How about red zone interceptions? How about touchdowns (12) as a percentage of attempts. That will give the true picture.
i already posted about this in a different thread that documented every int in every game he had one.
Summary? He had 5 picks in 'scoring position', not necessarily the redzone, one that was a PI that wasnt called and another where his arm was hit. The other 3, 100% his fault.
The other 7 werent in scoring position and with the exception of 1 were tipped, deflected or 'non catches'
Simple fact is he ISNT a turnover machine in that he is consistently making poor throws and turning the ball over (the stats bare that out)
As to TDs - Folks forget that through 6 games we led the league in rushing TDs despite our rushing game sucking. Its not that Geno couldnt throw TDs instead, its that the gameplan simply didnt call for it. - ie its not his fault we scored when we handed it off, especially considering it was no credit to the rushing game that we got into scoring position in the first place.
In Detroit, week 2, in arguably one of the best games any QB has played this year, we scored 4 TDS, with our passing game only accounting for 1. Was that Geno not being capable? No. he was downright surgical that game.
Through week 7, we averaged around 26 points per game. In other words we had no problem scoring. The fact that we scored on the ground didnt mean we couldnt score through the air.
Since? we have averaged less than 17 point per game.
Our offense overall has been stagnant since week 7. But since week 7, Geno is completing 70.6% of his passes. He's had 2 pretty bad INTs (just bad decisions) and 4 that were debatable - hit arm, pass off of JSN, the non PI call on Barner, and the batted pass against Buffalo.
I also think the overall number of stupid procedural errors, bad snaps, stepped on feet coming from under center, many of which have occured in scoring position have been pushed on Geno because in the case of the Bills game, they involved him.
I guarantee you that if you tallied the number of drives that were killed due to big play, drive extending plays or scoring plays that have been called back because of a hold, an illegal shift, or other idiotic penalty, those situations FAR outnumber the 2.x percent of Geno's passes that have been picked off. But those things are easy to forget.
- The 42 yard strike to JSN against the Giants that would have put us in scoring position - called back for a hold or illegal man downfield.
- the fumble by DK in the redzone against the Giants. - Likely points taken off.
- the fumble by DK on the 1st half drive that would have put us in scoring position against the Lions - we were scoring at will that game...
- The illegal shift on Walker that called back a TD by DK in the first 9ers game.
- The non catch by DK in the endzone in the frst 9ers game.
- The bad route by DK that led to the 2nd INT in the first 9ers game
- The drive extending catch by JSN that was called back on a OPI by Tyler in the first 9ers game
- The snap over his head against Buffalo in the redzone - was a passing play on a drive we passed all the way down the field on them. we likely score there.
- The play he got stepped on coming from under center - again in scoring position. he was 21-29 that game...
That batch of plays accounts for potentially 7 Tds (2 actually were) and a pick.
Thats just off the top of my head.
The issue with boneheaded mistakes that cost us games this season were SO bad that they were a topic of discussion in a postgame presser and were further elaborated on by Tyler in an interview after the loss to the 9ers this year. Even commentators noted that we'd cost ourselves games due to mental errors at a staggering rate.
But those errors seem to have been forgotten. Maybe its just recency bias because Geno HAS thrown dumb passes in the last 2 games that were beyond a shadow of doubt his stupid errors and he is largely faulted for the 3 INTS against the Rams. Stacked on an already low TD number and the inordinately high number of self inflicted errors on the part of the offense, i can see how it all looks like the QB.
But putting the blame there without looking at the rest is just an oversimplification.
And i say that ackowledging the stupid plays geno has made even beyond the INTs - I've mentioned the backpedal sacks which have killed drives many times. But this isnt an issue of the QB not being able to score, or the QB being INT prone. It just isnt. It includes the QB, no doubt. If he doesnt play better, given the structure of this offense, we have no chance. But to say - if we had a better QB, we would be fine... who? Mahomes? sure. ok. Allen? Jackson or another mobile guy who could avoid pressure? Sure. But is there a list of 10 QBS that would play better? I'll debate that all day. And even if they were better than Geno, our offense wouldnt be 'ok'. No QB is taking this team, with its bottom 1/4 ranked o-line and bottom 4 ranked rushing game anywhere.
At the end of the day, is having the 10th or 11th best QB in the league good enough to contend? Yeah. It should be. If it isnt, that should be an OBVIOUS sign you have pretty significant issues elsewhere.
