Colin Cowherd: RG3 can't hold a candle to Andrew Luck

[Prototype]

Honestly, i could give less of a **** what other people think about our QB. We watch the games. We know how good he is.

Ask any Redskins fan who would they rather have, RG3 or Luck, and I gauarantee you we will all say RG3 10/10 times.

[stevemcqueen1]

Using the simplest method of calculation... how many weeks has RGIII won player of the week or rookie of the week for being the most dynamic and important player in the NFL? How many times has he won rookie of the month?

Okay, compare that to Luck. How many games did he personally take over in such a way that everyone had to take notice and the NFL or major outlets awarded him for it?

Right now, Luck is leading in completions, yards, and wins. Wins are very important. RGIII is leading in completion percentage, touchdowns, quarterback rating, QBR, and NFL/Media Awards. He's also obviously leading in rushing yards.

Winning matters most, but other than that the TD/INT is the thing I care most about. Giveaways are killers. Scoring matters.

Winning is a team stat. Luck is a part of it, it's important. But if that's one's most important barometer of individual ability, then one would have thought Alex Smith was one of the best QBs in the league last year, in which case one would have been football illiterate. The guy just got benched the first semi-legit opportunity Harbaugh could do so. Is that happening to Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, or Tom Brady ever? Hell, would that even happen to Phil Rivers?

Also, not all wins are created equal. The Colts have played an easy schedule plain and simple. The Falcons are 11-1 despite the fact they are wholly beatable and are probably going to lose early in the playoffs to superior teams because they've played a comically easy schedule (.389). But if you go by just wins you'd think they are perhaps the best team in the NFL and Matt Ryan should be a slam dunk for the MVP.

[sonsofwashington]

For so many reasons I don't really take anyone seriously that picks between the two. They both are perfect fits for their organizations and it shows. Personally, I am glad to have RGIII because he is more exciting to watch. The success of both candidates will only be measured in championships. Period. The rest does not matter at all.

With all of that said I still like listening to the Heard. Those radio hosts are forced to have too many opinions to be right or agree with me all the time. Unfortunately, it makes them wrong a lot which results in them appearing foolish. It's their job to call out athletes and it's our job to call them out so when they are wrong (and Colin is very wrong about RGIII right!?) it gives us fan's a great opportunity to rub it in their face. So really we should look at this as an opportunity to rub some "told ya so" back at Colin. RGIII makes people look silly with regularity and the probability increases shortly after he declares "hike". So let Colin underestimate RGIII, the regret will be memorable.

[jnhay]

I love it when people announce things like "X QB has more progressions that he has to go through than Y QB" as if it is a fact. As if he/she has a copy of the playbook for each team and is privy to the game planning prior to and play calling during the games. Tools.

And really, who cares if it's true? Luck has to use the tools he has while RGIII uses his. Luck wouldn't be able to run the pistol offense as well as RGIII and wouldn't have that luxury of making those simple reads at times. Those simple reads stem from the play itself, and the play itself is only effective because the quarterback is a supreme threat as a runner. It's like saying Barry Sanders was better than Jim Brown because he had to dance around a lot more to get yards while Brown "made the easy read" and ran straight up the middle.

[clskinsfan]

Honestly, i could give less of a **** what other people think about our QB. We watch the games. We know how good he is.

Ask any Redskins fan who would they rather have, RG3 or Luck, and I gauarantee you we will all say RG3 10/10 times.

Both are incredible. But I would probably take Luck. RG3 is the more exciting player for sure. The only reason I would take Luck is that Luck takes far fewer hits and most likely will have a less injury filled career. I know there is no guarantee of this (Luck could get hurt today in practice). But you can only take getting blown up by linebackers so many times. RG3 has made an effort to limit the number of hits. But he still gets smashed a couple of times a game and was already injured once this year.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

The Junkies were debating this while I was driving in. The main Luck points were:

1) He throws more, impacting completion percentage. The example was late in the Detroit game when he had to throw a bunch of incompletions to come back from a 12 point lead.
2) RG3 benefits from a much stronger running game, making his job easier and allowing him to be more efficient.

