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Do the quarterbacks make their receivers better than they really are or is it the wide receivers that make the quarterback look better than he really is?
Examples:
Peyton Manning (Harrison & Wayne)
Kurt Warner (Rev Ike & Holt)
Kurt Warner (Fitzgerald & Boldin)
Marc Bulger (Rev Ike & Holt)
Big Ben (Ward & Holmes)
Tom Brady (Moss and Welker)
Matt Cassel (Moss & Welker)
Daunte Culpepper (Moss & Carter)
Eli Manning (Burress & Toomer)
etc...etc...
It's both. A great QB makes his receivers better, and great receivers make the QB better. When both are great, it can be magic for the offense.Quote:
Do the quarterbacks make their receivers better than they really are or is it the wide receivers that make the quarterback look better than he really is?
It's a symbiotic relationship....kind of like that bird that hangs out in the crocodile's mouth and picks the leftover scaps of wildebeast from between his teeth.
I think it's both also. Look at Warner. Some of the passes Fitzgerald catches wouldn't be caught by 95 percent of the league. Warner's most famous SUCCESSFUL pass was actually more of a brilliant move by Bruce coming back from an underthrown ball.
Now, for the QB (Warner for example) WR's love him because he does give them a chance to make a play. He puts the ball in a position that the WR can catch it. Alot of QB's don't.
I don't think you can make it as simple as one or the other. For example, Moss and Culpepper excelled together and then stunk apart for several years. Brady looked good back when he was throwing to David Terrell and Troy Brown, and Isaac Bruce was a stud years before Kurt burst onto the scene. Naturally, they only looked better when playing alongside more talented players.
And then you've got guys like Eli and Big Ben, who tend to look better because the runningbacks take pressure off. Their receivers are good enough, but it makes a quarterback's life a whole lot easier if he's throwing on third-and-3 and the opposing team has eight in the box.
Yeah, it's both.
Warner has always been able to put that ball in the perfect spot for yards after catch, something a lot of QBs can't do. Just look at McNabb in that NFC Championship game, his WRs had to make a lot of difficult catches because of off throws, and if they were good throws, one of them would have been a TD and others for 1st downs.
Warner knows where to put it so that it's either going to be a catch by Fitzgerald or it's incomplete. That's exactly what you want a QB to do. Warner is still the most accurate QB I've ever seen in terms of putting the ball exactly where it needs to be.
As for Peyton Manning, I really think that O-line makes him and his WRs look better than they are (but they are still pretty darn good!). Kurt Warner has done a heck of a job with the Cardinals with a very average O-line. Manning has done incredible jobs with an awesome O-line, but once that O-line starts to play average, it's downhill for him, wheras Warner can hang in there for that extra half second and make a play.
Some QB's just have the nack for making things look so easy, when all is going right. Others make everything look so hard at times.
The better QB's can manage the game more efficiently but no QB is going to do well without blocking and receivers who can catch and then hang on to the ball.
But to answer your question, laram0.... yes and yes!