As has been duly noted by another poster, Tom Brady was not a rookie in 2001. I know you wrote "in recent history", I'm just throwing this out there anyway. The three best rookie performances have been turned in by Marino, Roethlisberger, and Greg Cook. Cook had a phenomenal rookie season for the Bengals in 1969. He was 106 of 197 for 1854 yards. He threw 15 touchdown passes against 11 interceptions. His passer rating was 88.3. His yards per attempt number was an astounding 9.4. Cook was 6'4" and 220 pounds. He had tremendous ability. Unfortunately, he tore his rotator cuff during the season and was never the same. He only appeared in one game after that season. Bill Walsh said Cook would have been one of the greatest QBs of all time.
Marino is really on his own page here. He just dominated the NFL as soon as he was thrown into the mix after the Dolphin's disappointing start. What's interesting is that coming out of TC in 2005 there were a bunch of people, notably Bill Parcells, comparing Roethlisberger to Marino. Then Roethlisberger went out and had a great season, albeit a protected one unlike Marino.
Well, as far as rookie seasons go, Cook belongs with Marino. They are 1 and 2. Roethlisberger is 3rd. Cook was the Bengals 1st round pick in 1969. He started the first three games. The Bengals won them all, including one over the eventual Super Bowl champions. They beat the Dolphins, 27-21. They beat the Chargers, 34-20. They beat the Chiefs, 24-19. Cook suffered his injury in the Chiefs game, missed three games, and then played in pain the rest of the year. He was 14 of 22 for 327 yards and 3 TDs in the Chargers game. Even as a rookie, Cook was as feared in the AFL as Joe Namath and Daryle Lamonica.
Clemens matures some more this week..... 1. Again in the face of a pass rush he looks like a seasoned vet, always looking down field. 2. He continuned to show smart, not happy feet. Looking down his progressions and if it wasn't open he tried to scramble to gain more time and THEN would run doen the field. 3. He basically shrugged off the sack / fumble/ INT, that was turNed into a TD and continually moved his team down field, racking up 30 straight points... COMPARING HIM TO HOW ELI HANDLES THE PRESSURE OF REACTING TO INT'S, IS FOR HIS SHORT PERIOD OF WORK, LIKE NIGHT AND DAY...
It's amazing what a defense that forces turnovers and gets off the field can do for an offense. This game was won by the defense today.
More accurately the game was lost by the Dolphins offense, which is a truly pitiful unit right now with all the injuries and the midseason trade of Chris Chambers. That said, I think Clemens played a solid game and would have had the Jets in the game even if the Dolphins offense had managed to show up. Clemens is about where I expected him to be at this point given the woes on the offensive line and the lack of frontline receivers in each game. I think the Jets can safely look at taking a QB in the 3rd or 4th round next season as a potential option and let Clemens develop.
I would add a caveat to #1 as Clemmens doesn't seem to survey the defense right before the snap. On at least two occassions, it was evident the CB from his blind-side was blitzing before the snap and Clemmens never looked to his left to notice. I believe both of these ended up in sacks/fumbles.
