That is a troubling issue and the main reason I don't believe Cassel is the long term answer for our QB. It doesn't change the fact that his statistical rating is better, though. Is 5 points significant? Admittedly, it is probably not.Mothman wrote: As you said, those passer ratings are close enough to be interchangeable. What jumps out to me most is that the first two represent the ratings of QBs with considerably more NFL experience than Ponder. That they don't reflect that experience to a greater degree troubles me.
I'm mixed on this. He was in a bad situation previously (but it's obviously not much, if any, better here this year). He looked pretty good against a pretty bad opponent this year. That is his "claim to fame" for now. He performed poorly against Carolina. Again, am I saying that he is "hands down" better than Ponder? No. He does bring a certain segment of the QB skill set to the table that Ponder has not been able to exhibit with any consistency.This is also worth considering: while Cassel's career passer rating is 80.8, his passer ratings over the last two seasons have been 76.6 (in 2011) and 66.7. That's following a 93 rating in 2010 which, admittedly, is quite good.
I think it goes back to what you had said previously: "If any of them were very good, there would be no issue on who we would have as our QB"Freeman's single season passer ratings have been sub-90 since his best season in 2010. In 2011 his rating was 71.6. In 2012, it was 81.6.
Ponder's ratings the last two seasons are 70.1 (as a rookie) and 81.2.
The ratings for both Freeman and Ponder have taken a nose dive this year but if you look at recent history prior to this season, Cassel appears to be regressing.
I don't know what all of that adds up to but it was fun to look up the numbers!
