Reignman wrote:only rated higher than Geno Smith (65.0), Weeden (62.0), and Freeman (59.3)
This really should be enough for the "it's not just Ponder" crowd to at least lean towards "it's mostly the fact our QB is not good".
Quarterbacks in the NFL have to be the DIFFERENCE between winning and losing close games. I coach HS lacrosse and my mantra has always been that one-goal games ALWAYS come down to coaching. If you win or lose by one goal, 95% of the time the reason(s) can be put squarely on the coaches. In the NFL, IMO, that mantra boils down to the QB. In close games, they HAVE to be the difference between winning and losing (certainly a case could be made that it is also coaching in the NFL, but in my 50+ years of watching the NFL I've deduced in today's game, it's the QB by a decent margin).
This not to say that when the game is a one-pointer in the 4th that the QB has to be successful in a 99-yard game-winning drive. That's cool of course, but really it boils down to that stalled drive in the 1st qtr, or that missed TD pass that turned into a FG in the 2nd qtr, etc. This does not imply good QB's need to be "Elway-esque". Good QB's get the right amount of points on the board when they are SUPPOSED to.
It is not just happenstance that bad or rookie QB's have horrible QB ratings. EVERY team has problem areas. EVERY team has problems with their OL in one way or another, their WR's, their D, whatever. Not every team has a QB in the bottom five of the rankings. The better QB's make up for this stuff a decent percent of the time. Bad QB's do not.
Of course, you could always opt-out of thinking the QBR is a reflection of good QB play. Your prerogative.