

 

The list is biased and mostly based on fantasy production.

 

I could understand a list like this:

 

Rodgers, Brady, Peyton, Brees, Ben, Flacco, Ryan....but to have guys who have done nothing yet and a Matt Ryan who folds under pressure and does whatever he can to fumble the game away in pressure moments, he's another Tony Romo..

 

...but we live in a fantasy football world and stats matter...not winning

 

I thought Flacco winning would give him some respect and elevate him in the minds of the media but apparently that was short lived, he'll always be considered average franchise QB until he puts up numbers, thats sad but true...maybe when he leads this team, HIS team, back to the playoffs he'll get his just dues

They write the criteria but then change the discussion or put random asterisks in when one of the non-Chosen Ones actually meets the criteria that they wrote

[gabefergy]

I'd rather have a ring than a spot on some meaningless ranking. It's not even a legitimate NFL analyst so whatever. We all know where Joe belongs among the best.

[cwfRaven]

How about for fun we do our own ranking of the best NFL analysts? Ok, I'll start...

 

#1. Ray Lewis: Although he has not yet completed a full season, this rookie shows great promise and I fully expect him to have a break out year. 

.

.

.

#71,834,926. Skip Bayless: self explanatory.  

 

 

Ah, that feels better. Completely unbiased, of course. ;)

[ravensdan]

How about for fun we do our own ranking of the best NFL analysts? Ok, I'll start...

#1. Ray Lewis: Although he has not yet completed a full season, this rookie shows great promise and I fully expect him to have a break out year.
.
.
.
#71,834,926. Skip Bayless: self explanatory.


Ah, that feels better. Completely unbiased, of course. ;)

Btw. I would not expect ray Lewis to show a Tom of Baltimore bias. He may actually shift the other way as many former players have done. Tiki barber took this to an uncomfortable extreme. But to me it will not be good television to have ray just give love only to the ravens. I hope he is more like a Jon gruden.

[hawkprey]

I don't care where they put Flacco as long as they have a reason why we won all those games. If it wasn't because of Flacco, who was it? Jacoby Jones? Fine. Anquan Boldin? Fine. Then why aren't we talking about them being the best receivers in the league? You can't have a team win the Super Bowl and then claim everyone on the team was just average. 

[cwfRaven]

Btw. I would not expect ray Lewis to show a Tom of Baltimore bias. He may actually shift the other way as many former players have done. Tiki barber took this to an uncomfortable extreme. But to me it will not be good television to have ray just give love only to the ravens. I hope he is more like a Jon gruden.

 

I know, I'm just goofing around. I expect him to be fair, unbiased, well-spoken, and insightful. He's already shown in the few segments I've seen that he's not "Hail the Almighty Ravens."  It's his job to be fair, but it's not mine! Ray will always be at the top of my list. :wub:

[mgridda]

I think it's obvious to say that Flacco is the 2nd best QB under 30. Rodgers is only 29. Flacco is 28. Flacco is also better than many QBs over 30, and he'll prove it in the regular season.

 

Would I mind if Flacco posts a Quarterback rating in the mid 80s for the regular season, turns it on in the playoffs and leads us to another Superbowl? No. I wouldn't mind at all. Is that going to happen?

 

Definitely not.

 

I'm telling all of you, the only thing that will slow down Joe Flacco in the 2013 regular season is:

 

1) injury

 

the only thing that will and has slowed him down in the playoffs is:

 

1) WRs dropping big catches in game-winning/game-tying situations.

 

Mark Clayton, Anquan Boldin, TJ Houshmandzadeh and Lee Evans all did it. 

[FreckleNate]

The fact that Big Ben is franchise gold and Flacco isn't make me sick.

[Sami84]

What worries me is if our offence struggles it will be the same old '' Q made flacco ''

 

If the O line protects flacco...good things happen..i wont lie though..Having Q on the field gives me a sense of security kinda like mason did. They are High IQ football minds. I dont know if torrey smith is quite there yet, and the rest arent.

 

The running game can compensate. I think Pierce is going to make a massive impact this season.

[berad]

Derrick Mason was a much better receiver here than Bol din

[Ravenseconbeast]

Derrick Mason was a much better receiver here than Bol din

 

yup.   wish we could've brought him last in last yr. just for the ring.   he deserve it

[callahan09]

Btw. I would not expect ray Lewis to show a Tom of Baltimore bias. He may actually shift the other way as many former players have done. Tiki barber took this to an uncomfortable extreme. But to me it will not be good television to have ray just give love only to the ravens. I hope he is more like a Jon gruden.

 

I could see Ray Lewis being like Jon Gruden, in that way of looking for the praise-worthy aspects of every player and being kind of a media-player liaison, the way Gruden is always sitting down one-on-one with players doing interviews.

[bulldoug86]

That list is crazy....I'm sorry but Brady nor Manning have not been in the thick of the playoff run their first five years.  All those rookies up there is just plan out bonkers.  Kaepernik is better than Magic Flacc, nottttttt.  Newton can't even sniff the playoffs.  Flacco have to be in the top seven.  Drew was a bum for years.  And I'm not a wacko for Flacco type.  I just jumped on the band wagon after that o.c. got fired.

[atljbo]

Ill leave the Ryan part alone.. Ill just say.. He did his thing vs the top 2 D's in the league.. If our D could have stepped up when needed.. or a kick return.. It would have been a different outcome.

 

 

Saying that.... Its nooooo way in the world you put any of the rookie QB's or Kaep over Flacco.... Noooo way.. Or Cam... I knew this was still gonna happen tho... ... I dont get tho

[Guest nflfan123]

seriously how is the Flaccattack not in the top 10?