But at least Manning and Brady are constantly knocking on the super bowl door. Those are two quarterbacks that constantly gives their team a chance. No one is saying a quarterback wins it on their own but they do give a team a better chance.
You definitely can. The reason is because football is about matchups. There isn't one way to win. You can win with great pass-rushing...and to have great pass-rushing you are going to need excellent corners or excellent pass rushers (OLB count in this area. Baltimore and Pitts ALWAYS have had great LBs that can get to the QB) JJ-Watt makes it easier for his teammates to get to that QB because he has to be doubled. I think people put too much emphasis on QB. You need great players period. Steelers strived thanks to players like Polamalu. Ravens because of Ray Lewis and Suggs. If you are going to build a championship winning defense, you are going to need a great player. JJ-Watt is that. Also, Manning never wins a superbowl without Dwight Freeney. This is not to say that he was more important than Manning, but it's a team game more than any other sport. QBs are the most important but only by a thin margin because they touch the ball more. The second most important positions...LTs (or RT for lefties) and pass-rushers (LBs, DEs) and you'll see that reflected in how much teams pay for them. To give up Watt, who could be a all-time great for a good QB...I just can't do it. I think you have a better chance at building a great defense around Watt than a great offense around Ryan. Speaking of Ryan...he has all the weapons in the world and hasn't done much with them.
By having a good defense. All those years the Colts were all offense, what did that get them? When Bob Sanders was healthy they won and when their defense started to click in the playoffs. Defense in pretty much every sport is more reliable and consistent than offense.
All you need is a QB and you have a consistent offense for the next 10-15 years. You can never keep a great defense together. I'll rather have a elite QB and hope to build a defense around him during his tenure.
What have the Steelers and Ravens been doing for the past decade or so then? Yes you can, if you have great players like Polamalu and Ray Lewis you can consistently have a great defense. Great players always impact the game, no matter their position. They still make a huge impact on the game.
This... Which is why it's probably rare to see teams win back to back championships in the NFL. That defense was garbage without Bob Sanders. When he showed up for the playoffs it was on. One thing good to great defenses usually have in common is good to great safety play. Baltimore (both times they won), New England, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Green Bay (they had a top 2 ranked defense when they won with Rogers), Seattle _ Look at their safeties. All of those teams had 1 or 2 dominate safeties (they also have a strong DT and at least 2-3 good to great LB's). But not all of them had dominate DE's. The strength of Seattle's defense is the safety position. And that's why you see these good defensive teams in the NFL either paying safeties big money in free agency and or taking them early in the draft. Which is why the QB position is usually the most important position on the field. As great as Rodgers is he only won 10 games with his top ranked defense and Green Bay snuck in the playoffs as a wild card team. Russell won 13 games with his top ranked defense and got a bye week. It's not always about the numbers _ it's about having a quarterback that can make a play when a team needs a play and guys who can do that (like Rodgers and Russell) aren't easy to find. That's why a good quarterback like Russell is more valuable than an out of this world DE like J.J... IMO...
Is JJ Watt to blame for that? That's like saying Durant was to blame for his first few years in the NBA. Watt is still a extremely young player man, if he gets any better...it's hard to even imagine that. Lets not pretend like we didn't have a QB throwing pick sixes every week. Also bringing up two wins does not invalidate my point on what players like Polamalu, Ray Lewis have done for their teams. Or players like Deion Sanders...Lawrence Taylor... Do people not realize how crazy talented Watt is? He had a HOF year his 2nd year in the NFL and we would be ready to trade that away for a QB that has two of the best WRs in the NFL, A HOF TE, and has yet to even sniff the superbowl?
Great defenses usually have a great pass rusher, whether that is coming from your DE, your OLB, or even your DT...you MUST generate a pass rush to have ANY chance in this league. Also, Safeties are no priority over DEs. Look at the money DEs make compared to safeties...and look at how many DEs go in the top 5 year after year. QBs, LTs, DEs...these are the premier positions in this league. Just follow the money. The Seahawks would be trash without Lynch, Earl Thomas, and Richard Sherman. All Wilson does is manage the game and not give the ball away like it's candy on Halloween. I respect his game, I REALLY do because he's a gamer...but he's not even close to being the reason why that team has the success that they do. Also you said Rodgers won 10 games with GB great defense and Rodgers is undoubtedly the better QB...yet Wilson won 13 games...so whose the better QB here? Or is it that one team has a great defense, better than the other team? No way, if you say give me Bruce Smith or Joe Flacco/Wilson I'm taking Bruce Smith every single time. People continue to say "Give me the elite QB!" all the time. Peyton just had his best season ruined by the legion of boom. We've seen Tom Brady's superbowl dreams foiled TWICE because of a great Gmen dline. Not sure why we should just forget that. That's why I was so much in favor of getting Clowney. Build a great dline, free up the LBs, give the CBs less time to cover. Just cause havoc. If Clowney is even half of his potential (when he's supposed to be a generational talent...we'll see about that) then Watt and Clowney are going to consistently have this team int he playoffs. That's all you can ask for in the NFL and then just hope one of those years everything breaks your way.
I've never seen Manning, Brady, Rogers, or Brees lead a team to only 2 wins. They go to the playoffs just about every year. I would not do Watt for Ryan btw, just stating an elite QB is a difference maker.
I'm saying a elite DE is too. You are just going to have to do some building around that player (but that is true for QBs too. You can't put trash around them.) I think what matters most is that your QB doesn't go out there and mess things up. Alex Smith makes a career around just being safe, and so do a lot of QBs.
But why have you mentioned Watt like he was the reason they only won 2 games last season, all the while not mentioning the QB and HC who was primarily responsible for that. And also, that "elite QB" in Matt Ryan only led the Falcons to only 4 wins last season...not much improvement. And that Falcons team was in the Conference title game in the 2012-13 season.
B If you read my post I said I would not trade Watt for Ryan because he's not elite, but I would for another elite QB in a heartbeat. Yes, the HC and QB were responsible for the 2-14 record, but Watt was unable to carry his team in spite of that. How many seasons has Manning, Brady, Rodgers, or Brees had a losing seasons?
If you could only draft either Watt or one of the above four QBs and keep him in a Texans uniform for the entirety of their career, I doubt there is a single poster on this board that would take Watt. I don't think there is much debate there.
That's true but if you separate the teams with consistently good defenses that win, make the playoffs, and or have won a super bowl from the losing teams _ you'll see a majority of them don't spend ridiculous money on the DE position. I'm not saying having a great DE isn't good to have but the Michael Strahan Giants and The Reggie White Packers are the only teams that won a super bowl that had dominate defenses with the defensive ends being the center piece of the defense... Hopefully the Texans can do the same. You do know Seattle was a losing team before Russell got there and they had those 3 guys right...??? Well, as good as that Green Bay defense was and as great as Rodgers was with the weapons he had you would think they would have won 13-15 games. But only 10. But you call Russell just a game manger when more than likely if Seattle would have had Rodgers last year they wouldn't have won 13 games. Seattle had hardly any passing options and the offensive line was one of the worst in the league _ Rodgers probably wouldn't have survived the season. Rodgers would be my choice hands down for my fantasy team but for real life football I would be happy with either one. I may lean more towards Russell over Rodgers though.
