Originally Posted by Rain Man
Let's look at the first ten years of other QBs of his era who had long careers.
Average season (and median on the QB rating):
Elway: 3,021 yards, 15.8 TDs, 15.8 Ints, QB Rating 74.6 (Best Year: 83.4)
Dan Marino: 3,950 yards, 29.0 TDs, 16.5 Ints, QB Rating 85.5 (Best Year: 108.9)
Jim Kelly: 3,266 yards, 22.3 TDs, 15.6 Ints, QB Rating 83.6 (Best Year: 101.2)
Neil Lomax (8 year career): 2,846 yards, 17.0 TDs, 11.3 Ints, QB Rating 83.1 (Best Year 92.5)
Jim Everett: 3,158 yards, 19.0 TDs, 15.5 Ints, QB Rating 79.8 (Best Year 90.6)
Randall Cunningham: 2,227 yards, 14.7 TDs, 10 Ints, QB Rating 76.6 (Best Year 91.6) (He didn't start as a rookie and missed nearly two other complete seasons, presumably due to injury.) In his seven full seasons (one of which he started only five games), he averaged 2,980 yards, 20.1 TDs, 12.4 Ints, and a QB Rating of 77.6.
Boomer Esiason: 2,909 yards, 19.0 TDs, 14.0 Ints, QB Rating 80.8 (Best Year 97.4)
Phil Simms: 2,574 yards, 15.8 TDs, 13.7 Ints, QB Rating 74.6 (Best Year 90.0) Missed two full seasons due to injury. In the eight full seasons, he averaged 2,881 yards, 17.8 TDs, 15.3 Ints, QB Rating 76.4.
So Elway wasn't as good as Neil Lomax or Jim Everett, using those two points of comparison. He was almost as good as Phil Simms, and wasn't in the same league as guys like Boomer Esiason, Randall Cunningham (injuries aside), Jim Kelly, or Dan Marino.
|