I don't want to take ANYTHING away from Luck because I think he's doing a great job. But, I don't like how so many people are suddenly building in excuses for him. I think his body of work is impressive on its own without needing to play the what if game. So, here are my counter-points to these two arguments:

1) Luck was trailing by 12 with 4 minutes left in part because of his 3 interceptions earlier in the game. So, I find it difficult to give someone a pass for being in a situation he helped to create.
2) Griffin benefits from a running game of which he is a major component. It's not like our running game is to turn and hand the ball to Morris. Alfred has been great, but Griffin has 700+ yards too.

I just think the debate is pointless because it devolves into these nuanced, nit-picky things. Griffin, Luck, and Wilson are playing great. Wheeden and Tannehill have shown flashes that wouldn't be overshadowed most years. It's fun to see so many great QBs coming into the league.

[Saqs]

I just think the debate is pointless because it devolves into these nuanced, nit-picky things. Griffin, Luck, and Wilson are playing great. Wheeden and Tannehill have shown flashes that wouldn't be overshadowed most years. It's fun to see so many great QBs coming into the league.

Pretty much. I've also heard all kinds of things as to why RG3 is being successful & is making less mistakes than Luck. The coaching & system (aka a system QB), he's a game manager, he can't make all of the throws, etc. etc. It really is pointless. People will convince themselves of whatever they want it seems lol.

[Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin]

OK, I'm going to say it.

If Andrew Luck weren't white, no one would be making excuses for him. Not in this set of circumstances, anyway (other high picks, successful rookie Qbs to compare him to)

[skinsfan07]

Biggest difference betweem Luck and RG3, to me, is that teams are legit SCARED to play Rg3. I haven't heard any other teams say they are scared to play Luck. RG3 is such a threat, much more so than Luck b/c of his legs. Guarantee if the Giants played the Colts, they wouldn't be saying "I'm mad at the Football Gods for making us play him" like they did against us.

[Farbod21]

The thing that annoys the HELL out of me is that people are dismissing RG3 because we use the pistol. They think its a gimmick and that it isnt a real offense. I dont understand the mentality that football cant evolve any longer. Shanahan has adapted the pistol to be used with his STANDARD offense. The pistol is used as a base formation to run his STANDARD plays because it forces the defense to have to commit at the snap and greatly limits their ability to get a pre snap read on the play. It also gives the QB and the RB options once the ball has been snapped to counter what the defense is committing to. People like Cowturd and Prisco say RG3 isnt playing "real QB" because hes not in the standard set and doesnt throw the ball 45 times a game. What a joke sports journalism has become. Its a bunch of arrogant jackasses that just tout their prognostications and their opinion of the status quo. Their is no real journalism or objective analysis at all.

[Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin]

darn, totally fouled that one up. (Double post)

[Saqs]

The thing that annoys the HELL out of me is that people are dismissing RG3 because we use the pistol. They think its a gimmick and that it isnt a real offense.

And even funnier about this is that if you really look at it, the Pistol and the variations we run of it are pretty much glorified single back, power I and offset I formations. The killer is the fact that RG3 is dual threat out of all of them.

[Oldfan]

...All the same, it's still neck and neck between RGIII and Luck IMO.

HYPOTHETICAL: You are a defensive coordinator. The supporting cast of both quarterbacks is of equal quality. Would you find it more of a problem to game plan for Luck or RG3? In other words, which represents the greater threat on his own?

[terryb101]

I love Colin's show. He praises RG3 daily but he still likes Luck better. Why does this make Colin a hater?

i'll be honest, the only thing colin (and just about every other sports talking head) knows about sports. is they cant play them . i mean they are fine at reading stats and then coming up with talking points about how the won lost doesn't equate out to the stats. or that a team has a good d backfield because they give up very few passing yards per game, but yet give up 300 on the ground.. basically they are college educated people trying to look like they know what in the hell they are talking about

[Bacon]

I'll say one thing about Luck right now: he can't be turning the ball over three times a game and expect to win in the playoffs. Romo couldn't do it, even with all the flashy regular season comebacks and a talented team around him. Luck won't either. He needs to rein that **** in now.