Athlon Sports QB Power Rankings

[Quesadilla Joe]

2012 NFL Quarterbacks: Ranking the Best and Worst Starters

Ranking NFL quarterbacks is difficult and the criterion endless.

Montana versus Johnny-U versus Elway versus Favre? Is winning championships all that matters? What about statistical production and re-writing the record books? What about pure, raw, God-given athletic ability (looking at you Elway)? Or are intangibles and leadership ability more important?

To truly and objectively rank quarterbacks all of the above must be used to evaluate a player. I have attempted to rank all 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL season for the 2012 year. This means, I don’t get a 22-year-old Peyton Manning or a 32-year-old Cam Newton.

So I put my general manager's hat on and asked this question:

If my goal is to win the Lombardi Trophy in 2012, who do I want running my offense?

Note: Age is at time of start of 2012 season

1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay (Age: 28, Record: 41-21)
2011 Stats: 4,643 yards, 45 TD, 6 INT, 257 rush yards, 3 TD

There is little debate on who is the best quarterback on the planet right now. Rodgers came close to multiple single-season NFL records in 2011 until sitting out the final game of the year. Nevertheless, his 122.5 QB rating broke an NFL record and his career 104.1 QB rating is the highest in the history of the sport. He has the arm strength, the athleticism, the leadership, the championship ring and is only 28 years old.

2. Tom Brady, New England (Age: 35, Record: 124-35)
2011 Stats: 5,235 yards, 39 TD, 12 INT, 109 rush yards, 3 TD

The starting record is staggering as Mr. GQ enters his 13th NFL season. He has led the Patriots to five Super Bowls, an undefeated regular season and has turned plenty of also-ran wide receivers into Super Bowl MVPs. He would have shattered Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards record last fall had it not been for Drew Brees, and is the only QB to ever throw 50 touchdowns in a season (2007). Needless to say, Brady still has what it takes to be the best despite turning 35 in August.

3. Drew Brees, New Orleans (Age: 33, Record: 92-61)
2011 Stats: 5,476 yards, 46 TD, 14 INT, 86 rush yards, TD

His yardage total from last year speaks for itself. The Austin (Texas) Westlake product has led the NFL in completion percentage three years running and the has led the league in yards and touchdowns three times each. He has the championship ring and leadership skills to overcome his overall lack of raw physical skills (he is listed generously at 6-foot).

4. Eli Manning, New York Giants (Age: 31, Record: 69-50)
2011 Stats: 4,933 yards, 29 TD, 16 INT, 15 rush yards, TD

He has not been doing it as long or at high a level as his older brother, but Eli is the defending Super Bowl champion – for a second time. He set a career high in yards last fall by nearly 1,000 yards and has proven to be as clutch as any player in the playoffs. When he finally learns to cut down on his interceptions, he could easily find himself atop this list. Additionally, he hasn’t missed a start since taking over as the Giants starter in Week 10 of 2004 — that is 119 straight regular-season starts if you are counting at home.

5. Peyton Manning, Denver (Age: 36, Record: 141-67)
2011 Stats: None

If not for four (that we know of) neck surgeries and a new area code, the elder Manning would be no lower than No. 2 on this list. But there are still question marks surrounding No. 18’s ability to return to his Hall of Fame effectiveness. If he returns to full health, even at 36 years old, he is securely in the Top 3.

6. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh (Age: 30, Record: 80-33)
2011 Stats: 4,077 yards, 21 TD, 14 INT, 70 rush yards

Big Ben is an interesting case study as there feels like a clear drop-off after the Top 5. Statistically, he has never been one of the league’s elite passers, topping 20 touchdowns only three times with only one season of at least 30 scoring strikes. He has also missed five games over the last three years and has only started all 16 games in a year one time (2008). That said, he also is as tough a customer as there is in the game today and has two World Championships to prove it. Oh yeah, he also has won more than 70 percent of his games to this point.

7. Matthew Stafford, Detroit (Age: 24, Record: 13-16)
2011 Stats: 5,038 yards, 41 TD, 16 INT, 78 rush yards

The word projection comes to mind when trying to place Stafford. There are few quarterbacks with as much physical talent as the former Georgia Bulldog and he likely has the biggest arm in the game today. He also has played one full season as a starter — one that saw the Lions make the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and was littered with passing and receiving team records. Health is really the only issue surrounding the Lions passer, as he played only 13 of his first 32 possible games before last year's breakout performance.

