NFL.com: Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan among top quarterbacks under 30

[Dirt]

We're not homers here. Seriously, a healthy RG3 is just a notch above Stafford and Bradford? Andrew Luck passed all of his tests with 'flying colors'? (INT test not important I guess)

And I'm sure this writer took into consideration, when putting Cam ahead because of a head to head victory, that RG3's victory over the Ravens didn't count because he was out the last minute.

I have a feeling if the Cowboys had a QB under 30, he would be on this list...I dunno, just have a feeling..

[Binton]

are we gonna start crying and making a thread about EVERY writer that doesn't give us enough credit? just wondering

[NoCalMike]

Kap took over a team that was in the NFC Championship last season (Superbowl, if not for the fumble). I applaud Kap for his ability and making the Niners offense more explosive, but lets get real here. He didn't turn around a 5-11 team in one season and get them to the playoffs. This is just ridiculous.

Wilson, had a good last month of the season, and then suddenly the writers forgot how he played for the first three months.

---------- Post added January-26th-2013 at 01:11 AM ----------

I hate this debate constantly popping up because it makes it out like some of us are trying to rip these other QBs, which I am certainly not. They all have bright futures, and look like they will contribute in the NFL for a long time, however sports writers are really suffering from the "who happened to play the best last week? Ok Ok...he's the best, Yeah Him...HIIIIIIIM" syndrome this season.

[Henry]

I've seen Wilson and Kaep both dive head first for first downs, I've seen them both cut it back inside before taking it out of bounds or sliding. The idea that RG3 is wreckless is bull. The Vikings game he slid, he got out of bounds, he did everything he was supposed to, and then got criticized for STILL playing too wreckless and running too much. His concussion came when he held onto the ball too long, but he was sliding to get down AND he was getting out of bounds after he saw defenders coming. Until that Ravens game he slid, got out of bounds, did everything "right".

Jack Harbaugh once said that a P.E teacher called him to have a meeting about John Harbaugh. The P.E teacher said that John was too competitive, and that he took the game a little too seriously in P.E and was too interested in winning and that might be something of a character flaw. And Jack Harbaugh told that coach "If you try to take that out of him I'll chase you to the ends of the Earth."

I feel that way about Robert. If someone wants Robert to stop being that competitor, they can get bent. He did what he was supposed to until the game required that he absolutely had to make a play. I won't blame him for trying to win?

Griffin is too reckless. It's not bull. It's not about diving for first downs. Twice he got hurt trying to extend a play that was obviously not there. He needs to learn to throw the ball away and fight another day, just like plenty of other rookie QBs have needed to learn. We can think Rex Grossman is a competitor because even if a guy is triple covered he trusts his ability to thread the ball into the WR's waiting arms, or we can call him reckless with the ball. I would tend to think it's the latter.

And in Griffin's case he's too reckless with his body. Nobody is asking him to stifle his competitive spirit. We do expect wisdom through experience, which in Griffin's case would mean protecting himself better.

And nobody here is suggesting that Griffin didn't have a brilliant rookie season. He was, in my opinion, far and away the best rookie QB of the season, even if you include Kaepernick. But that doesn't mean he was perfect, and I'd like to think it's possible to point out where he can improve his game without being told to get bent. The man is, after all, human, whether some of us want to admit it or not.

[NLC1054]

Griffin is too reckless. It's not bull. It's not about diving for first downs. Twice he got hurt trying to extend a play that was obviously not there. He needs to learn to throw the ball away and fight another day, just like plenty of other rookie QBs have needed to learn. We can think Rex Grossman is a competitor because even if a guy is triple covered he trusts his ability to thread the ball into the WR's waiting arms, or we can call him reckless with the ball. I would tend to think it's the latter.

And in Griffin's case he's too reckless with his body. Nobody is asking him to stifle his competitive spirit. We do expect wisdom through experience, which in Griffin's case would mean protecting himself better.

