Joe Flacco is coming off his most inconsistent season if you care about stats like completion percentage, yards per attempt and passer rating.
Ron Jaworski is not a stats guy. The game film tells him that Flacco is a top-10 quarterback with the strongest arm in the league.
"That's Flacco's No. 1 attribute," said Jaworski, an ESPN analyst. "I get so tired of hearing how arm strength is overrated. It's far more important than people think. He has the strongest arm in the NFL."
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"The element always overlooked by those who minimize arm strength is the willingness of quarterbacks like Flacco to pull the trigger. Few recognize that because there is no quantifiable means by which to evaluate throws that are not made by quarterbacks with lesser arm strength. It's all about dimensions. Flacco gives you the ability to attack all areas of the field at any point in the game."
Jaworski ranked the Baltimore Ravens signal-caller overall ahead of quarterbacks like Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford, Michael Vick, Cam Newton and Matt Ryan. We could debate that all day, but we're more interested in Jaws' opinion that Flacco has the game's strongest arm.
It's a bold statement and one that is backed up by a ton of research. That makes it tough to argue. Our top-five strongest arms would have to include Flacco. The rest of my list:
•Matthew Stafford
•Michael Vick
•Jay Cutler
•Cam Newton
If Nate Burlesonis to be believed, Stafford's arm is only getting stronger, and he could pass Flacco in 2012.
