Purple Martin wrote:
Ponder has started only 36 games. He's widely regarded as being a poor QB yet he has more TDs/game than Teddy.
There was clear progression in the eyes of some, not at all clear that it was nearly enough in the eyes of many others. He never topped 14 TDs in a season. In his first year he did it in 12 games. In his 2nd year it took him 16. Where's the progress?
Then Bradford came in and got 20 in 15 games with an even worse O-line than Teddy had. Bradford as a whole is rarely considered to be any more than slightly above average.
I think it was cold for both teams, and one of those teams plays in a dome. ????
Did Teddy out-duel Wilson? In what way? Not in statistics. Not in yards. Not in first downs. Not in score. Not in Wins.
Teddy had a nice pass and a nice 2 minute drill last year. In preseason. Preseason. Pretty sure both were against backups.
I'm not sure what your point is, but if its that Teddy showed some improvement I'll grant you that. He showed some tantalizing moments and flashes of intangibles too, but they were just that, moments and flashes. My point when I jumped in here was that he is not an above average QB. That's what his tangibles have shown so far. Could he improve? Maybe. And he'd have to improve just to get to "above average".
Nice cherry picking stats. Teddy has Ponder beat in nearly every significant statistical category over their first two seasons. And just using your eyes, it's night and day when comparing the two.
Where's the progress? Completion percentage, interception rate, adjusted yards/attempt, QBR. That was in the face of being pressured the most out of any quarterback in 2015 (46.9%). Think about that. He was pressured on nearly every other throw. And yet he still improved on his rookie year. Imagine if he wasn't playing behind the league's worst offensive line. To take that a step further, he was pressured more than any other team of PFF's (I know) rankings in the last decade. When he gets time, he's incredibly accurate.
I'm not saying Teddy destroyed Wilson in that playoff game. But a supposedly terribly Teddy played as good or better (no INTs despite one from Wilson) and nearly even other stats. So yes, given turnovers, Teddy played better and led the Vikings down the field in less than two minutes in the 4th quarter only to have Blair yank a chip-shot for the win.
Yes, moments and flashes. You're dismissing them but they're important for a young quarterback. They're indicative of growth! Which is my larger point of this whole thing that so many people seem to either ignore absentmindedly or choose to ignore. It is not fair to judge Teddy's second year starting to Sam's 8th. Sam's first two seasons were statistically inferior to Teddy's. Meaning? Sam DEVELOPED. As many quarterbacks do! Why is it so hard for some people to comprehend that Teddy has (sigh...had?) the chance to do the same? Teddy's 2015 should not represent the cap in who he could be as a starting quarterback. Yet some are like, "Nope. That's his ceiling. He's a backup."
Yes, he has to improve. I was incredibly confident we would've seen even more growth last year before the injury. Now? Who the heck knows. But those moments and flashes have to start somewhere. Soon, they could be even more consistent. He was already one of the best in the 4th quarter. Now that his weapons are more mature and the line has improved...he could succeed even more (provided his leg doesn't fall off or something).