And nobody here is suggesting that Griffin didn't have a brilliant rookie season. He was, in my opinion, far and away the best rookie QB of the season, even if you include Kaepernick. But that doesn't mean he was perfect, and I'd like to think it's possible to point out where he can improve his game without being told to get bent. The man is, after all, human, whether some of us want to admit it or not.

Kaepernick isn't a rookie.

And he wasn't perfect. I'm not trying to say he was perfect, or that he's not human.

There are other quarterbacks that play through injury and play a "wreckless" style of football that are not criticized in the same manner Robert is. Certainly no one has ever insinuated that Big Ben is selfish for not coming off the field when he's hurt.

The first time he got hurt, it was on a play he should've given up on, but he was trying to slide out of bounds, and the dude came in and clocked him in the head. He came back after that, and did a much better job of sliding, getting out of bounds, taking what was there, and generally keeping himself clean. The knee injury versus the Ravens came in a situation where we absolutely had to get a touchdown, so he could it back inside. I don't blame him for trying to do so. He should've slid feet first instead of diving for more yards and putting himself in a position where Haloti could hit him, but still, it's basically a two-minute drill and we needed to make up the yardage.

And the third time he planted awkwardly on bad turf.

I admire the competitive spirit. I think people forget the times where he did get out of bounds, slide, and wasn't reckless, and blow up the incidents where he got hurt as representative of Robert's style of play. After the first injury, I think he played a lot smarter. He didn't play reckless to me. Maybe I'm in a minority. Two bad plays and an awkward plant do not make him a reckless player.

[moondog]

Where's Kirk Cousins on this list?

[HLF]

Its nice to have a franchise QB for the next 10 years and to be even involved in one of these debates............ just sayin'.

The reality is that RGIII is going to drop down everyone's list (excpet ours) until we know how he's going to come back from the knee surgery. Every analyst on the planet is going to throw in a "Yeah, but......." when they talk about him.

Pretty much nailed it with the 2nd post. *daps*

[NoCalMike]

Eh........ok ready?

RGIII plays hurt against Eagles & Cowboy, the Redskins win.....the media says RGIII is a hero who put his team on back and carried them to the playoffs.

RGIII plays hurt against Seahawks and the Redskins lose.....media says, RGIII is wreckless, Mike Shanahan should be ashamed.

RGIII is not the first and won't be the last to keep himself in the game when he shouldn't have been in there. An argument could be made he shouldn't have been playing in the Eagles & Cowboys games either.

Winning shuts everyone up, and losing opens everyone up to criticism.

As far as RGIII vs. Cam and Kapernick when it comes to running the ball, taking contact, hits etc etc......RGIII may have the fighting spirit of those two, but the fact of reality is, his body is not built like them. When those guys get hit, the defender probably feels the hit as much as they do. They have the body profile to absorb them. Doesn't mean they can't or won't get hurt from taking the hits eventually. RGIII is not built like a hulking beast however. When he is taking hits on the same types of runs and plays, he is often getting launched into the air, or spun around, or leveled.

Physical attributes matter as well.

[budussy]

Fans of Redskins Nation...allow the haters this moment, because when RG3 returns, him and The Butler are gonna rip the league a new *******. The Pain Train is currently in a holding pattern, but will commence bringing it sooner rather than later, thereby serving ginormous portions of STFU to all the haters.

[#BgMase76#]

Fans of Redskins Nation...allow the haters this moment, because when RG3 returns, him and The Butler are gonna rip the league a new *******. The Pain Train is currently in a holding pattern, but will commence bringing it sooner rather than later, thereby serving ginormous portions of STFU to all the haters.

There's nothing like a great big ice cold mug of STFU that reads GRIFFIN III across the back. I absolutely love this. We got doubted all season regardless of the outcome. Next year will just be another year where we do it again.

[emor09]

If the writer is assuming he's healthy, 8 is way too low. He's probably around 8 overall, not just under 30.

