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Little did the Browns know they drafted Rodney Dangerfield.

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"I tell ya, I get no respect."

By Robert Whetsell
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I think I'm to the point that I just can't take it anymore.

Maybe it's my age. Or maybe Weeden's age.

I don't know for sure, but I've had it.

I listened again earlier this week to the ravings of NFL "experts," waxing poetic about the upside of some rookie QB's.

Bob's name came up quite a bit.

I used to like Subway. Not anymore.

Bob is the next coming of the next greatest NFL quarterback.

Our boy Brandon is not on the radar.

As Monken says, "Stats are for losers."

So let's be losers and take a look at some stats.

Here are your NFL QB stats through week 7, ranked by "rate," which is the passer rating for the season:

RK PLAYER TEAM COMP ATT PCT YDS YDS/A LONG TD INT SACK RATE YDS/G
1 Aaron Rodgers, QB GB 183 262 69.8 1,979 7.55 52 19 4 26 109.6 283
2 Peyton Manning, QB DEN 154 227 67.8 1,808 7.97 71 14 4 10 105 301
3 Robert Griffin III, QB WSH 133 189 70.4 1,601 8.47 88 7 3 15 101.8 229
4 Matt Ryan, QB ATL 160 236 67.8 1,756 7.44 60 14 6 13 98.8 293
5 Ben Roethlisberger, QB PIT 155 235 66 1,765 7.51 82 11 3 13 98.6 294
6 Tom Brady, QB NE 186 285 65.3 2,104 7.38 59 12 3 14 96.9 301
7 Drew Brees, QB NO 166 273 60.8 2,097 7.68 80 18 7 12 96.1 350
8 Alex Smith, QB SF 127 190 66.8 1,427 7.51 55 9 5 18 93.9 204
9 Matt Schaub, QB HOU 140 222 63.1 1,650 7.43 60 10 4 8 93.1 236
10 Eli Manning, QB NYG 169 265 63.8 2,109 7.96 80 12 7 5 92.5 301
11 Josh Freeman, QB TB 104 187 55.6 1,538 8.23 95 11 5 9 91.2 256
12 Jake Locker, QB TEN 67 106 63.2 781 7.37 71 4 2 3 90.2 195
13 Andy Dalton, QB CIN 156 243 64.2 1,831 7.54 59 13 10 17 87.7 262
14 Christian Ponder, QB MIN 152 227 67 1,492 6.57 45 9 6 16 87.5 213
15 Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB BUF 133 218 61 1,435 6.58 68 15 9 8 86.1 205
16 Kevin Kolb, QB ARI 109 183 59.6 1,169 6.39 46 8 3 27 86.1 195
17 Carson Palmer, QB OAK 148 241 61.4 1,732 7.19 64 7 4 12 86 289
18 Philip Rivers, QB SD 139 209 66.5 1,492 7.14 46 10 9 18 85.3 249
19 Tony Romo, QB DAL 150 221 67.9 1,636 7.4 49 8 9 9 84.6 273
20 Joe Flacco, QB BAL 150 252 59.5 1,837 7.29 52 9 6 18 84 262
21 Sam Bradford, QB STL 131 219 59.8 1,592 7.27 65 7 6 21 81.5 227
22 Russell Wilson, QB SEA 104 175 59.4 1,230 7.03 51 8 7 14 79.5 176
23 Cam Newton, QB CAR 101 173 58.4 1,387 8.02 66 5 6 15 79.3 231
24 Matthew Stafford, QB DET 164 264 62.1 1,754 6.64 57 5 6 12 78.4 292
25 Jay Cutler, QB CHI 106 187 56.7 1,359 7.27 42 8 7 19 78.3 227
26 Matt Hasselbeck, QB TEN 96 156 61.5 931 5.97 37 5 4 10 78.2 186
27 Michael Vick, QB PHI 136 231 58.9 1,632 7.07 70 8 8 17 77.7 272
28 Blaine Gabbert, QB JAC 88 158 55.7 906 5.73 80 6 3 15 77.1 151
29 Ryan Tannehill, QB MIA 118 198 59.6 1,454 7.34 80 4 6 12 76.5 242
30 Mark Sanchez, QB NYJ 116 218 53.2 1,453 6.67 66 9 7 14 74.6 208
31 Andrew Luck, QB IND 134 250 53.6 1,674 6.7 41 7 7 16 72.3 279
32 Brandon Weeden, QB CLE 154 272 56.6 1,783 6.56 71 9 10 11 72.3 255
33 Matt Cassel, QB KC 103 176 58.5 1,150 6.53 33 5 9 13 66.2 230

