How come whenever the discussion of the best QBs of the NFL is started one name never gets kicked around but probably should: Jeff Garcia? Wait, did you just say Jeff Garcia? Yes. Yes I did.
Jeff Garcia has a career quarterback rating of 87.2, but this guy is a winner. Plain and simple, Garcia gets it done. He is enough of a QB that puts a borderline team all the way into the pool. Garcia has been in the league since 1999 and has been to four Pro Bowls in his NFL Career. But for some reason, folks (mostly fans, but some in the NFL) refuse to acknowledge his greatness. Let’s look back at his career, shall we? In his first season as a starter, replacing Hall of Famer Steve Young, Garcia set the San Francisco passing record with 4,278 yards. In his first season. Yep, that’s better than Young, and Montana and O’Sullivan. During the next few seasons, a few of them playoff appearances, he became joined some elite company in becoming just one of seven EVER to have two consecutive back-to-back 30 TD passing seasons. Only Favre, Manning, Tittle, Marino, Fouts and Bartkowski have accomplished that feat.
After a few unsuccessful stints in NFL wastelands Cleveland and Detroit, Garcia was signed on in Philly in 2006 to backup Donovan McNabb. Yet when McNabb got hurt, interestingly it was GARCIA that rallied to troops to five straight wins and another win in the playoffs. The team was OUT of it, and Garcia pulled them back in.
Yet at the end of the season, the team decided that McNabb was who the team wanted to hitch the wagon to and let Garcia walk. All he did was walk down to Tampa Bay and lead the Bucs to an NFC South Division title all while racking up the 3rd highest QB rating in the league and punching a ticket to the Pro Bowl. Philly, by the way, MISSED the playoffs with McNabb. Good call there Philly.
Garcia is a guy that has 149 career TD passes with an additional 26 rushing TDs. True his playoff record is 2-4, but I ask, what is Carson Palmer’s playoff record? How about Matt Hasselbeck’s playoff career? And I don’t need to bring up Michael Vick, but how come he was never able to thrive in the EXACT SAME SYSTEM that Garcia excelled in? I think Jeff Garcia should get mentioned as one of the better QBs in the NFL and he is certainly a top ten at this current time. If the Falcons had him last season, maybe they do a little better than how they finished. If they had had him during the Greg Knapp years, the Falcons would have achieved back-to-back winning seasons by now. BANK ON IT. No respect for Garcia? I can’t understand why the Bucs would have been trying to grab Favre last season. I am positive that the Bucs have the better season than the Jets and you’ll see Garcia in the Pro Bowl way before you see Favre there this season.
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