Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
There's tonnes of examples of QBs playing to a high level without an elite supporting cast like Brock had.
Tom Brady was consistently among the leagues top passers with one TE and a bunch of nothings at WR and RB.
Dew Brees set records with a 7th round WR in Michael Thomas.
Justin Herbert had a better year than Purdy with one rookie WR and a bunch of no-bodies. Josh Allen won the MVP with Shakir and a rookie. Mahomes has never had elite receivers. Who's Lamar Jackson's #1 receiver? Prescott has one WR. Who does Jordan Love throw to?
None of those guys had even close to a RB like McCaffery or the groups of playmakers we had any WR and TE like Brock had in 2023
Tom Brady is a mega outlier and yet he himself talked about how critical it was for him to have guys he trusted around him and how he flat our refused to throw to guys he didn't trust. As far as that "one TE" you mean Rob Gronkowski???
Apparently Wes Welker and Julian Edelman are now nothings. Tom also had very good pass protection for the most part but also helped them in a big way with his quick release and his ability to read defense.
Btw Tom was in his 11th NFL season when Gronk was a rookie. If you want to Tom playing with weak talent then you should look at the 2006 season, his 7th season in the NFL when he made and likely should've won the AFCCG and likely SB with Reche Caldwell as his top WR. However the Pats had the #2 scoring defense and always great special teams with all that. Tom's numbers that season?
62% 3529 yards 24 TDs 12 INT
as a reminder Brock's numbers were 65.9 3864 yards 20 TD 12 INT(with 5 rushing TDs)
Not exactly miles apart as far as performance from the QB stat wise at least.
As for Drew Brees I assume you mean Colston considering Thomas was an early 2nd rounder. Yes Drew put up huge numbers and a lot of them to guys we don't consider the greatest ever. It doesn't mean he was doing it with nobody. Let's not forget that Drew Brees was playing so poorly for the Chargers they drafted Eli Manning.
His breakout year with the Chargers included 2 HOF skill players in LT and Antonio Gates.
Not to mention once again I have to remind you it's not always about the name of the players but consistency with them. We never got to see Marques Colston away from the Saints like we got to see some of Brady's guys. However how long do we use the draft slot as a knock on a player? Colston played 10 seasons in the NFL all with the Saints. Pretending he wasn't a good player just to claim Brees was playing with nobody is lame.
As for the other guys you keep missing the point. I'm talking about the WHOLE picture of what Brock had to deal with last year. All of those guys had their top guys around. You may not think those guys are comparable to the great players Brock had in 2023...problem is we're talking about 2024. Cuz Brock didn't have them either and had to rely on guys he hasn't had as much time to build chemistry with. In a timing based offense that's very important. As Tom Brady...
ALSO I'm talking about the defense being unable to hold leads, get the ball back, etc. I'm talking about special teams making critical mistakes almost every game hurting us by taking away points or giving us poor field position, etc.
Justin Herbert had the #1 overall defense and a great OL and guess what? CONSISTENCY at his skill positions. Quentin Johnson was as first round pick BTW. Josh Palmer a high 3rd rounder who has been with Justin for 4 years.
Josh Allen? Once again just cuz you don't know who Shakir is doesn't mean he's bad. Note the one game where Shakir was out and Allen was terrible. He also had a great 3 headed RB committe behind him with James Cook leading the league in rushing TDs. Which is pretty important since the Allen averaged just 220 yards passing per game. They were clearly going to run the hell out of the ball. Their defense and OL was a lot better than ours and their special teams wasn't a disaster. Once again the comparison isn't there.
Mahomes never had elite receivers? Just that Tyreek Hill guy and Sammy Watkins a former #4 overall pick. Let's also ignore that Mahomes was having one of his worst statistical seasons when he was missing Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown...before they traded for Deandre Hopkins and that was with Xavier Worthy on the team already. Oh and the whole 4th scoring defense with special teams that literally won them several games.
Lamar really had it rough with Derrick Henry almost getting 2k on the ground and that Zay Flowers guy who played every game. Rashod Bateman, another first round pick, also coming on. Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. Do you watch other teams play?
Jordan Love...guess you missed all the Green Bay fans talking up their depth? Now poor Jordan has nobody?
Just be honest - if they don't have an offensive player of the year apparently they're nobodies to you.
Yet you have failed to provide a single comparable QB doing something special with the SAME circumstances that Brock had this past season.
That's serious injuries to his top players. Inconsistency at the skill positions due to injuries or inferior play - this is even more of an issue for the type of offense we run since it's all about timing.
Spotty OL play/injuries on it so you can't have continuity.
Bad defense.
Terrible special teams.
Poor coaching virtually across the board.
Because that's what actually happened. That's what the argument is when it comes to paying Brock. This crazy idea that he should be successful in that type of situation. And there is a substantial difference between that case and simply not having a Christian McCaffrey like RB or having a George Kittle TE with Aiyuk at WR.
We have seen Brock make a 7th round pick who was an afterthought in the offense into a WR1 type of player but somehow that's not making a player better. Feels like we're picking and choosing when that counts or not.