I listen to 1350 on the radio for several hours a day in NE Ohio and for the most part, all I hear is how bad Ben is. But the critic rarely ever gives a reason, and never gives any reasons based on any evidence. This has been bothering me, probably far too much.
I’ve been watching him his entire career and haven’t missed any more than a handful of games since 2004, his rookie season. The dude is still playing at the level he always has and his numbers prove it.
His passer rating is right where it’s always been. His completion percentage is as well. His touchdown percentage is down a little but so is his interception percentage. On paper he is playing at the same level he always has.
He shares the NFL lead with Herbert in game winning drives (5) and he hasn’t had that many in a season since 2004. He also has 4 comebacks and he hasn’t had that many in a season since 2008. He is currently tied with Jackson in that category and only Herbert has more (5).
Some say that passer ratings aren’t the end all be all, but they pretty much are. Good quarterbacks don’t have low passer ratings, and conversely, bad quarterbacks don’t have high passer ratings. This is a constant throughout the league and it always has been.
In his past 8 games he has 15 TD’s, 3 INT’s, and a rating of 99.9. There are 0 quarterbacks playing poorly with a 99.9 passer rating. It’s analogous to a batter hitting .300 and having people saying he’s too old and he has nothing left. It defies logic and common sense and is clearly a sign of absence of any critical thinking. Actually, just thinking period.
He and his team got off to a horrible start in September with the exception of the Bills win, but even with those games his rating is at 92.1 this year. His career rating is 93.9. Again… these talking heads talk about him like he has no business playing. It’s really that bad. And they have ZERO reasons to do so. I’ve heard people call him a dinosaur. A statue. I’ve heard people say he can’t make the same throws he used to (and that is complete and utter nonsense). It’s really just been an all out assault filled with unjustified and mean insults and I’m sick of it. They literally say things to fill up air time with no justification whatsoever.
Then Ryan Clark comes out and says that he’s hurting everyone on his team. He even named Johnson, Harris, and Claypool. Johnson is having the best year of his young career & has 81 catches for 990 yards and 6 TD’s with 4 games remaining. He ranks 7th in the league in receptions. Yo Ryan… how is Ben hurting Diontae Johnson? Please enthrall me with your wisdom.
Harris is 4th in the league in yards from scrimmage in his rookie season. Clark needs to shut his trap, or at least start saying something that makes sense.
Ben doesn’t run around like he did when he was 22, but he hasn’t done that in several years. He was getting beat up bad on a regular basis and actually stopped playing like that a long time ago. Though he still moves around in the pocket to avoid pressure & has always had an uncanny ability to feel the pressure.
But all that is really secondary. Again, quarterbacks that can’t play anymore do not post passer ratings in the high 90’s just like baseball players don’t hit .300 when they’re too old.
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