8. Tony Romo, Dallas (Age: 32, Record: 47-30)
2011 Stats: 4,184 yards, 31 TD, 10 INT, 46 rush yards, TD

Few players are more scrutinized in football than Romo. But after missing most of the 2010 season, he did his best to lead a team that lacked depth and had changed coaches to within one win of the NFC East crown. He posted his best statistical year last fall and feels like a young 32 — having begun his starting career at age 26 back in 2006. He is a classic overachiever, but is as tough as they come and is a quality leader. He needs to add to his one career playoff win to move up this list, however.

9. Philip Rivers, San Diego (Age: 30, Record: 63-33)
2011 Stats: 4,624 yards, 27 TD, 20 INT, 36 rush yards, TD

The word knucklehead quickly crops up when talking about Mr. Rivers. He constantly runs his mouth and sometimes his temper can get the best of him. But he also produces big numbers — four straight seasons above 4,000 yards — and wins a lot of games — he made the playoffs in each of his first four seasons as the starter. Yet, he has never been able to get his very talented teams into the big game and turned the ball over 25 times last fall. A return to the postseason this fall cements Rivers as one of the league’s top 10 signal callers.

10. Matt Ryan, Atlanta (Age: 27, Record: 43-19)
2011 Stats: 4,177 yards, 29 TD, 12 INT, 84 rush yards, 2 TD

When it comes to the NFL’s best it feels like Ryan is consistently overlooked. But his numbers play on any roster and his win-loss record is pristine. He has never had a losing season and has only missed the postseason once (at 10-6 nonetheless). He has improved his touchdown total four straight seasons (16, 22, 28, 29) and has increased his yards three straight years. He is a consummate professional who quietly accounted for 31 total touchdowns a year ago. Ryan has missed two games in his career and is about to enter his prime.


15. Carson Palmer, Oakland (Age: 32, Record: 50-56)
2011 Stats: 2,753 yards, 13 TD, 16 INT, 20 rush yards, TD (9 games)

Not just anyone could walk into Cincinnati and turn the Bengals into a perennial playoff contender but that is essentially what the No. 1 overall pick did in 2003. Cincy lost at least 10 games in five straight seasons before drafting Palmer. By 2005, the Bengals had their first winning season since 1988. In fact, Cincy has three postseason appearances since 1990 and two have come on the strong right arm of Palmer. After a brief six-game hiatus, all he did last year in Oakland (for a lame duck coach) was post his highest yards-per-game total of his career (275.3 ypg). At 32 years old, he still has plenty left in the 6-foot-5, 235-pound tank.



31. Matt Cassel, Kansas City (Age: 30, Record: 28-26)
2011 Stats: 1,713 yards, 10 TD, 9 INT, 99 rush yards (9 games)

The story is well-known: Cassel didn’t start a game at USC, sat behind Brady, went 10-5 when called upon in New England and parlayed one year into a big contract. Yet, he is a career 59.0 percent passer, is 18-21 as the Chiefs' starter with 32 interceptions and 22 fumbles over that span and has had major injury issues. Cassel has one more year to prove he is the franchise quarterback in KC

http://www.athlonsports.com/nfl/rank...rterbacks-2012

The rest is at the link, too many characters to post the entire thing.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by KC Tattoo

I use to love the play action pass play especially when it was Steve Deberg hiding the ball from the cameras and they continue to show the RB plow into the defense instead of him throwing it deep for a TD. Over the years it seams to me that the best QBs with high scoring offense are run out of the shotgun. I've grown to like watching QBs out of the shotgun and doing what they do best with running an offense now even more.

I liked Steve Deberg.
He was a tough SOB.

But the reality is, he was really a very limited QB whose one and only real talent was the play action fake.

People either don't know, or don't remember if they are old enough, just how good Lenny's play action fake was.

He was the best at it.
But he also had real talent as a QB to match that.

[Rasputin]

That's the kind of lines I'm thinking. I want a QB that is efficient with the football has total comand of the offense and doesn't have to rely on the running game to excel. That all just seems too much to ask for as a Chiefs fan pffft.

Tell me who Marino, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady the best at running an efficient offense out of the shotgun?

I think Stanzi would be great at running an offense out of the shotgun formation & give him field vision for quicker decision making. I think that's what the shotgun can do for him to help him out as of right now starting out & build from there.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by KC Tattoo

That's the kind of lines I'm thinking. I want a QB that is efficient with the football has total comand of the offense and doesn't have to rely on the running game to excel. That all just seems too much to ask for as a Chiefs fan pffft.

Tell me who Marino, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady the best at running an efficient offense out of the shotgun?

I think Stanzi would be great at running an offense out of the shotgun formation & give him field vision for quicker decision making. I think that's what the shotgun can do for him to help him out as of right now starting out & build from there.

