MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

He led the comeback to defeat the Patriots and end their undefeated season.

A lot of HOF voters are going to give him the for that alone.

 

Lamar Jackson more proud of 36 passing TDs than 1,206 rushing yards




Lamar Jackson had a record-setting season that will culminate with the MVP award the night before Super Bowl LIV.

He isn’t staying for the game and won’t be watching the game.

“I’m not going to be watching it. My team is not in it,” Jackson told ESPN at the Pro Bowl.

The season didn’t end where Jackson wanted it to end, leaving him disappointed, but it was one for the ages.

The Ravens quarterback broke the team record for touchdown passes with a league-leading 36. That topped Vinny Testaverde’s team record of 33 in the Ravens’ inaugural season of 1996.

Jackson also broke Michael Vick’s single-season NFL rushing record for a quarterback, running for 1,206 yards.

“I’m prouder of throwing touchdowns,” Jackson said. “I got the all-time Ravens record for passing touchdowns in a season. I was happy.”

Jackson is not resting on his laurels, though, despite first-team All-Pro honors and soon-to-be MVP honors.

“It could’ve been better,” he said. “I always want to be a better player, better passer. It could’ve been better, but I’m satisfied.”

source; NBCsports

 

Report: Chargers have “moved on” from Philip Rivers


Philip Rivers has moved back to the East Coast, and it appears it’s for good reason.

According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports during an appearance on The Herd, the Chargers have “moved on” from the 38-year-old quarterback.

Rivers had already moved his sizable family back to Florida, which has sparked all manners of dot-connecting which put him on teams not the Chargers. The Buccaneers seem uniquely poised to use him as either a quarterback or leverage in ongoing negotiations with Jameis Winston.

Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco had previously talked about all the “moving parts” involved with the veteran free agent.

The Chargers pick sixth in the 2020 NFL Draft, behind the notably needy Bengals (first) and Dolphins (fifth), so there will be competition if they choose to go the route of a rookie. But with a deep class of veteran quarterbacks available this year including Tom Brady, they can choose from a number of options as they try to establish themselves in an actual-sized stadium in Los Angeles.

source; NBCsports

 

Sounds like free agency is starting

 

Two Super Bowl wins, two Super Bowl MVP awards.

Yet, at NO point in my watching him play did I ever say to myself, "Damn, that's a Hall of Fame player right there."

 

That's always the question with the 'Hall'.

A good friend of mine likes to get this conversation rolling after a couple beers. It always comes back to what your personal litmus is for getting in.

 

Every QB except Plunket , who has won two SBs is in the HOF. The only reason Plunket isn't in is because he didn't do anything at all outside of those two seasons. He wasn't even the Raiders starting QB either of those two seasons at the beginning of those seasons. Even after winning a SB he wasn't their QB of choice either time. Eli will make the HOF.

 

What did Eli accomplish outside of "those" two Super Bowls of his?

A losing record as a starter...just 4 playoff appearances in the other 14 years...zero playoff victories...3 TDs against 7 INTs in those four games, never completing 60% of his passes.

 

Dilfer has a Super Bowl win. Super Bowl wins, by default, do not matter. There has to be more nuance / qualifications than that.

 

He actually finished .500 exactly.

 

Do I personally believe Eli is a Hall of Famer? No. He was NEVER considered in the Top 5 QB's at any time in his career. Did he have a nice career? Yes, a couple of good Super Bowl runs with 9-7 teams that really shouldn't have ever made it that far but they did and he played well during those runs. Was he a consistent guy? Yes, and very durable, hardly missing a game. But a Hall of Famer, to me, is a guy that is recognized in the league as one of the best at his position over time and that is something that no one can honestly say that anyone considered him that great.

He is Kenny Anderson with a couple of rings.....

 

If you include those two Super Bowl seasons. Outside of that - under .500.

 

Personally - I'd take Kenny Anderson all day every day over Eli. Led the league in completion % three times, passing yards twice, INT % three times, YPA twice, QB Rating four times...was second all-time (when he retired) in completion %.

 

Dak Prescott won’t commit to showing up, if he’s tagged


The dance continues between the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott, and the music could soon take an ominous turn.

With Prescott having completed his rookie deal and with the Cowboys facing the question of whether to sign him to a new contract or to apply the franchise tag, Prescott declined to commit that he’ll show up for offseason workouts if the team chooses to tag him.

“We’ll get to that when we get to that,” Prescott said during an appearance in Miami, via the Dallas Morning News. “I look forward to talking to my agents and when that [tag] comes to play, the direction that we’ll go. Until that’s a reality, I won’t worry about it.”

But it’s clear that he’s planning to stay away if the team applies the tag. Asked whether he plans to spend much time in Dallas in the coming weeks and months, Prescott said no.

