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Detroit Steel said 07/08, 11:52 PM
On a throwdown a few days ago, lakers#1 left this comment:

Kitna may be the best QB in the NFC North
lakers#1 | 07/07/08, 02:19 PM


We decided that we would TD on it.

Kitna is definitely not the best QB in NFC North, in a divsion full of mediocre quarterbacks. I would have to pick . . . Tavaris Jackson.

Let me have my say on this. The Minnesota Vikings were 8-4 when Tavaris Jackson played in games. The Vikings were 0-4 when Jackson did not play, obviously he meant a lot to his team.

His completion percentage of around 58% isn't bad either considering that he didn't have many great recievers to pass to during his whole career. With Bernard Berrian, Jackson's stats will improve.

Why isn't Kitna the best QB in the NFC North? A QB is the leader of the team and Kitna hasn't been able to lead the Lions to many victories, despite a great recieving corp with Roy Williams, Shaun MCDonald, Calvin Johnson and Mike Furrey.

He holds onto the ball too long and got sacked 51 times last year. His interceptions outnumber his touchdowns and the only reason he got 4,000 yards for multiple years was because he was under pass happy Mike Martz. With Martz gone, the Lions w

Detroit Steel said 07/09, 03:11 PM
Last year, the Detrioit Lions passed about 75% of the time last year. That is the only reason why KItna has more yards and more touchdowns. Plus, another reason is that the best reciever that Jackson had to throw to last year was Bobby Wade. Here is a comparison of last year's recieving corps between Minnesota and Detroit.

Detroit:
Shaun McDonald
Roy Williams
Calvin Johnson
Mike Furrey
Sean McHugh

Minnesota:
Bobby Wade
Sidney Rice
Robert Ferguson
Visanthe Shiancoe
Troy Williamson

It is obvious that Detroit's above average recievers helped pad Kitna's stats.

Detroit actually did have a good running game last year to help Kitna out, when used. T.J. Duckett had three touchdowns, over 300 yards and a 5.2 YPC average. Kevin Jones rushed for 581 yards in limited time. Tatum Bell had a YPC average over 4.

Green Bay would have been a tough team to beat but with Jackson in the game, KC and Philadelphia would have been wins.

If Jackson had an offensive cordinator like Mike Martz that passed all of the time, Jackson could have had close to 3,000 yards. With good recievers there could have been a chance he could get around 3,200. Jackson is better.

Detroit Steel said 07/09, 08:20 PM
I think you miss-understood me.

I said that with Martz, Jackson could have thrown for 3,000 yards. With good recievers, Jackson could have thrown for around 3,200. With both Mike Martz and good recievers, Jackson could have thrown close to 4,000 yards. Kitna had two advantages that Jackson didn't.

As crazy as this may seem, Detroit may actually have a Top 5 recieving corp in the league with a decent quarterback. Not with Minnesota, even with Bernard Berrian, Minnesota has a Bottom 5 recieving corp in the league, maybe Top 20 with a great quarterback.

The Lions didn't run much so they didn't have a 1,000 yard rusher but defenses were usually ready for Jones, Duckett or Bell to take the rock.

Donovan McNabb and Tom Brady are both perenial Pro Bowl candidates - I'm not comparing Jackson or Kitna to either of them. But it is weird that Kitna can't lead a team with good recievers to a winning record. Their run defense was really good last year and their total defense was solid so you can't blame it on them. Jackson had a good defense but he also didn't have any recievers to pass to so 2,000 yards without Mike Martz is really good.

Here is an interesting stat, if Jackson had as many attempts as Kitna, he would have had about 4,000 yards with 18 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. Add Johnson, Williams, McDonald and Furrey to Minnesota???s receivers and Jackson could have gone beyond 4,000 and his interceptions would have been lower and he could have had around 25 touchdowns. Kitna didn???t have these stats . . .