Crypt Keeper John Clayton ranks Delhomme #33 QB

Earl34

That is total stupidity on Clayton's part. Even if you find Delhomme to be in the bottom third of QB's...he's going on record saying Delhomme is absolutely last (on a list that includes Matt Leinart). That's just ridiculous.

I think that the football establishment in general and John Clayton in particular are missing some important arguments here.

1) Jake is now two years post Tommy John surgery which, by all accounts, takes 18 months to recover from. His arm strength should be better this year.

2) Even if his arm strength isn't great, he knows how to play the position from the neck up better than at least one third of the QBs in this league.

3) He has a ground attack around him that was the hottest in the league to end last year and that crew just got better (see Hillis, Peyton and Davis, James and Hardesty, Montario). Ground attack=honest pass defense

4) His offensive line will prove to be one of the most under-rated front fives in the league. If you believe Lauvao and Pashos will be upgrades then you have to feel confident.

5) The only thing I feel comfortable commenting on in preseason is timing. Jake has shown good, if not great, timing and chemistry with his receiving corps

Now, what you're telling me is that based on this he's dead last?

Yet another reason I don't watch ESPN.

hoorta

Homotron said:
What? I'd wager my entire Steeler message board that I post on regularly would rather have Leftwich. Seriously.

We'll see. Holmgren's betting last year was an aberration for Jake.

One thing- if Clayton's going by last year to predict this year, there's no way in hell you can rank Andersuck- qb rating 42, 3TD, 10 ints ahead of Jake.

Vagitron

@hoorta said:
We'll see. Holmgren's betting last year was an aberration for Jake.
One thing- if Clayton's going by last year to predict this year, there's no way in hell you can rank Andersuck- qb rating 42, 3TD, 10 ints ahead of Jake.

He was bad before last year. Who knows maybe there will be a resurgence but he's certainly on the backside of his career and when the Browns went out looking for a QB the pickings were slim. It's not like Holmgren had a ton to choose from when he went to the wire.

Browns57

@hoorta said:
We'll see. Holmgren's betting last year was an aberration for Jake.
One thing- if Clayton's going by last year to predict this year, there's no way in hell you can rank Andersuck- qb rating 42, 3TD, 10 ints ahead of Jake.

Actually his article was more about ranking the qb's that have a chance to be elite. I think Jake's age was the biggest factor in him being ranked 33rd. I get the low ranking based on this criteria, but not him being 33rd. We have qb's on that list that may end up being backyups very soon.

Gips

This list is a joke, clayton has flacco as an elite and culter at a 95 percent chance of becoming elite...he is a stooler biased idiot..

CactusJack

Jake did have a terrible year last season, but it wasn't all his fault. I think having a fresh start is exactly what Jake needs to bring back his game, he still has a good enough arm, there were times his arm looked stronger, which is something alse he had to adjust to besides his new QB coach on the Panthers that tried to change some of his QB'ing techniques.

After watching Jake since 2003 with the Panthers it has become apparent when he struggles. Like most QBs in the NFL, Jake struggles when he doesn't get good enough protection from his OL. The Panthers have never been good at pass protection while Jake was their QB, they're good at run blocking, but not good at pass blocking. Jake was hammered too many times while playing QB for the Panthers, but when they did manage to protect him somewhat and give him ample time, he excelled. When the Panther's OL failed to give him time to make his reads or even time to complete a slant pass, Jake struggled. This first came apparent in the NFCCG with the Panthers playing the Seahawks in 2005, Jake was rushed and hammered the whole game, the Panthers were down to their 3rd or 4th string RB leaving them with Steve Smith as their only offensive weapon. The Seahawks tripled covered Smith taking him out of the game and then pressured Jake and in return shut down the Panther offense. After this game opposing teams learned how to shut down Jake and the Panthers.

If the Brown's OL manages to protect Jake reasonably well and give him time, there's no doubt in my mind Jake will have a good season. Another thing that actually made things difficult for Jake was Steve Smith. Smith would pressure Jake to get him the ball and with opposing defenses keying on Smith (Smitty) this lead to many of Jake's interceptions. Jake's best season was the 2004 season when Smitty missed the season after the first game against GB with a broken leg. Also, in the 2008 season Jake won the first two games of the season when Smitty was out with a suspension, the Panthers lost the 3rd game when Smitty came back and played. The added pressure of getting Smitty the ball didn't help Jake's game. Now that he's a Brown, he won't have to worry about Smitty crying about not getting the ball thrown to him every time.