Trent Dilfer

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.