Please tell me you didn't just compare Stanzi to those three.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Please tell me you didn't just compare Stanzi to those three.

Actually, he didn't.
Just said that he would like to see Stanzi run a lot out of shotgun because it would help him make faster reads.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by PGM

There are 4-5 new playoff teams every year. Things never go as "last year" did. Never.

Agreed. I see us losing to teams like Oakland, Tampa Bay, Carolina and San Diego, who did not make the playoffs a year ago. Hell, maybe even Buffalo.

[BoneKrusher]

Originally Posted by Toad King

Agreed. I see us losing to teams like Oakland, Tampa Bay, Carolina and San Diego, who did not make the playoffs a year ago. Hell, maybe even Buffalo.

Yeah,
Buffalo made huge strides on their Defense during the offseason.
if Fitz plays decent, the Chiefs will lose to the Bills.

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by milkman

There's this perception that Warner didn't play all that well for the Giants.

That's a myth.

He was a bad fit for thier system, and the Giant fans were antsy to see Eli play, but Warner started 9 or 10 games and put up numbers in those games comparable to what he put up for the Cardinals.
.

I would like if I may, change one or two perceptions in your story regarding Kurt Warner and the N.Y. Giants.

In 2004, then Giants GM Ernie Accorsi was unable to agree on terms with San Diego's rookie GM before the draft, the Giants had to watch the Chargers take Eli Manning with the first pick in the draft. Everybody knew that the Chargers wanted Phil Rivers and that Accosi coveted Eli. Archie and Eli had already made it clear they wanted the Giants, not the Chargers. Smith the Chargers GM, wanted Osi Umenyiora added to the Giants offer before the draft, a demand the Giants saw as a deal breaker.

Unable to agree on terms of a trade with San Diego during the draft, Accorsi then drafted Phil Rivers with the Giants fourth round pick. But before the night was over, the Giants and Chargers agreed to make the quarterback trade when Smith dropped his demand for Osi. The Giants gave up a third round pick (2004), and first and fifth round picks in 2005.

When Eli became quarterback of the Giants, Kerry Collins, in the final year of his contract knew that his days were numbered. The Giants released Collins who was unhappy with a backup role and signed veteran quarterback Kurt Warner to help groom Eli as their future starter. At the time, Dick Vermeil was head coach of the K.C. Chiefs and had a ring with Super Bowl winner and MVP Kurt Warner in St. Louis. Coach Vermeil expressed his support and said, "Warner was the right quarterback to tutor Eli for the Giants."

Eli took over for Kurt in game 11 of the 2004 season.

The excerpt included here explains why Couch Coughlin made the change:

Q: When did you make the decision to start Eli?
Coughlin: Is that important, really? Maybe it was on the couch at 3 a.m. this morning, maybe. Maybe that was it.

The previous Sunday the Giants, then 5-3 and still hopeful, were stifled by a bad team, the Arizona Cardinals. Warner was sacked six times, several times on first and second down, by a previously undistinguished Cardinals defensive line. The sports pages the next day -- with a couple of interesting exceptions -- vilified the Giants' offensive line. How could these bums allow a bunch of mediocrities to sack a former N.F.L. M.V.P. six times in a single game?

Anyone who watched the game on TV might well had come to the same conclusion: these fellows on the Giants line appeared to be perfectly incompetent. Poor Warner was doing all he could. But Coughlin wasn't sure. He went into the office in the wee hours of the morning and studied the game tapes. The general manager, Ernie Accorsi, was already there when Coughlin arrived; he had spent the night on the maroon leatherette sofa in his office. At a decent hour, Coughlin found Accorsi and asked, ''Have you seen the tape?'' Coughlin had timed every pass play -- all 37 of them -- and discovered that 30 times Warner held the ball for 3.8 seconds or more. (Depending on how many steps the quarterback drops back to pass, 1.2 to 3 seconds is considered the norm.) Often Giants receivers were open and Warner wasn't seeing them. The quarterback was more to blame for the sacks than the people assigned to protect him.

And one thing Coughlin had noticed in practice about Eli Manning was that, unlike most rookie quarterbacks, he made decisions quickly and got the ball away before the defense could kill him.

In April 2004, The New York Times Magazine published an issue featuring a cover story titled "The Eli-Experiment" by Michael Lewis. As a frequent contributor to The New York Times, one of his bestselling books (that I know of), is titled "Moneyball."

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/ma...19MANNING.html


http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/...ticle-1.602745

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Dylan

I would like if I may, change one or two perceptions in your story regarding Kurt Warner and the N.Y. Giants.

