Lenny Briscoe
All Australian
Re: Should Alex Smith keep starting for the 49ers ???
manning did not have edge nor did he have tony dungy
aikman did not have emmitt
bledsoe did not have curtis martin.
and roethlisthberger has done ok ,even though he didn't start until week 3 in his rookie season, granted, he did have a good support cast.
when bledsoe took over, new england were 2-14, dallas were 1-15 when aikman started and indianpolis were 1-15 when manning started so they can hardly be called good teams.
irvin was only in his second season when aikman started, coates was in his 3rd, but he wasn't rated highly until at least 94-95 and he was a 5th roung draft choice. harrison was drafted a couple of years before manning, but again he wasn't a dominant player.
Broken said:I agree the rookie has to have some talent, but a good supporting cast and coaching helps a lot. I reckon the only decent QBs that have become good/great and started their rookie season in week 1 have been Manning and Bledsoe (and recently retired Aikman) and they all had good support.
-Manning has James, Harrison and Tony Dungy.
-Bledsoe had Ben Coates, Martin and Parcells.
-Aikman had Irvin, Emmitt and Jimmy Johnson
I can't see the same for Alex Smith. No RBs, no WRs, and I don't rate Mike Nolan as a coach, he was terrible as Washingtons D-Coordinator and only benefited at Baltimore because of the talented players.
Other rookies to start from week 1 (David Carr, Cade McNown, Joey Harrington, Akili Smith) have struggled to be the QB those franchises wanted.
But I guess it takes a few years, Rick Mirer was rookie of the year in 1993 and he had a brilliant career...
manning did not have edge nor did he have tony dungy
aikman did not have emmitt
bledsoe did not have curtis martin.
and roethlisthberger has done ok ,even though he didn't start until week 3 in his rookie season, granted, he did have a good support cast.
when bledsoe took over, new england were 2-14, dallas were 1-15 when aikman started and indianpolis were 1-15 when manning started so they can hardly be called good teams.
irvin was only in his second season when aikman started, coates was in his 3rd, but he wasn't rated highly until at least 94-95 and he was a 5th roung draft choice. harrison was drafted a couple of years before manning, but again he wasn't a dominant player.