'Good' quarterback? Flacco vs. Bridgewater not that different
If you haven't seen it yet, take a quick look at the story from last night where ex-Vikings receiver Mike Wallace took a subtle shot at Teddy Bridgewater when he said he's excited to play with a "good quarterback" in Baltimore.
Joe Flacco is a good quarterback. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XXVII when the Ravens beat the 49ers, but it's probably not fair to compare a nine-year veteran like Flacco to a guy like Bridgewater who has just two years of experience under his belt.
What is fair is comparing Flacco's first two years in the league to Bridgewater's.
- 2008 Flacco: 2,971 yards, 14 TD, 12 INT, 80.3 rating
- 2009 Flacco: 3,613 yards, 21 TD, 12 INT, 88.9 rating
Now Bridgewater.
- 2014 Bridgewater: 2,919 yards, 14 TD, 12 INT, 85.2 rating
- 2015 Bridgewater: 3,231 yards, 14 TD, 9 INT, 88.7 rating
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Flacco put up similar numbers in his first two years to Bridgewater, but he did so in three more games and four more starts than Bridgewater.
Pro Football Focus ranked Bridgewater well ahead of Flacco in its final 2015 quarterback rankings. They said this about Flacco, who ranked 26th.
"It was not a great start to the season for Flacco before getting hurt in Week 11. His grade when pressured was the fifth-worst in the league."
PFF had this to say about Bridgewater, whom they ranked 16th.
"Another quarterback who is more about not missing throws than making big-time throws, Bridgewater had the third-lowest percentage of negatively-graded throws in the league, but ranked 16th in BTT percentage, at 4.38 percent."
It also didn't help Bridgewater that he was under more pressure than any quarterback in the league last season. Plus, his first two years in the league he's been stuck throwing the ball to the likes of Cordarrelle Patterson, Jarius Wright, Charles Johnson, Kyle Rudoph and Wallace, none of whom are considered upper-echelon receivers in the NFL.
