Dog Days of Summer Series: Top 5 QBs
This time of year is the never fun for football fans. Most players, coaches and members of the front office are off on vacation before they return in late July for the grind of training camp. As a result, there tends to be little news to report in both the NFL and college football. But football has become America’s favorite sport, so there has to be something to discuss. In order to stimulate the football brain, I’m going to be ranking the top 5 players in the NFL at each of the offensive skill positions — quarterback, running back, wide receiver. In today’s installment, I’m looking at the quarterbacks.
1. Tom Brady, New England Patriots — Is this even debatable? Brady has reached won three Super Bowls while reaching five AFC Championship games and four Super Bowls. No QB in the NFL can come close to those numbers. Brady has a unbelievable knack for winning games when it counts. In two of the Patriots three Super Bowls, Brady led the team on a last-minute drive that culminated in game-winning field goals by Adam Vinatieri. Talk about being clutch. Moreover, his ability to win football games not just in January, but in the regular season as well can only be matched the by the No.2 QB on this list.
From a pure talent standpoint, Brady also gets the No.1 nod. He has remarkable pocket presence, underrated arm strength, great field vision and unparalleled leadership. While Brady doesn’t have the best career stats, they are still excellent. In 113 games for the Pats, Brady has thrown for 26, 446 yards, 197 touchdowns and 86 interceptions.Also consider the talent he has had to work with most of his career. While most great QBs had extraordinary WRs to work with, Brady never had anything special — until 2007, when the team acquired Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Before ‘07, however, Brady’s best targets were Troy Brown, Deion Branch, David Patten and David Givens. Even with that corps, Brady was still able to excel. And when he got to play with Moss and Welker, he put up historic numbers for a single-season. He tore his ACL and missed 15 games last season, but when healthy, Brady is great. Brady is the run-away choice at No.1
2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts — If this argument were based solely on stats, Manning would be at the top of the list. No player in the game studies as much film as Manning. He is a master of his craft, and boy has he mastered it. The hours of practice with his teammates, which helps develop chemistry, always seems to pay off during the season. Manning has always put up big numbers. He threw for 49 touchdowns in 2005, a single season record at the time, and has continued to dominate the league threw the air. Unlike Brady, however, Manning has always had an excellent receiving core to work with in Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne.
What had eluded Manning in the past was the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Colts would frequently get to the AFC Championship Game but could never defeat Brady’s Patriots. Talk of Manning being a choker was everywhere, but he finally avenged those losses in 2007, when the Colts beat the Pats on route to defeating the Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
Manning’s best work may have come last season, when he — and the Colts — struggled early in the season as he was recovering from knee surgery. The Colts went on to win their final nine games of the regular season, and Manning was named league MVP.
3. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints — Coming out of college, Brees was regarded as too small to succeed at the QB position in the NFL. With every 60-yard TD Brees throws, his critics are proved wrong. Brees stands just 6-feet tall, but that has never prevented him from seeing over big offensive lineman. In fact, Brees has great field vision, and also boasts an excellent TD-INT ratio. At the beginning of his career in San Diego, he never had the greatest stats. The Chargers had LaDainian Tomlinson, so it was understandable why they chose to run more than pass. But once Brees reached New Orleans in 2006, his career took off. Brees was coming off shoulder surgery, and the Chargers let him go because they thought he would not be as effective after the surgery. How wrong they were.
Under the direction of head coach Shawn Peyton, an offensive guru, Brees and the Saints’ offense has been extraordinary. Armed with weapons at every skill position, Brees typically has the whole field to work with. Last season, with the Saints No.1 reciever, Marques Colston, injured most of the year, Brees was still able to have one of the best seasons in league history. His 5, 069 yards passing fell just 15 yards short of tying the single season passing yards record set in 1984 by Dan Marino. Brees, like so many great QBs, gets the best out of what he has to work with, and there’s no better example of that than last season.
4. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers — Here is a perfect example of leadership, and victories, being the most important stats a QB can boast. Roethlisberger, thanks to the Steelers offensive philosophy, has never put up the most passing yards in the league. He did, however, score 32 total TDs in 2007. That has never mattered to Big Ben, though. What does matter is winning, and in just five seasons in the league, Roethlisberger has already won two Super Bowls. In each of those Super Bowl seasons, Roethlisberger made all the right plays, and rarely hurt the team. In the team’s first championship in 2006, he was more of a game manager. But as he has developed, Roethlisberger has turned in to a playmaker for the Steelers. Always under pressure last season due to the team’s mediocre offensive line, Roethlisberger still found ways to make the plays.
And if you’re looking for a clutch quarterback, Roethlisberger is your guy. In fact, Roethlisberger has arguably turned in to the most clutch QB in the league today. Every time it seemed the Steelers needed Roethlisberger to win a game last season, he did. Every time the team needed a last-second drive to win a game, Roethlisberger went out and did it. There was no better example of that than in the Super Bowl, where Roethlisberger and WR Santonio Holmes hooked up on multiple occasions, including on the game-winning touchdown. Big Ben isn’t the flashiest QB in the league, and he doesn’t put up the best numbers, but he gets the job done.
5. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles — Talk about being underrated. McNabb has been a model of consistency throughout his career (though he has dealt with numerous injuries), but he tends to get an unfair shake from Philly fans. Despite his great numbers, not being able to win the Super Bowl has been an overriding factor. McNabb and the Eagles have reached the NFC Championship Game five times and reached the Super Bowl once, ultimately losing to the Patriots. But has he deserved the criticism?
While it is troubling that he has never won it all, the talent he has had to work with has to be looked at. For most of his career, McNabb has never had the luxury of working with great WRs. Instead, he has had to try and get to the Super Bowl with subpar receivers. The one season he had a great WR — Terrell Owens — the team made the Super Bowl. Coincedence? I think not. The Eagles as an organization have always seemed to take McNabb’s talent for granted. He has oen of the strongest arms in the league, is extremely accurate, and when younger was an excellent runner. He has still put up excellent passing numbers, and last season posted stats of 3, 916 yards and 23 TDs as the Eagles once again reached the NFC Championship Game. McNabb will have another chance to silence his critics this season, as McNabb may finally have the necessary playmakers to win it all. Even if he doesn’t, he’s still one of the best QBs in the NFL today.
Tomorrow, I’ll be looking at the league’s best running backs.
Ryan Drescher
There was a time when I’d have considered that the Bengals’ Carson Palmer would be mentioned amongst your quintet. But what’s been happening within that franchise in recent times borders on sheer lunacy.
Nevermind the fact that you’ve now got Chad Ocho Cinco , who still continues to make an a_ss of himself one way or another. More so for anything off the field than anything he’s done on it as of late.
See my piece on the Bengals and let me know what you think as to its merits ?
There’s No Fool Like An Old Fool So How’d You Describe Ocho Cinco ?
Alan Parkins 07/09/09 3:09pm
Drew Brees is the best ever. He may not have a superbowl ring, but so what, a superbowl ring does not define a players skill, it defines a team’s skill you idiot.