The NFL season is now officially underway after the Saints’ 14-9 victory over the Vikings on Thursday night. I’d hoped for more excitement, but we persevere. Anyway, welcome to the first in a series of NFL-related Top 10 lists that I will do when I can’t think of anything else to write about: today, QBs. Everyone has their own Top 10 QB list, and this is mine. But with pictures and jokes. Also, I’ll do some quick predictions at the end of the post just to see how well I do. I totally predicted the Saints winning, by the way.
10: Eli Manning
Eli Manning started out life as the son of New Orleans Saints legend Archie Manning, a role in which he continues to thrive to this day. He started his NFL career as the No 1 overall pick in the 2004 draft by the San Diego Chargers, who he promptly refused to play for. He was traded to the Giants for the No. 4 pick, Philip Rivers and a couple of draft picks.
Manning played alright his first couple of years, then, primarily due to the linear structure of time, 2007 happened. After finishing the regular season 10-6, the Giants qualified for the playoffs with the 5th seed. After winning 3 straight road games again the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers, the Giants reached the Superbowl, where they faced the unbeaten Patriots. Long story short, Eli and the Giants won, marked strongly by a play considered good enough to have it’s own Wikipedia page. Manning was voted MVP. Since then, Manning has become more of a playmaker in the Giant’s offense, granting him a spot on my list.
9: Tony Romo
Tony Romo has been a constant performersince taking over the starting postion from Drew Bledsoe in mid-2006. Romo has put up impressive numbers over this period of time, not least laying claim to the 3rd best career QB rating in history, with 95.6. But the greatest thing about his game, in my view, is his unparallelled ability to balance out moments of utter brilliance with moments of utter failure. It is truly impressive.
8: Matt Schaub
I’ve always liked Schaub. I thought he was underrated and, given a full season, he could be a top QB. Unfortunately, he’s been injured so often he’s legally had to claim Houston Medical Center as a seccond home. When he’s not been on IR, he’s been a very solid performer, proven last season when I assume some sort of deal was made with the NFL and Schaub was able to play the whole season, leading the league in passing yards, and the Texans to a winning record for the first time in their history. Also, It’s just occured to me that so far each player’s ranking matches with their uniform number. Just so you know, this is enitrely unintentional, and will stop immedia…..ah, crap.
7: Ben Roethlisberger
When he’s not undergoing allegations of sexual assault, Ben Roethlisberger is the dual-Superbowl winning quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite proudly owning the record of worst QB rating for a winning team in a Superbowl ever (22.6), Roethlisberger is widely considered one of the most clutch QBs in the game, with many 4th quarter comebacks. He also one of the more mobile QBs in the game. One thing that confuses me though; if your entire job involves wearing a helmet, how do you forget it when you’re riding your motorbike?
6: Brett Favre
Ah, Old Father Time himself. Now 40 years old and in his 20th season, it’s more longevity than current ability that puts him here, especially after Thursday’s performance. He just looked….old. Well, oldER….He is also the first known player in NFL history to have a grandchild whist active. I get the feeling this is ACTUALLY going to be his last season, as it seems that his ankle hasn’t healed as well as he’d hoped. Which is a shame, as he won’t be able to extend all those longevity records like he does so well.
Also guys, did you hear? He’s old.
5: Philip Rivers
Need I say more?
4: Aaron Rodgers
Favre’s replacement when he fake-retired his way out of Green Bay. Nah, that doesn’t give Rodgers enough credit. Rodgers is an advert for holding your QB back a few years to learn the ropes, as in his first 2 seasons starting, he has posted stellar numbers, and is the first QB in history to pass for 4000 yards in their first 2 seasons starting. Also, he throws a mean shoryuken.
3: Tom Brady
Even though he’s getting older and his performance has dropped off a bit, Brady is still one of the best in the game. I don’t like it, but it’s true. I know in the past I’ve talked about hating Brady as much as he claims he hates the Jets, but I can’t help but respect the man. 3 Superbowl wins, the NFL record for touchdown passes, the leader of the only team to ever go undefeated in the reegular season and then lose in the superbowl, the list goes on. But hey, if my quarterback can love him, I can too. Well, maybe not love. Slightly less hate, now that’s do-able.
2: Drew Brees
Isn’t that just one of the best pictures you’ve ever seen? There’s just something about it. Anyway….
Brees played the first few seasons of his career with the Chargers before signing for the Saints in 2006. Since then, the Saints have been successful, reaching 2 NFC Championships and winning their first Superbowl this past season. He is also one of only 2 players (the other being Dan Marino) to throw for more than 5000 yards in a season. Brees is often lauded for his ability to spread the ball around. In the aforementioned 5000 yard season, not one of his recievers had 1000 yards recieving. In any other decade, he’d be the no.1, but…..
1: Peyton Manning
Yeah, well who didn’t see this coming? Despite Favre and Marino having all the records, Manning is probably the best QB of all time. Coming from similar origins to his brother, Eli, you would assume that they would have similar playing styles, but you’d be wrong. Peyton takes complete control of his offense, famously spending a long time at the line of scrimmage setting up the play instead of in the huddle, which makes him bloody annoying to play against on Madden. Seriously dude, snap the ball befre the playclock turns red once in a while.
Well, there we go, my top 10 QBs currently playing. If any of you have any disagreements, I’d be happy to hear them, assuming they’re not in all-caps with poor grammar. Which rules out 75% of people on the internet. And ooh, nicely timed, posting 15 minutes before the fisrt Sunday games start. Enjoy them, it’s gonna be a great season.
Predictions:
Browns @ Buccaneers
Dolphins @ Bills
Bengals @ Patriots
Colts @ Texans
Broncos @ Jaguars
Falcons @ Steelers
Raiders @ Titans
Panthers @ Giants
Lions @ Bears
Cardinals @ Rams
Packers @ Eagles
49ers @ Seashawks
Cowboys @ Redskins
Ravens @ Jets
Chargers @ Chiefs
