Quote:
Originally Posted by GTripp0012
Ben Roethlisberger (4th season), Peyton Manning (5th season), Tony Romo (5th season), Drew Brees (6th season), all flourished under new coaching, but I see your point. My list of guys are considerably older than your list of guys.
Seems like there is something there that unestablished great QB prospects regress in a new offense in the short term, but in the long term they seem to be just fine.
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I'm not taking issue with your post, just building from it because it made me think a bit.
- Roethlisberger (Good point, especially with his struggles last season, but he had already won a Super Bowl)
- Manning (already had been to multiple Pro Bowls, well established)
- Romo (I hate that he is the exception to all these things, but after watching him play a little more now I actually kind of think that he is going to return to the pack since I've seen him make some really bad throws that still get completed, but we'll put him aside)
- Drew Brees (this is the one I want to pick up a bit below)
Brees is a different case since he changed teams and was a pretty big FA signing for NO and they were going to ride with him so long as he was healthy. By the time he signed there he'd throw for 3,000 yards three times and had made at least one Pro Bowl. I'd like to back up for a second, though, and look at Brees between his second and third seasons.
In 2002 Brees had numbers that probably look pretty similar to those Jason will end up posting this season (60.8%, 3,284 yds, 17 tds, 16 ints, 76.9 rtg). 2002 was also the first year that Marty was the coach in SD. The next season Brees did not play very well (57.6%, 2,108, 11 tds, 15 ints, 67.5 rtg). That year the Chargers drafted Eli and then moved him in that deal for Phillip Rivers. Now, if the team had also fired Marty and moved in a new direction totally, what would have become of Brees? Of course, Rivers didn't help himself by holding out for the entire training camp and thus allowing Brees to claim the job, but I also wonder if another coaching staff that had not seen Brees perform in 2002, would have stuck with him through 2003 (and A.J. Smith basically bailed on him anyway with Rivers, who was his guy, while Marty seeming stayed behind Brees). As it turned out, in 2004 Brees posted his best numbers to that point (65.5%, 3,159, 27 tds, 7 ints, 104.8 rtg) and made his first Pro Bowl, but what if...
Your point that "Seems like there is something there that unestablished great QB prospects regress in a new offense in the short term, but in the long term they seem to be just fine" is well taken. The larger point, though, is that often times when you get a new coach the QB isn't given the opportunity to get to the point of being 'just fine' because the team moves on and fails to realize that the likely downturn in production is probably a product of having to learn a new offensive system and deal with a new coaching staff.
Just some thoughts.