Come on Feburary!

Soul Ink Prize Free Agent Quarterback

PHILADELPHIA -– The Philadelphia Soul landed one of the Arena Football League's brightest stars today, signing top-rated free agent quarterback Tony Graziani to a three-year deal. The contract is the largest in the history of the League. With the signing of Graziani, the Soul accomplished its number one goal of the offseason: securing a premier passer for 2005.

To quote the Bard: "Oh, hell yeah!"

Graziani (6-3, 210), who spent each of the last four season with the Los Angeles Avengers, led the AFL with a career-high 99 touchdowns in 2004 and was the League's 2nd-rated passer with a QB rating of 126.9.

An AFL rating of 126.9 is the same as the NFL rating. Interestingly, by AFL rating standards, Donovan McNabb's passing rating is only a 76.8.

The AFL's playstyle versus the NFL playstyle is a little on the apples-to-orange side of things, but comparable. For one thing, they pass a helluva lot more in the AFL. Some could say the QB's passing game is even more important in the AFL. And the size of the field (50 yards vs. 100) affects both the yardage and the TD count.

For sake of a side-by-side, here are Donovan McNabb's 2003 passing stats...

Attempts: 478
Completions: 275
Percentage: 57.5%
Yards: 3216
Touchdowns: 16
Interceptions: 11
Rating: 79.6

And here are Tony Graziani's 2003 passing stats...

Attempts: 510
Completions: 333
Percentage: 65.3%
Yards: 4265
Touchdowns: 99 (Yeah, bay-bee!)
Interceptions: 5
Rating: 126.84

On an aside... is it acceptable in this day and age of tolerance for a grown man to say that he's so excited he could pee?

Just wondering.

Carry on.