Barbershop Talk: Young or Leinart?

Justin: Yo, B: If you had to take one sophomore QB would you take Leinart or Young???

Brandon: Even though everyone is jockin' Vince because of what he did at the end of last year I have to go with Leinart. There's just something about him. He's a winner and he just does the right thing and puts the ball in his playmakers hands at the perfect time.

Justin: Ha. What a joke. You're right Leinart puts the ball within reach of his guys -- but really, how hard is it throwing to Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Edgerrin James? Young gets it done with out any PTPs around him. Answer this: How bad would Leinart look if he were throwing to Brandon Jones, Eric Moulds and Chris Brown?

Brandon: First of all... Travis Henry was a better RB than Edge last year. He has 1211 yards at 4.5 yards per pop. Edge had 1159 and a league worst 3.4 yards per carry. Boldin and Fitz are better WRs than anyone on the Titans but I bet if you ask them, who they would want throwing to them they'll say Leinart. Also, I like how you forgot to mention the WRs who had the most receptions last year for Vince and the Titans, Drew Bennett and Bobby Wade. But I mean for real, in Leinart's rookie year, he started 11 games and averaged 231 yards per game. That's more than Brady had in his first year starting (which wasn't his rookie year), Donovan McNabb (which wasn't his rookie year), Carson Palmer's rookie year, John Elway, Dan Marino and just two yards less per game than Peyton Manning. That's some pretty good company. Meanwhile, Young had 169 a game. Which is 26 yards less than Vick's first year starting and Vick had 52 rushing yards a game while Young only had 42. So if you want a poor man's Michael Vick rather than someone who is on track to be in the same class (actually better) with Brady, McNabb, Palmer, Elway and Marino, suit yourself... looking on the bright side, you'll have a better draft pick than me for the next 10 years.

Justin: Let met first state that your Travis Henry running back argument if flawed. Stay focused man. We're talking about quarterbacks here. Quarterbacks throw. So, why are you talking about rushing stats? If you're trying gauge a running backs usefulness to their quarterback, you should have mentioned their catching statistics. You should have mentioned that Edge is a better pass catcher than Henry. After all, he had 38 grabs for 217 yards last year, which was the worse season he's had as a pro, and we probably should blame Leinart for that. Although Travis Henry had less receptions (18) than Edge, his catch total improved upon his 2003 (13) and 2004 (10) numbers, largely a result of playing more games but also because he had Vince feeding him. So in sum, while Leinart makes his running backs worse, Young makes his running backs quote Ne-Yo singing, "You Make me Betta."


Again, I must concede you're right on one point. But to get to that point you started with an ill-conceived theory. You mention all these passing numbers, but you failed to mention what counts. If there is a couple things that matter in the NFL, it's certainly not passing yards; just consult Ben Roethlisberger's stats from 2005 to prove that point. What matters in the NFL is touchdowns. Touchdown produce wins. Leinart averaged 1.08 touchdowns per game (rushing and throwing), while Young averaged 1.27 td's per game. And in the 15 games #10 played he went 8-7 for a .533 winning percentage. In #7's 12 games, meanwhile, Arizona went 4-8, a .333 winning percentage. (Note: he didn't play the final game of the season because Dennis Green was fed up just like he was after the Chicago game). I'll take the guy who was 200 points better. Now, I'll use one ranking for the Mortal-Combat-like fatality: Leinart is ranked 59th in Fantasy Football rankings; Young is ranked 44th. The consensus is out. Like Young over Leinart in the '06 Rose Bowl -- JUSTIN WINS!


Brandon: First of all... you were the one who brought RBs into the equation. And you talk about Henry's receptions going up to 18 and how Vince made him better... are you crazy? He started one game the year he had 13 catches, and he started 5 games when he had 10 catches. Of his 18 catches last year, he had 13 starts. I wouldn't consider that "better." He's started over 10 games 4 times in his career, and the 18 catches from Vince last year was his worst output. But anyways... moving onto you next weak argument... Are you really blaming Leinart for Edge's stats going down? I'm going to just rattle off some other possible reasons... A. It was high eighth season as an NFL runningback. B. He just isn't the same Edge anymore, his longest run was 18 yards, the lowest "long" of his career. C. He wasn't on an almost undefeated team with the second best defense (Cards had the 29th last year) in the NFL, so he didn't have to run the clock out as much. D. The Cards line is horrible. Just to name a few. I mean, look at what Joesph Addai did last year. Is it possible that Edge was/is overrated? If not, is it possible that his stats were inflated just like most believe everyone on the Phoenix Suns has inflated stats? Edge doesn't put the blame on Leinart so why are you? In fact, he says Leinart reminds him of Peyton Manning. But I'm trying to get back to the QB debate... Vince Young might be the QB that you want to play with in Madden... Vick is a great QB in Madden too... It'd be easy to win a Super Bowl with either one in Madden, but in real life, on Earth, there has only been one "running" QB to win the Super Bowl, Steve Young. And Steve Young is more of a QB who can run than "running QB". Also, I'm not to sure about his future as a running QB. Vick runs (ran) a 4.2, Young runs a 4.5. Vick is fast for the NFL. Young has average speed. Every other position keeps getting faster. It's not uncommon for LBs to run 4.5s now, DEs run 4.7s, he isn't going to run away from people. Our homeboy Zak DeOssie for the G-Men would run him down. And the Rose Bowl game, it was the best individual performance I've ever seen, and trust me... I was there.

I didn't like the ending. But how long are guys like you going to refer to that game as proof he is better? In high school, I was on a basketball team beat teams with Brandon Roy, Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson, Martell Webster, Spercer Hawes and Aaron Brooks. Does that make me better than them? Just admit it man, Leinart is the man. Better looking than Jeter, and he doesn't have comics (below) referring to how dumb he is: and he is the guy who is going to spread the ball around perfectly like Manning, Palmer and Brady. Ohh yea, he doesn't throw like this... I rest my case. Ohh come on don't clap guys, you are going to make him feel bad. What? A free hair cut for shedding the light on you, well, I will take that, thanks!

Justin: I thought I was done, but you made me come back for more...
I'll keep my final rebuttal short. Just because Leinart hangs around dumb chicks, doesn't make him a good quarterback, so pretend you didn't mention the Jeter factor. And since you mentioned the G-Men look at what he did against them last year and this discussion should be over.

**Whether Justin or Bandon is right in this barbershop debate, they both admit that you can't lose with either sophomore star.**