Ranking the 2011 Season Football Cards

 Ranking the 2011 Season Football Cards
 
Quarterbacks
 
The ratings are based primarily on completion chances in the RIGHT columns since passing RIGHT is the most important thing a QB must do. The MUST RUN chances are also factored in and interceptions subtract from the ranking. Since the Short Pass is the most important (you need this to convert 3rd and long), it has the heaviest weight in the rankings.
 
Drew Brees has the best QB ranking. Tom Brady is next, followed by Aaron Rodgers and then Tony Romo, Blaine Gabbert of Jacksonville has the distinction of being the worst rated starting QB.
 
Brees is the best in the set at the short pass. He’s also good long (4 QB’s are better) and is very good flat. He also has low INT’s except Long. This is a very good card which can throw anywhere and doesn’t throw many picks. The only thing he doesn’t do well is Must Run, but QB’s are supposed to THROW the ball aren’t they!
 
The best Long Passers are Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Phillip Rivers and Eli Manning.
 
The best Short Passers are Brees followed by Tom Brady, then Aaron Rodgers.
 
The best Flat Passers are Charlie Batch, followed by Stephen McGee and Mike Kafka. Of course none of them have many attempts.
 
The most significant Must Runners are Josh Johnson, Tim Tebow, and Joe Webb.
 
Again this year, the best End Run cards are on QB’s. Christian Ponder and Chad Henne have over 30 chances 32 yards or more wrong.
 
 
Running Backs
 
Rather than computing the exact yardage totals, the chart shows the number of chances to gain 8 or more yards in the wrong columns. The ratings are based primarily on chances to get 8 or more yards while wrong with a higher weight given for inside running. Extra credit is also given for RB’s with high number of chances to gain a yard more in the Linebuck right column (since this helps get first downs in those 3rd and short situations). Also factored in are chances for breakaway runs. A breakaway run is defined as a run of 35 yards or more.
 
The best ranked RB Pittsburgh’s Mewelde Moore!? Behind him are Darren McFadden and Willis McGahee. After a gap comes Maurice Jones-Drew.
 
Moore gets the top rating because of the great number of chances in all areas to get 8 yards or more. He has no breakaway runs and isn’t much good on 3rd and short, but don’t be wrong! Of course he only has 22 attempts, so his value is limited in most leagues.
 
McFadden is next. He has a balanced card with similar chances to get 8 yards or more wrong are Linebuck, Off Tackle, and End Run and he has some breakaway runs. He also runs well right having 26 chances on a Linebuck right to get a yard. If you discount breakaways, his is the 5th best card in the set. He only has 113 carries, so will be limited in most leagues.
 
McGahee has the next best card. And with 249 carries is the most usable. His strength is End Run , but is also good inside. He has just 1 breakaway run, though. Discounting breakaways, this is the 2nd best card in the set.
 
The best RB’s, if you discount breakaway runs, are Moore, McGahee, Evan Royster (56 attempts) and Knowshon Moreno (37 attempts).
 
The best breakaway runner is Ray Rice (severe boom or bust card). His card is the 13th best, but if you discount breakaways he drops to 81st!. Next is Michael Turner (another boom or bust card).
The best RB’s to get a yard called Right on Linebuck is Leon Washington(?), then McFadden,  then Benjarvus Green-Ellis.
 
The RB with the most chances to get 8 yards or more on a Linebuck is Moore. For Off Tackle it’s Reece followed by Percy Harvin. For End Run it’s McGahee followed by Darren Sproles.
 
Denver has the best set of Running Backs. This is determined by multiplying the card value times the # of carries for each back and totaling them up.
 
The team with the worst RB’s is the Giants. Their best is Danny Ware who is ranked 70th in the set
 
The worst RB’s with more than 100 carries is Bernard Scott with a 9.6 rating.
 
Noteworthy items:
 
Matt Forte’ – has several breakaways but no LG’s
 
Marcel Reece (17 carries) has very nice Linebuck and Off Tackle columns. He also has a monster receiving card, Ranked as a 5 Flat, 5 Short and 4 Long. This is a nice player to have!
 
Evan Royster (56 carries) has very nice OT, ER columns.

Receivers
 
There’s not much variation in chances on receiver cards. The number of chances to catch a pass is standardized. For Long Passes, the possibilities are (Wrong) 21, 18, 15, 12, 10, 6, and 0. For Short Passes they are (Wrong) 30, 26, 22, 18, and 16. For Flat they are (Wrong) 32, 30, 26, 25, 22, 21, and 18.
 
Accordingly, the receivers are not rated, but those receivers in the top of each category are listed.
 
I have seen some rate the receivers 6 through 0 using the following:
 
Flat Pass: 6=32, 5=30, 4=26, 3=25, 2=22, 1-21
Short Pass: 6=30, 5=26, 4=22, 3=18, 2=16, 1=12, 0=0
Long Pass: 6=21, 5=18, 4=15, 3=12, 2=10, 1=6, 0=0
 
There were 6 receivers who received the maximum rating in each pass category Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Smith, Greg Jennings, Brandon Marshall, Calvin Johnson, and Hakeem Nicks.
 
Following is the totals for each category of receiver:
 
Flat           Short           Long
 
32 – 20      30 – 17        21 – 19
30 – 70      26 – 50        18 – 17
 
There are 47 TE’s and 12 RB’s (I am not counting Casey or Harvin as RB’s). who have receptions on their Long Pass card. This is important for leagues that use the rule prohibiting throwing to a receiver unless he has a reception on his card in that column. 
 
9 TE’s have 15 wrong reception chances on their Long column. 21 TE’s and 4 RB have 10 long receptions.
 
Interesting Items and Gnarly Receiving #’s
 
Jared Cook. Nice #’s on flat
Kenny Britt – very nice card for a guy with just 17 catches
Thomas,Demaryius No LG’s but shortest SP reception is 16
Jordy Nelson. Shortest SP is 17. 
Anthony Fasano – gnarly #’s flat
Gronkowski – Muy gnarly #’s flat
Malcolm Floyd shortest SP reception is 18
  
  
As always I welcome comments. My email address is MertAdkins@lycos.com
 
 
Mr. Meredith Adkins