Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News recently ranked the state of the quarterback position in the NFC East and his placement of the Cowboys QBs won’t make him any new friends in the Dallas area.
Machota named Eli Manning the best QB in the division over Romo, Cousins and the “trio” of Philadelphia quarterbacks. While it’s a ranking of the position, Machota admits his ranking “is based largely on starting quarterback production,” but the backup is also a factor. Here’s his writeup of the New York Giants and Manning:
“This was extremely close, but Eli Manning and the Giants get the nod because of their franchise QB’s availability. Over the last six seasons, Tony Romo has missed 24 games for the Cowboys. Manning hasn’t missed any. Manning has also done a great job of cutting down on his turnovers the last two seasons. At 35, it seems like there’s still a decent amount of gas left in the tank. The Giants haven’t needed their backup QB, so it’s not much of a factor here.”
While Machota was clearly holding his nose while writing his evaluation of Manning, he’s still ranked at the top. While certainly “availability” is an important quality, winning two Super Bowls may rank a bit higher. In Ben McAdoo’s offense, Manning has become more efficient and had statistically one of his best seasons in 2015.
The readers of the Dallas Morning News clearly disagree. The poll at the bottom of the article, with nearly 1,000 votes logged, has Romo with a healthy lead over Manning – 78% declaring him the best QB in the division.
Machota later cites Romo as the best quarterback in the division if he is “on the field for 16 games,” but the fact that he’s missed a season and a half worth of games over the past six years is a ding on his record. Machota maintains that if Romo is injury free, he should have a “bounce-back year that looks similar to 2014, when Romo posted a career-high 113.2 passer rating and was mentioned in MVP discussions.”
Kirk Cousins, who Tiki Barber believes is the best quarterback in the division, ranks third followed by whoever takes the field in Philadelphia.
Giants fans would lean towards Manning in this discussion, not just because of availability, but results. While Romo’s stats while he’s on the field are better than Manning’s, his Super bowl MVP trophies put the question to bed in the minds of most.