Re: Trent Dilfer

"santolina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I read a lot of things about Trent Dilfer on these newsgroups, some of
which
> I even agree with -- that he is mediocre, or that he ran a relatively
> conservative offense with the Ravens -- but I'm also reading a lot of
> nonsense, so it's time to set the record straight.
>
> First, his career stats.  I've broken it down into four groups.
>
> Tampa Bay 1994-1996
> 979 att., 529 com., 6066 yds., 17 TD, 43 int., 60.4 rating
> Tampa Bay 1997-1999
> 1059-588-6903-53-37, 77.6
> Baltimore 2000
> 226-134-1502-12-11, 76.6
> Seattle 2001-2003
> 294-169-2216-11-10, 79.7
> Career passer rating 71.2
>
> Dilfer joined a poor team in 1994 and became the full-time starter by the
> following year.  He was 22-24 years old during the first stat grouping.
> Unsurprisingly, a green quarterback thrown into the NFL fray put up very
> poor numbers.
>
> The team improved dramatically during the next three years, as did Dilfer.
> He basically has maintained that same level of performance through his
> Baltimore and Seattle years.  Contrary to widespread opinion, Dilfer has
in
> fact been a very middling quarterback since 1997, not a poor one, at least
> statistically.
>
> Now for his win-loss record.  I personally don't give this a lot of weight
> because W-L is a team statistic, but since there are many others who DO
give
> it some weight I'll review it here.  Dilfer is 51-43 career as a starter,
> .543, and remember that includes those early years with a bad Buccaneer
> team.  During that same time the teams he has played for are 83-72, .535.
> Thus, the teams Dilfer has played for have a slightly higher winning
> percentage with him in the lineup than without him in the lineup.  And of
> course, he won a Super Bowl as a starting quarterback.
>
> That fact is, Dilfer is in no way, shape, or form a poor quarterback.  He
> has evovled into a competent, thoroughly middle-of-the-road NFL
quarterback.
> He is practically the poster boy for middling quarterback.

I agree with you....and I might even go so far as to say that he's the best
backup quarterback to ever play the game.  If he was my starter, I'd be
looking for a way to improve, but if he's my backup, I know I'm not in too
bad of shape should my starter go down.

Frankly, I think the Ravens made a mistake by not keeping him around.  Does
anyone remember how bad that offense was before Dilfer took the reigns?
Dilfer took that horible offense and made it into...well....a mediocre
offense.  That's quite  feat for a backup quartrback.