Chris Simms: Still not a top five species

[Pape]

I don't normally listen to announcers but I recently heard that he's gotten better there.

he's not a naturally glib person... he was a bit better, but he lacks the charisma the great announcers have/had

 

[upstater1]

I don’t get it with him. Look at any sport. Elway is the only guy who is in the average fans top 10 in any sport that you can’t point to SOME stat that makes you say “yeah I get that”

his era adjusted numbers and numbers adjusted to the league average quarterback are terrible compared to other all time greats. he has 5 SB appearances but 3 of those came in an atrocious AFC conference and the last 2 were more about Davis and that OL

it seems with Elway, it’s always all about his physical talent and Reeves screwing him over

100%. Exactly.

I will say that when he became weaker in his late 30s, only then did he become a good passer.

There was something very very wrong with his ability to throw the ball prior to that. He could've been a tight end or something like that.

 

[upstater1]

I could be misremembering, but even Brady said he wasn't the most naturally talented quarterback. But what he did with his talents blew away even the quarterbacks with more natural talent.

This is always a weird conversation because the best thing for a QB to have is natural arm talent. Brady had incredible arm talent, grew up playing catcher in baseball. ESPN did a sports science show that measured Brady's on field play and it said no one threw for more velocity in the entire league and no one had a stronger arm.

Do that mean Brady could throw the ball further than anyone else? Probably not (though he did throw the ball 80 yards at the end of the '07 loss to the Giants in the SB).

But what it does mean is that Brady combined a quick release, accuracy, and velocity, 3 physical talents, to throw the fastest ball in the NFL.

If I have the strongest arm in the NFL, but my release is slow, and I'm not very accurate, I'm going to need to take something off the ball when I throw. This is why game play is the only measurement for physical attributes. Can you throw bullets accurately? That's a matter of your release, your reads, and arm strength.

 

[Triumph]

Elway had the clutch gene and Ive never seen another QB like Elway roll to one side of the field and throw a dart across to a waiting receiver on the other sideline. Rumor is that Dan Reeves hated Elway and it was not until Mike Shanahan when Elway won Super Bowls.