I'd put him 4 behind Rodgers, Ryan and Flacco. I think he'll be better than Ryan and Flacco, but he needs to do it for a second season to get that type of consideration.

[Henry]

Kaepernick isn't a rookie.

Right. I just included his name because he's the flavor of the week.

There are other quarterbacks that play through injury and play a "wreckless" style of football that are not criticized in the same manner Robert is. Certainly no one has ever insinuated that Big Ben is selfish for not coming off the field when he's hurt.

I'm not insinuating Griffin is selfish. I'm not saying he shouldn't play hurt. I'm saying he doesn't protect himself well enough when he's on the field. He needs to learn how to slide. He needs to learn when to let a play go. He showed sporadic improvement in these areas as the season wore on (such as the Vikings game which you pointed out.) He needs to be even better at it (as seen in the Ravens game which you pointed out.)

And the third time he planted awkwardly on bad turf.

Actually, the second injury to which I was referring was against Seattle in the first quarter, when he was running out of bounds and stopped at the last second the throw a pass, got clocked, and aggravated his knee injury so much so that he was ineffective for the rest of the game until he had to be carried off the field. The awkward plant was just icing on the cake. He actually tried to pull something like that against he Cowboys as well the week before, chucking the ball as he was running out of bounds to avoid losing yardage, but got lucky.

He needs to stop doing that.

I admire the competitive spirit. I think people forget the times where he did get out of bounds, slide, and wasn't reckless, and blow up the incidents where he got hurt as representative of Robert's style of play. After the first injury, I think he played a lot smarter. He didn't play reckless to me. Maybe I'm in a minority. Two bad plays and an awkward plant do not make him a reckless player.

When a player gets injured badly enough to miss playing time twice in their first 16 games, it's not unfair to suggest that he's injury-prone, or not playing in a manner conducive to a long career. I know it's not easy to admit. Hell, I don't like to admit it. But the kid needs to be more careful. If he didn't he wouldn't be in rehab right now.

Fortunately he seems to be a real smart guy as well as an athletic freak of nature. I expect he'll be better about it when he gets back on the field. However, until he actually is, criticism is going to be leveled at him, and it's not unfair.

[Bacon]

So RG3 is a lock for OROY, yet he's still worse than all the young QBs to succeed in 2012?

[Special K]

I'm not surprised Kaep is rated higher than RG3. After all, he and the 49er's were the first team in the NFL to run the pistol offense and have success at it. That was actually said today by one of the 49ers offensive lineman on NFLam.

Oh, that crap has been spouted out around SF since beginning of the playoffs.

I was down in SF amongst the throng of 40whiner fans last weekend and heard that more than once at the bar we were watching the game at. I just rolled my eyes. Even my girlfriend who I was visiting down there, who used to work for the Niners and is family friends with the Kaepernick fam was rolling her eyes and laughing too. First time in my life I've had a SF fan acknowledge their media and fans were being ding dongs. But then again, she's not the norm...she actually knows her ****.

Whatever. Let them think what they want about "their" pistol offense

[Theismann07]

Its nice to have a franchise QB for the next 10 years and to be even involved in one of these debates............ just sayin'.

The reality is that RGIII is going to drop down everyone's list (excpet ours) until we know how he's going to come back from the knee surgery. Every analyst on the planet is going to throw in a "Yeah, but......." when they talk about him.

I posted a similar thought on another thread. It seems as though an "out of sight, out of mind" persists with some in the media and around football. With the way the season ended, Robert's injury, and the play of Wilson and Kaepernick down the stretch, Griffin has become a sort of forgotten man when discussing the QB's lately. And when they do bring him up it does have that "yea, but"... tag associated with him .

We won't know anything about Robert's play until he comes back and finally sees live action; however, my hope is, which I know he will, works his tail off and comes back and regains his level of play that we are accustomed to. Hopefully, then, everyone around football will be reminded of his greatness.