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Former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White had a mini-rant on Twitter on Monday night about NFL teams who are “putting everything on the QBs” instead of building a complete roster He cited multiple Super Bowl winners as part of his case, including the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 2013 Seattle Seahawks ... wait, what?
I'm tired of the NFL franchises putting everything on the QBs how about build a damn team instead of putting everything into a QB
— Roddy White (@roddywhiteTV) February 28, 2017
I'm tired of every week on these shows people saying if u don't have a QB u can't win the ravens did and Tampa did Seattle did #teamgame
— Roddy White (@roddywhiteTV) February 28, 2017
Stop blaming QBs for not being good blame the front office for believing in whoever and not surrounding him with enough talent
— Roddy White (@roddywhiteTV) February 28, 2017
Okay, I’ll give Roddy the 2000 Ravens (I’m assuming he’s talking about them and not the 2012 team). Baltimore once went five straight games without scoring a touchdown, and they won two of them! They won a road playoff game against the Titans 24-10 despite recording just six first downs and Trent Dilfer completing 5-of-16 passes for 117 yards. Final DVOA rankings list that Ravens team 24th in passing offense, with Dilfer and Tony Banks in the bottom-third for both DVOA and DYAR. They made their way to Super Bowl glory through a quality rushing attack led by Jamal Lewis, but primarily through its all-time great defense, which notably held opponents to less than 1,000 yards rushing for the entire regular season.
The 2002 Buccaneers had a legendary pass defense, giving up just 10 touchdowns while recording 31 interceptions, as well as limiting opposing QBs to a comically low 4.5 net yards per attempt. They’re the most recent NFL team to allow under 200 points in a regular season. Their offense was ranked 20th by DVOA, a dismal 28th in rushing, but a respectable 13th in passing. Brad Johnson threw 22 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions, and had one of the best seasons of his career. Johnson finished 11th in DVOA and 10th in DYAR.
That brings us to the 2013 Seahawks. They had the #7 ranked passing offense, #8 ranked rushing offense, good for #7 overall. Despite having the worst-ranked OL for pass blocking, Russell Wilson still threw for 26 touchdowns to just 9 interceptions, in addition to rushing for over 500 yards. Russell finished 9th in DYAR and 8th in DVOA, and this was just his second year in the league. One of his best games of the season came against none other than the Atlanta Falcons.
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In all seriousness, I can somewhat see the point Roddy is trying to make, it’s just written very clumsily. There’s no denying that Seattle’s Super Bowl triumph was the result of John Schneider and Pete Carroll building such an incredibly well-rounded team that didn’t have to rely so heavily on its quarterback. Lumping the 2013 Seahawks in with the 2000 Ravens as examples of teams who could win without a QB, though? Don’t be silly, Roddy.
By the way Roddy, an overwhelming majority of the time, you need a franchise QB to win games and get to a Super Bowl. Dilfer wasn’t one, Brad Johnson wasn’t one, but Russell Wilson definitely is.