Originally posted by Wodwo:
I was messing with you because your calling out his statement as an appeal to authority and a fallacy was a fallacy. I'm sorry my humor was too obtuse for you. You attacked his expert without giving supporting evidence, then you implied that you were an expert by saying your conclusion was "obvious".
No, I didn't say anything about his expert. I said he was employing the appeal to authority fallacy by solely relying on Weis' opinion for his rebuttal. And saying something is obvious in no way implies the person is an expert. If anything, it implies the opposite, since even non-experts (like me) should be able to see the obvious.
Apology and peace offer accepted. Back to the issue, you make good points and I concede I overstated my case, and also misrepresented you in saying you though Jones is better than Charles. I can see giving Charles slightly less carries to keep him fresh, but my larger point was Jones is not having a good season. Admittedly I haven't watched even half of his games, but from what I have seen it seems clear he's lost a step.
I don't agree that his poor ypr can be excused by his situation. Yes, he's used in a higher percentage of short yardage situations, but it's also a plus having a back like Charles for support (I think Gore also needs a change of pace backup), and while Cassel hasn't racked up much yardage, he's had a pro bowl-caliber season, ranking 5th in qb rating (though this can be a very misleading stat), 6th in td passes, and 2nd to only Brady in TD-INT ratio. Yes, he's done this with great run support, but defenses still have to respect his arm.
With Bradford, obviously, it's very different and an error on my part not to factor that in, but while Steven Jackson may not have had such limited QBs in the past, he has had worse overall and performed much better. Last year his QBs were horrendous and yet he still had one of his better seasons, averaging 4.4 ypr. So I stand by 3.7 being disappointing for him, though perhaps ok considering Bradford's limitations. But I wouldn't give him any credit for the Rams going to the playoffs. Yes, they wouldn't make it without him but they wouldn't make it with him without the NFL's patently unfair playoff system.
The Rams are only (probably) going to the playoffs because they play in the worst division in perhaps all of sports history. They are still a weak team that has only beaten one opponent with a winning record (8-7). Sagarin has them ranked 27th in the NFL. I wouldn't put them much higher.