There's a lot of interesting NFL stuff out there today.
Roy Williams is going to start tipping pizza delivery people (Fanhouse). I've got a coupon for a free pizza sitting at home right now (it just became valid October 1). I'm excited.
Michael David Smith compares Brett Favre to other great QBs (FO on Fox). He says both Marino and Tarkenton are better than Favre. I smile.
The Vikings schedule actually gets easier, and they could get some wins (Fanhouse). When I projected the season, I had the Vikings winning their first four games, then losing their next five. But now three of the next four games are against currently 1-3 teams.
Evidently Tarvaris Jackson will start again (Fanhouse). That's good--it's not as if Kelly Holcomb has given the Vikes a reason not to go back to Jackson, as I thought he might. Jackson can throw hard.
Michael Vick took an eight hour class from PETA (Sports Illustrated). Cripes. I'm an animal rights guy, and even I cringe at the idea of an eight hour class from PETA.
Marc Bulger is out; Scott Linehan favorite Gus Frerotte is in (Sports Illustrated).
Dr. Z's power rankings usually include amusing banter (Sports Illustrated).
The Vikings continue to defy CHFF's Big Play Index: they're +8, tied with 4-0 Dallas and 3-1 Pittsburgh, and just behind 4-0 New England (Cold, Hard Football Facts).
My impression of Bart Starr has always been that he's a decent QB that got to play on a great team, but in CHFF's comparison of Starr and Favre, it's clear Starr has the statistics to measure up with the greats (Cold, Hard Football Facts).
michael david smith's strong arguments and profound logic have convinced me. the other day dr z said troy aikman was better because he had a higher completion percentage or something one paragraph after saying individual stats were impossible to gauge.
ReplyDeleterk
To be fair, MDS is doing more here than most writers do when they say things like "so and so is one of the top five quarterbacks of all time." I like that he attempts to compare Favre one to one to other great quarterbacks--instead of just making a ranking, he's comparing Favre directly to one player at a time and deciding who he thinks is better.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, I don't think Otto Graham was better than Favre.
Also, if we're talking about the same Dr. Z article, I see three flaws in your claim:
1. I don't see where he says individual stats are impossible to gauge: he says he's not counting wins because they are "team stats." He seems OK with stats: he cites not only completion percentage but "yards per completion--which is a very telling stat in [his] book."
2. He doesn't say Aikman was better--he's vague on this.
3. When he calls Young and Aikman "higher-percentage passers," the point is they were more accurate.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/dr_z/09/27/mailbag/index.html
Ok PV ill bite, you rip other writers for their top 5.
ReplyDeletePost yours with as much grace.Its not easy to be objective when ones heart and admiration fall into play.
List your 5 and write why each have their place and try be honest something one doesnt see in most articles.
i'm not rereading any articles of z's so i'm being ... vague here. at one point dr z dismisses all of favre's individual accomplishments other than the streak-- he only uses individual stats against favre. i'm used to it from z, though. at one time he didn't even include brett favre--the most dominant player of the 1990s-- in his top 3 qbs of that decade. i think we can reasonably infer from his wording that he figures troy aikman is greater. and we all know that is ridiculous.
ReplyDeletestarr was a good game manager with ice water for blood as they say-- a real joe montana-- but for pure passing even lombardi listed jurgenson as a finer player.
rk
rk
So essentially, because you refuse to reread what Z wrote, you're justifying misrepresenting what he wrote. And you are: he doesn't dismiss any individual stats (just says he's most impressed with the streak), and doesn't only use stats against Favre (he notes Favre's ypc was higher than Aikman's, and says that's a telling stat). So no, you're just misrepresenting or deliberately misunderstanding what Z wrote. But he wrote it vaguely, so I'll give a break to a Favre lover like you.
ReplyDelete