Despite Broncos, Los Angeles Rams Still Need A Franchise Quarterback

When the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl, the notion that an elite, franchise quarterback was needed to win was gone. The Broncos had become world champions despite having possibly the worst quarterback to win a Super Bowl on their team.

While that quarterback may have been named Peyton Manning, this was not the Manning of old. With more interceptions than touchdowns for the first time since his rookie year and a QBR of 45, the Broncos managed to win the Super Bowl.

This has some believing that having an elite quarterback is no longer needed and that needing one was just a myth. The Los Angeles Rams are built like the Broncos in the sense that talent-wise they have a pretty good defense. Maybe not elite, but talent-wise, it’s up there.

The numbers say they have a lot to prove on defense and in the end that’s all that matters. A lot of that can be blamed on coaching, but to say they are elite is crazy at this point in time.

The Broncos won with a game manager at quarterback and an elite-defense and this is exactly how Jeff Fisher wants to win games, however, even with Denver winning with a broken Manning, its not realistic.

Denver is the exception, not the rule. Just like the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers won with elite defenses, they are not the model. The Broncos went the entire postseason allowing one touchdown pass to Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady, and Cam Newton, all of which lead top five offenses.

That defense will go down as one of the greatest defenses to win the Super Bowl. The Broncos defense simply took over the game and didnt look back. To think that the Rams have any capability of that is nonsense.

At the end of the day, the NFL is still a quarterback oriented league. If you dont have a good one, you aren’t going to win very many games. Despite the Broncos win, recent history shows that you still need a top ten quarterback in order to win. Four of the last six quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl ranked in the top ten in passer rating.

Granted, those teams except the 2011 New York Giants all had top ten scoring defenses as well, but without the quarterback, those teams dont make the biggest game of the year.

The Rams have plenty of issues at the quarterback position and while Case Keenum was two field goals away from going an undefeated 5-0, the fact is, in those games, the offense failed to score more than 16 points. Keenum had a perfect passer rating in a win against the Buccaneers, but he threw just 17 passes.

The Rams must get better at the quarterback position if they want to take the next step. Of the 12 teams in the playoffs, seven of the teams had a quarterback ranked in the top ten in passer rating. Nine of the 12 were ranked in the top 15.

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Among quarterbacks who threw at least 125 passes, Keenum ranked 25th and Foles ranked 36th. Thats not good enough. Even if the Rams go after a Colin Kaepernick or RGIII, they aren’t much better. Kaepernick ranked 33rd and RGIII was a backup to Kirk Cousins who was in the top ten.

Jeff Fisher and Les Snead are better off drafting a quarterback and building around him. Over the last ten years, that has been the formula that works. While winning with a defense is possible, it is clear that it doesn’t happen that often and having a quarterback is the better way to go.