Quote:
Originally Posted by Southpaw
So we can judge Griffin beyond a shadow of a doubt by the 20 attempts he's had in PREseason, but Cousins can't be judged by the four regular season games he played? And we also have to ignore all of Griffin’s previous accomplishments? Seems fair.
Regardless of what the games meant at the time, the one glaring fact about Cousins game that has been true throughout his college and professional career is that he turns the ball over far too much. His interception rate was 2.65% for his college career and has swelled to almost 5% in his NFL career. It's pretty rare for a quarterback that has a history of turnovers to suddenly 'fix' the problem.
Here's a few more statistics from Cousins' 2013 season. I know some people don't acknowledge certain statistics, so take your pick.
Standard QB rating of 58.4 - 69th in the league.
Total QBR of 26.5 - 35th in the league.
DVOA of -42.6 - 45th out of the top 45 quarterbacks.
Completion % of 52.9 - 45th out of the top 45 quarterbacks.
I suppose none of these stats can stand up to the eyeball test, but what about any of this screams "effective NFL quarterback"?
|
No, they BOTH can get better. That's the point. And I have no problem with rust or growing pains, but Griffin's mistakes are mind-boggling and inexcusable even for a High School level QB - jumping in the air on passes, running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage, inability to slide, missing wide open receivers right in front of his face.
I don't see how any of those issues have to do with learning a new system. But maybe it was just a really bad day for him and everything will be all better by September 7th. Let's all hope.