In Defense of Griese

I’m a big Brian Griese fan and I have been since I watched him embarrass Ryan Leaf in the Rose Bowl.

Brian Griese is an excellent QB in his own right; in some ways superior to John Elway, and Griese certainly outperformed Jake Plummer as Denver’s starting QB. Making him the whipping boy for Denver’s woes during his stay in the Mile High City, or calling him untalented and worthless, is a considerable distortion of reality.During his short stay in Denver, Brian Griese did things even John Elway never did, and certainly didn’t even approach so early in his career.

In 2000 Griese had the 2nd highest TD to INT ratio in league history throwing 19 TDs and only 4 INTs. Elway never threw fewer than 10 INTs his entire career. Not even under Mike Shanahan.

Elway only had three seasons where his completion percentage topped 60%. His first didn’t come until 1993 and he ended his career with a rating of 56.9%.

Griese had three back to back 60+% seasons –  his 2nd, 3rd and 4th years as a starter –  and has a career rating of 61.8%.    

Griese also held his own when compared to Denver’s new sweetheart QB, Jake Plummer.

Under Griese in ’02, Denver had the #2 ranked offense in the league. Only Oakland was better and then only fractionally so – Denver had 6,090 total yards, Oakland had 6,237.

Griese also had a 66.7 completion percentage in `02. In `03, Plummer’s was 62.6.

While Griese threw only 15 TDs, he also threw only 15 INTs, and the fact that Denver still managed over 6,000 yards (3,214 yds of that came thanks to Brian’s arm) says that he was not only effective in moving the team, but that an outstanding running game lowered his overall numbers.

Denver’s Defense was also ranked #2 for the `02 season, but it was massive breakdowns in the defensive secondary and along the defensive front (remember the idiotic one man rushes against Oakland?) that caused several important losses (like that humiliating defeat to Oakland). The defense also allowed one fewer point than the offense scored for the season.

In `02 Griese had the offense scoring 24.5 pts per game. Unfortunately, the defense was giving up 21.5.

In `03 Plummer and the offense scored 23.8 points per game, not as good as Griese’s numbers from the year before. But Denver still went to the playoffs. Why? Well, that’s easy, it’s because the defense only allowed 18.8 pts per game. That’s a huge change from the previous year.

Going back a bit further to the 2001 season, Griese threw for 23 TDs and 19 INTs. The offense put up only 4817 yds – which would make them the 21st ranked offense – , but Griese’s arm counted for 2,827 yards of that. Even with the lowered output in yardage, Griese still managed to put up 21.3 pts per game – which really makes them the #10 ranked offense – , while the supposedly #4 ranked defense gave up 21. 2 pts per game – which really makes them the #12 ranked defense.

During the `01 season Denver’s O was also faced with an avalanche of injuries, yet poor pathetic Brian Griese still had the offense outperforming the defense in the only area that matters – scoring.

And before you rag on Griese for his `01 INTs, that same year Kurt Warner threw 22 INTs, Peyton Manning threw 23 and even Brett Favre tossed fifteen balls to the other team.

So that brings us to the modern age and Plummer is a hero where Griese is considered a fop. But Plummer has yet to match Griese’s performance, even while benefitting from 1. A far healthier offense and 2. The departure of Ray Rhodes and his moronic defensive schemes; schemes which consistently overcame offensive excellence the previous two seasons.

Plummer threw for only 2,182 yds last year with only 15 TDs, and his completion percentage (62.6) was lower than Griese’s in the previous two seasons. The offense as a whole had a pretty nice 5598 yds total, but still isn’t up to what Griese squeezed out of it the previous year.

Then there are those of you who say, “Griese was a dink and dunk QB! That’s why he had such a high completion percentage!”

Right, it wasn’t smart quarterbacking, it was wimpishness responsible for Griese’s success.

Yet Jake Plummer’s `03 Yards Per Attempt was 7.23, while Griese’s `02 YPA was 7.37. So not only was Griese’s `02 completion percentage higher than Plummer’s `03 completion percentage (62.6), but his average pass was longer than Plummer’s, too. Or maybe what you’re also saying that Plummer is a “dink and dunk” QB.

To take this further, John Elway had a career YPA average of 7.1 yds. Griese’s career average is 7.0, a whopping .1 yards less. Was Elway a dink and dunk guy, too?

Some of you might now claim that “Griese wasn’t a leader! He had no heart!”, yet – as I mentioned before – the offense lead by this wimp of a QB surpassed that lead by Plummer in both the cosmetic Yards Passing statistic, but also in the far more than cosmetic Points Scored statistic.

You may have also failed to watch the `01 game where Griese tore his rotator cuff, but continued playing like a gunslinger after the injury and bought Denver a victory against AFC West rival Oakland.

Whether you measure him by his heart, by his ability to lead or by his statistics, Brian Griese did a damn fine job as the Denver Broncos’ starting QB.

The Denver Broncos did not fail in `01 and `02 because of Brian Griese, they failed because of the defense – specifically because of a weak secondary and poor defensive schemes introduced by Ray Rhodes. The Broncos also did not succeed in `03 because they replaced Griese with Plummer. They succeeded because they got rid of Ray Rhodes and as a result the defense finally started holding up its end of things.

But what about Miami?!

But what about Griese’s brief stint in Miami, where he didn’t even unseat Jay Feidler? Hasn’t he underperformed his entire career?

No, he hasn’t.

Even Mike Shannahan would not put Griese down based on his ability, his heart or his toughness. Shannahan only bemoaned Griese’s style of play as not being in line with his (Shanahan’s) preferences — that being the Elway style.

Would Shanny have been happy with ANY pocket passer short of perhaps a young Dan Marino? Probably not.

How many games did Griese play last year for Miami? three full games and parts of two more? He had one brilliant game, two lousy games and two pretty good games. He won two close games, lost two close games and lost a blowout.

When did he come in? Was it week 8? So he went half the season with almost no reps, came in and performed at an overall mediocre level. Why is that surprising?

He was just hitting his stride when he was replaced by Fiedler and what did Jay do? He relieved Griese in the middle of one game and played even worse than Brian had played that day. Then Fiedler started the next game against a weak Washington team, barley pulled out a one point win and was even more inconsistent than Griese the rest of the season.

In fact, Miami was inconsistent all season long on both sides of the ball. You could expect either unit to play like heros one week and like a HS team the next. It was a miracle that they were actually in the hunt for the final wildcard spot.

I guess this year will tell one way or the other. Last season Griese came in late and was still recovering from surgery. This year Griese will have an entire offseason to prepare for and fight for the starting job in Tampa and there’s no reason to believe he won’t begin the year healthy.

Rob Johnson has an edge, because he’s been in Gruden’s system for a couple years. But Griese is the better QB and I’ll be surprised if he fails to nail down the starting job at some point.