In 2004, then Giants GM Ernie Accorsi was unable to agree on terms with San Diego's rookie GM before the draft, the Giants had to watch the Chargers take Eli Manning with the first pick in the draft. Everybody knew that the Chargers wanted Phil Rivers and that Accosi coveted Eli. Archie and Eli had already made it clear they wanted the Giants, not the Chargers. Smith the Chargers GM, wanted Osi Umenyiora added to the Giants offer before the draft, a demand the Giants saw as a deal breaker.

Unable to agree on terms of a trade with San Diego during the draft, Accorsi then drafted Phil Rivers with the Giants fourth round pick. But before the night was over, the Giants and Chargers agreed to make the quarterback trade when Smith dropped his demand for Osi. The Giants gave up a third round pick (2004), and first and fifth round picks in 2005.

When Eli became quarterback of the Giants, Kerry Collins, in the final year of his contract knew that his days were numbered. The Giants released Collins who was unhappy with a backup role and signed veteran quarterback Kurt Warner to help groom Eli as their future starter. At the time, Dick Vermeil was head coach of the K.C. Chiefs and had a ring with Super Bowl winner and MVP Kurt Warner in St. Louis. Coach Vermeil expressed his support and said, "Warner was the right quarterback to tutor Eli for the Giants."

Eli took over for Kurt in game 11 of the 2004 season.

The excerpt included here explains why Couch Coughlin made the change:



In April 2004, The New York Times Magazine published an issue featuring a cover story titled "The Eli-Experiment" by Michael Lewis. As a frequent contributor to The New York Times, one of his bestselling books (that I know of), is titled "Moneyball."

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/ma...19MANNING.html


http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/...ticle-1.602745

Actually, this is why I said that Warner was not a good fit for the play action system that the Giants employed.

He doesn't work well with his back to the defense.

Warner is a HoFer, but he's also a system QB.

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by milkman

Actually, this is why I said that Warner was not a good fit for the play action system that the Giants employed.

He doesn't work well with his back to the defense.

Warner is a HoFer, but he's also a system QB.

Thanks, good point.


I highly recommend you read this story - great writing and storytelling. Love the Unitas stories, etc.


"The Eli-Experiment touches on some very interesting topics. A great story - not only about Eli Manning.

Excerpt: On Wonderlic

The test has been used by N.F.L. teams for decades, but the emphasis placed on it has grown with the complexity of the game.

By all the tests that N.F.L. scouts use to measure college quarterbacks, Eli Manning compared favorably to his famous older brother. And yet the decision to take him with the first pick, and pay him great sums of money, was nevertheless regarded by many inside the N.F.L. as fantastically risky.

A few general managers, and coaches, would have refused to make it. When the quarterbacks arrived at the 2003 N.F.L. combine -- where the teams put the most highly touted prospects though their paces -- the coach of the Carolina Panthers, John Fox, simply walked out. He took a principled stand against spending money and draft picks on a quarterback.

No N.F.L. coach will say this, but a few actually build their teams on the principle that the quarterback need not be especially gifted, because he doesn't need to be terribly important. You don't need a god out there; you don't need Joe Montana or John Elway or Peyton Manning. All you need is one very smart coaching staff and a quarterback who won't mess up their intricate plans. Spend less of your money on a quarterback and you have more to spend on the people around him. Ask them to do more, and the quarterback to do less.

The coaches who approach the game this way -- Fox, Brian Billick of Baltimore, Bill Cowher of Pittsburgh, Bill Parcells of Dallas, Bill Belichick of New England -- define one end of the N.F.L.'s managerial spectrum: the end that argues that it's never worth the risk to pay a fortune to a quarterback unproved in the pros. Ernie Accorsi might well define the other. ''There is no other position in team sports as important as the quarterback,'' he says. ''A great quarterback, unlike a great running back, cannot be stopped. And if you have a great one, you're never out of it. He walks on the bus and the whole team sees him and thinks, We have a chance.'' The problem, from Accorsi's point of view, is finding the great quarterback.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/ma...19MANNING.html

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Dylan

Thanks, good point.


I highly recommend you read this story - great writing and storytelling. Love the Unitas stories, etc.


"The Eli-Experiment touches on some very interesting topics. A great story - not only about Eli Manning.

Excerpt: On Wonderlic


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/ma...19MANNING.html

I'll give it a looksee when I have some real time to spend on it.

But how the hell do you remove the ads that block each page?

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by milkman

I'll give it a looksee when I have some real time to spend on it.

But how the hell do you remove the ads that block each page?

I might have to send you the entire 10 pages via PM.

Must be behind the paywall.

Sorry, I forgot about the paywall.