Some years some models do better than other years. I almost stopped looking at the NOGAPS because for a while, it didn't do well, and the GFS had the upper hand. This year, the GFS has had a tougher time, but I still have to give it props for picking up Ivan's interaction with the trof in the east.
I can give you another real-life example about picking models.....
In 1996 (I think that was the snowy one) I said that "If it begins with an "E", it's good enough for me". The ECMWF and ETA did very well with the winter storms that year. So well, in fact, that the ETA was the only model predicting sig. snow for my area, I went with it based on an H2O image that told me the other models were out to lunch, and it verified very well. Got 7" on that one when 1" was the original prediction.
Some models handle PNA patterns better, or La Nina situations better.
El Nino is a whole different story because there is an extra jet that has to be accounted for in the forecasts, and increases difficulty.

That is a long-winded way of saying, don't get locked into one model. Some years, they do better than others.