“Report that,” Prescott added. “Be sure to report that.”

Prescott admitted that he’s “a little disappointed” a deal hasn’t been done, but he can’t be disappointed by the leverage he now has. If they don’t sign him before applying the tag, he can stay away from the offseason program, the mandatory minicamp, training camp, and the preseason while still showing up and getting every penny of his franchise tender. Good luck getting a team ready for Week One without a starting quarterback.

Also looming over this delicate situation is the question of which tender the Cowboys would apply. If they opt for the non-exclusive tag (at about $26 million), another team could try to sign Prescott, in exchange for two first-round picks. To keep that from happening, the Cowboys would have to use the exclusive tag, which currently would cost $33.4 million. Either number would become the starting point for a long-term deal.

As previously explained, the best play for the Cowboys would be to sign Prescott to a long-term deal before the tag deadline, with an average value in the range of $31 million. If that doesn’t happen, things could get very interesting for Prescott and the Cowboys.

source; NBCsports

 

Cam Newton is one of several quarterbacks whose futures are being discussed as we head into the offseason and Newton weighed in with some thoughts on how he expects things to play out while in Miami this week.

Newton was limited to two games in 2019 because of a foot injury and dealt with a shoulder injury during the 2018 season, which has clouded his outlook with the Panthers. The team that has hired Matt Rhule as their new head coach and longtime stars Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen are moving on, which some would take as a sign that the team is ready to start fresh on all fronts.


Newton is heading into the final year of his contract and the Panthers would clear $19.1 million in cap space by moving on without him, but Newton doesn’t think they will. During an appearance on CBS Sports Network, Newton said that he “absolutely” expects to remain with the Panthers for a 10th season and shared the message he sent the team recently.

“It’s devastating to not have the coach who drafted you, but at the same time, you’ve got to turn the page,” Newton said. “I had an unbelievable conversation with Marty Hurney, the G.M., David Tepper the owner, as well as Coach Rhule, the new head coach. And I left that meeting inspired. And I told them, ‘You won’t find another person in that locker room with more to prove, not only to you, but I’ve got to prove to myself.'”

Neither Rhule nor Tepper tipped their hands when it came to their plans for Newton when they met with the media earlier this month. Getting a handle on Newton’s health is sure to be an integral part of their process and there’s still a lot of time for that to take place before any final call has to be made.

source; NBCsports

 

On some REALLY BAD teams. I'm not calling for a bust in Canton, but the Giants did Eli no favors for how the team has been run in his tenure. I think that if the Browns had drafted Eli, we would have seen more mediocre seasons than catastrophic bad ones over his time in the league.

Just my opinion that he elevated offensive players around him during his good years. I don't have as down an opinion as most others do.

That said, I haven't made up my mind on his HOF worthiness. I would have to compare him to each class to decide who is more worthy or less worthy.

 

For beating the Patriots twice in the SB especially giving them a 18-1 season.

 

Chiefs should break the bank for Patrick Mahomes ASAP



The moment the 2019 regular season ended, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes became eligible for a second contract. The longer the team waits to give him one, the more expensive it will get.

Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt suggested last week that the team could wait until after the 2020 season to extend Mahomes. That would give the Chiefs another ultra-affordable year with the best player on the planet, at a salary of $735,000, a roster bonus of $1.969 million, and a cap number of $5.226 million. In 2021, the option year under Mahomes’ first-round deal, he’d be entitled to an amount equal to the 2020 transition tag for quarterbacks, which should be in the range of $24 million.

Eventually, he’ll break the bank. The question becomes how much he’ll get, how much will be guaranteed for injury at signing, and how much will be fully guaranteed at signing.

On Monday, Mahomes downplayed the situation, specifically acknowledging that giving the Chiefs the ability to put a team around him will be a factor in the negotiations. Whether that puts him closer to Tom “Always Took Less” Brady than Peyton “Eff You, Pay Me” Manning remains to be seen. Still, it’s more than fair for Mahomes to take the position that it’s his job to play football, and that it’s the team’s job to figure out how to manage the salary cap.

NBC

 

He was on some pretty good teams as well. In addition to the two SB years, he was on 4 other teams with double-digit wins, including a 12-4 (2008) and two 11-5s (2005, 2016).

 

You can not compare Dilfers SB win to Eli’s. Beating the undefeated Patriots in one of the biggest SB upsets is 100x more impressive. The fact that Eli was the catalyst is just more damming. Add on the second SB and you get where I am going.

Eli retires in 7th place all time in both passing yards and TD’s. And he never missed a game due to injury. Everyone above him is in the Hall or going to be first ballot except Rivers. Who I think gets in even without a ring but not first ballot.

Holding Eli back is his comp % and Ints. That Is what may hold him back from being first ballot but not enough to keep him out.