Shark Attack: Equal Stats But On A Different Plane

By:The Sportsbook Shark     Date: Dec 7, 2006
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Two NFL signal callers have quarterback ratings this year of 72.1 and 72.0. Both are less than 27 years old. One has his fans and the local media very excited about his longterm future. The other would be fighting for his job if he was playing for any other team. Can you guess who we're talking about?

The guy with a 72.1 is Matt Leinart. He's a 23-year old rookie who has really started to get his confidence in the pocket at this level. Last week he led the Arizona Cardinals to a 34-20 road victory in St. Louis. The Cards converted 54% of their third down tries, and Leinart avoided making key mistakes. The week before, Leinart passed for almost 400 yards and just missed leading his team to a dramatic come-from-behind win at Minnesota.

The guy with a 72.0 is Rex Grossman. He's a 26-year old who's had nine of 12 of his career 19 starts this season. Last week he was a ridiculous 6-19-3-24 in the air against Minnesota (the team Leinart passed for almost 400 yards against). The week before, he was 15-34-3-171 at New England. That's six interceptions in two weeks, and a 40% completion percentage.

Grossman's slump brought him down to 72.0, and the evidence is pretty clear that he's in way over his head versus good defenses. Leinart's surge lifted him up to 72.1, and he seems to be picking up the pace very quickly.  These two ships may have passed in the night so to speak last weekend. In terms of 2006 production, Leinart is right now just as good as Grossman even though he's three years younger. Three years from now, he's likely to be much better than Grossman was in his age-26 season. And the Bears may be looking back wondering why they ever thought Grossman was going to be something special.


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