Ineligible Man Downfield

Courtesy of mcmilkd through Webshots.com

If Drew Brees was still the Charger quarterback, I wonder what might have been accomplished, especially with LT at his prime and Antonio Gates blowing up?  Ah might a Super Bowl or two been in our midst?  We can only speculate now.  I know the Chargers and A.J. Smith were concerned with taking a risk after Brees injured his shoulder at the end of 2005-2006 season, but its the type of risk, I’m calling it the Tom Brady risk, that makes a champion.  Now I will have to wallow in mystery and hope the rascal from NC state (who ain’t bad but no Drew Brees), Philip Rivers, and a gimpy LT can pull out even a chance at making the Super Bowl.  I’m aiming low and not even thinking about a trophy at this moment.

But I shall try to keep it positive.

With that said, it is not an understatement when I say the quarterback is the critical central figure of a football team and often this is the reason why teams win championships (unless you were the 2000-2001 Ravens who did it almost exclusively on defense and a right moment right time quarterback aka ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer).  Without a solid quarterback, your team’s season is going to be a long, excruciating painful one.  Though I hate to say it, Philip Rivers actually give me hope .  Too bad I can’t say the same to the Ragin’ Cajun Jake Delhomme.

Everybody has an opinion on where their favorite quarterbacks rank in comparison to others, but is that opinion based on any solid evidence?  Of course CBS Sportsline and ESPN rankings are right?  Yeah right! Not by a mile.  That’s why I’m here, to give you my view after two weeks of football, based on a ranking system decided by performance.  They may not agree with other rankings, but at the very least, its factually based.

My rankings are based on my fantasy football league’s stat performance on Yahoo Fantasy Football.   (I know, a bit corny but I’m not going to pay tons of money for stats when I can get decent ones through Yahoo).  Not to get too much into the technical information, but points are allocated based on yardage and TDs and adversely affected by interceptions, sacks and fumbles.  The total amount of points is a summation and the person with the most points is the best player.  By each rank, I will give a little blurb or explanation why they rank the way they rank (with my Quackster style of analysis).  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I like discussing them.

Now without further adieu, the rankings for quarterbacks:

1. Drew Brees – My oh my, who would’ve known?  Just kidding, this is obvious as Brees is launching dive bombs left and right like nobody’s business.  Lucky for me, I’m his fantasy handler and obviously he’s a must start every week.
2. Peyton Manning – The man is more cerebral then even some PhDs out there!  Did you see that winning drive where he pulled an audible out of thin air after taking stock of the Miami defense?  This is the stuff of legends.
3. Joe Flacco – Joe cool is moving up in this league.  The surprise for the Ravens this year is having an formidable offensive to go along with that stout defense headed by evergreen Ray Lewis.
4. Tony Romo – I know he’s a bit high considering his “fail” moment at JerryWorld’s grand opening.  Better shore up kid, or Jerry’s going to ship you out.  Don’t worry, he’ll do that to the Pillsbury Dough Boy Wade Phillips first.
5. Eli Manning – I know he dissed Chargers in the draft way back when, but you’ve got to hand it to him for his solid play, especially taking out JerryWorld and his large LED screen.  He’s my backup in fantasy.  Trades anyone?
6. Matt Ryan – He’s continuing to take flight and now that he’s developed a go to guy mentality with Tony Gonzalez and continues to throw those long bombs comfortably to Roddy White, the sky’s the limit.
7. Byron Leftwich – Really?  I have to follow where the data leads me and this is very unlikely.  All I can say is he’s managing the game and doing somewhat a decent job.  Too bad managing doesn’t always lead to wins.
8. Matt Schaub – Always under the radar, but he’s ready to take the next step into stardom with the help of Andre Johnson.  Only problem, we’ve been saying that these last couple years.  A little defense could help.
9. Philip Rivers – May the force be with you young Anakin.  Just make sure you don’t get all crazy darkside on me.  Hold yourself together long enough for a Super Bowl ride.  Please don’t pull a Ryan Leaf on me.
10. Trent Edwards – Underrated for sure, but the stats don’t lie.  He’s a top ten quarterback.  A smart guy that won’t turn the ball over.  Does going to Stanford have anything to do with that? Continue reading