As you can see, Weeden is mired at the bottom, actually tied with Andrew Luck at 31.

But if we look at the next chart, we get a whole different perspective of where Brandon is performing relative not only to the rookies, but to the rest of the league:

OVERALL RANKINGS
RANKING AVG RANKING GP COMP ATT PCT YDS YDS/A TD FEW INT FEW SACK RATE YDS/G
1 Robert Griffin III, QB 13.5 7 19 24 1 17 1 23 5 20 3 22
2 Brandon Weeden, QB 18.0 7 10 3 29 8 29 13 32 9 31 16
3 Andrew Luck, QB 21.2 6 18 8 32 13 24 26 26 24 31 10
4 Ryan Tannehill, QB 21.5 6 23 22 21 22 16 32 20 12 29 18
5 Russell Wilson, QB 24.8 7 28 29 24 28 23 19 24 19 22 32

The rookies are ranked according to the average league ranking, which is the average of their ranking in each of the categories shown. "GP" is games played. This obviously skews the numbers in favor of the players that haven't had a buy week, which makes the passer rating and YPG important numbers. It will be interesting to see what this looks like once they all have an equal number of games. Meanwhile, let's look at Weeden's numbers:

  • Overall #2 among the rookies in avg ranking
  • Top 10 in league rankings in 4 categories (did not include "longest TD" category, as that really doesn't indicate anything of value about the QB)
  • #1 among the rookies in 5 categories (Bob is #1 in 4, Luck is #1 in YPG)

Not too shabby for someone saddled with one of the worst receiving corps in the league (except of course for Josh Cooper), a suspect offensive line, and no running game. BTW...his group of receivers is 3rd in the league in drops (18, including 2 potential game winners), and one of those receivers is tied for 3rd in the league individually in drops (Little, 5).

And remember his first game? First games for rookies are almost always an aberration, either good or bad. Let's see what happens to the numbers when you take away the first game for each rookie:

CPG APG YPG CMP% YPA TD/G INT/G RAT
1 BOB 19 27 214 70% 7.9 0.8 0.5 95
2 WEEDEN 24 40 278 60% 7.0 1.5 1.0 86
3 WILSON 14 24 180 61% 7.6 1.2 1.0 85
4 TANNEHILL 20 33 242 60% 7.3 0.7 1.0 79
5 LUCK 22 41 273 54% 6.7 1.2 0.8 78

Suddenly that passer rating is more in line with the middle of the league, and it should continue to improve as the season goes on.

Look, while it pains me to do this, I'll give Bob his due. The kid is talented, and the coaches appear to be doing a pretty good job bringing him along. He has a decent running game and a couple of solid receivers to help out.

But I still can't stand the arrogant, whiny little bastard. And I can't stand that the "experts" continue to compare only Luck and Bob for the "who is the better rookie QB" or "who has the most upside" awards. I think it is VERY clear that Brandon is the 2nd best rookie QB in the league right now, and his performances continue to improve each week.

My conclusion with all this...that by the end of the season, barring key injuries, I think Weeden will be the #1 rookie QB, without question. He has improved at a much steeper rate than the other guys, and the Browns coaching staff will slowly give in to putting him in the positions to succeed that suit his skill set, especially if the running game continues to struggle. And he will have done all this with as little help as any rookie QB may have ever had.

And I'm looking forward to enjoying every single second of Weeden moving past Bob once again.

GO POKES IN THE NFL!!!

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