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Stats Back Up Jalen Ramsey's QB Shit Talk

The Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback talked smack—and also had some nice things to say—about QBs in a GQ article. It turns out the numbers agree.
Photo by Reinhold Matay—USA TODAY Sports

The whole "elite quarterback" conversation is bunk. The exercise of asking "well, he's good, but is he great?" is one of the most tired-ass debates in sports. What do these qualitative judgments even mean? While for most people, their two cents mean jack shit, Jalen Ramsey is proving that his qualitative shit talking is backed by more than just bluster.

Ramsey's thoughts and feelings on just about every NFL quarterback were plastered all over the internet after a GQ interview with him was published Wednesday. Notably, he talked some hard shit about Buffalo Bills rookie Josh Allen, who he straight up called "trash." (Allen responded by saying, "“He’s not on my team, he’s not my teammate. It doesn’t bother me.”)

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Well, we don't know for sure about that assessment, since he's just a rookie, but his other opinions hold up pretty well under a microscope:

Sure, Goff, Garoppolo, and Luck have solid passer ratings, but touchdowns are the name of the game and you can't score them if you're turning the ball over. He's held his Trash Division to just one touchdown, while grabbing five interceptions. It's not definitive, but the Good Division has fared better against him than the Trash.

More important, just note how inefficient all of the league's quarterbacks are on that TD line when Ramsey's in the game. Good God, he's a human wall.

So maybe the next time you're stuck at a bar with some dude spewing "Joe Flacco isn't an elite quarterback" rhetoric through a thick cloud of beer, just remember that it's probably only cornerbacks who you should solicit opinions from. Because, you know, they're in the game.