You think Flacco's #1?

Ray Finkle all the way! He was robbed by Dan Merino. That's all I know about the NFL and all I need to know.
Gnight and GLuck :)

ATM as much as I hate to say it Aaron Rodgers. Peyton Manning is right up there as well. Along with Drew Brees. I think Eli Manning is a good QB but not outstanding like his brother.

Eli has two rings...Peyton has one...

And I don't think you can argue Eli's Giants are a better team than the juggernaut Peyton's Colts were over the last decade...

So, Obi, do you think if you magically switched Eli and Peyton's careers, the Giants would have a worse record and the Colts a better one?

What I'm saying is that I just don't buy the rings argument. It puts Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson ahead of Dan Marino and Jim Kelly.

I'm not saying rings ALONE = a better QB...

After all, while he was a good QB, a HOFer, and probably Top 20...

Who in their right mind, even in Pittsburgh, would equate Terry Bradshaw to Joe Montana--both won 4 SBs, but clearly, there's a difference in quality.

Now, I'm not saying Eli *is* better than Peyton right now...

I'm just saying:

1. It's a discussion that, I think, at least now can be entertained, with Peyton likely nearly done and Eli in the prime of his career and seemingly only getting better

2. The fact that Eli, it seems, plays better on the road and in the clutch/playoffs/SB than his brother...look at all his road wins vs. Peyton's troubles sometimes outside of a domed stadium/his home field in Indy, and then look at the SB performances--Eli's 2-for-2, and in both cases he won the game with some tight passing at just the right moment, and Peyton's 1-for-2, easily besting the Bears, but throwing the losing INT against the Bountygate Saints.



I'd still easily put Peyton in the Top 10, probably Top 5 I'd go Montana/Elway/Favre/Brady/Peyton, off the top of my head...

I'm just saying, where once Eli was clearly good but not the "lesser" of the two great Manning Bros. QBs, now, I think, in the years coming, we might see that be reevaluated as Eli has that extra ring, has better success on the road, and is hitting his prime...Peyton still has the huge stats and years of success and the better record, though, so again, not at all a set argument, Peyton's still the better of the two, right now, just saying, that discussion COULD start to occur.

Look to (please contain your hearty laughter...) the Detroit Lions...Matthew Stafford. Put up (I think) 3rd best numbers in the league last year, and he's still young.

Ok, that makes sense. The only thing I would add is that you never got the impression, either statistically or using the eyeball test, that Eli could be an all-time great QB, which you got with Peyton almost immediately. Let me put it this way: at the peak of his career, Eli is among the best quarterbacks currently in the NFL; by the peak of Peyton's career, he was considered among the best quarterbacks ever.

Putting Eli in your list and not Big Ben is a tragedy.

Concerning unibrow, though, every NFL QB thinks he's the best. They are competitors out to prove everyone wrong. He's got a chip on his shoulder, and is a decent QB, but Flacco isn't even top 5... MAYBE top 10.

I think at this point Big Ben is past his prime and peaked with his ONE Super Bowl. Eli, with his TWO Super Bowls, is just hitting his prime as a QB. After last season, the two shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. That being said, I agree that Flacco is *maybe* top ten, but consider the other QBs in the league:

Eli, Peyton, Brees, Brady, Stafford, Rivers, Ryan, Schaub, Rodgers, Newton, Vick...even Alex Smith, Kevin Kolb, and Matt Hasselbeck had better passer ratings last season than Flacco. Being on a team with a great defense and great running game will obscure your QB's faults. Case in point: 2000 Ravens with Trent Dilfer as QB.

Last year, Trent Dilfer recommended that Joe Flacco embrace the view that he kind of sucked. Dilfer said that he realizes he's the worst QB to ever win a Super Bowl, and he wears that as a badge of pride. At that point, you've effectively silenced your critics, because what are they going to say? Dilfer says that Flacco has gotten too defensive about being criticized and it's really just making him worse.

Dilfer's awesome.

Anyway, yeah, I think Matt Stafford deserves to be in the conversation of current QB's too. And Eli won his first ring due to a really crazy catch sticking, Peyton lost a Super Bowl against guys who were deliberately trying to hurt him. In any event, Eli is good, but I think he's too streaky to be truly better than Peyton. Peyton has bad games. Eli has bad stretches.

So, personal ranks right now.

1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Brees
3. Tom Brady
4. Matt Stafford
5. Eli Manning
6. Matt Schaub
7. Phillip Rivers (had an off year, but that's also partly the team's fault)
8. Mike Vick
9. Jay Cutler (wow, how the Bears bombed without him)
10. Big Ben Roethlisberger

The Bears also had 4-5 other injuries at the time. It was a difficult season last year. Hopefully this year will be better.

Forte got hurt after Cutler, which makes me think the Cutler injury was more significant (they were bad after Cutler got hurt, then worse when Forte got hurt).

Sacred I like that list, although I disagree with it, but I ask: what's your criteria? Is it quarterbacks you would want for one game or one season? Or is it who you'd like to see your team get this season? The Colts, for example, seem to think that a rookie is better for their situation than Peyton Manning, because of the long-term possibilities (even if he's healthy Peyton most likely only has a couple of seasons left in him) and the cost. I think that's wrong but I understand why they did it.

I believe Forte was pulled with an injury after Cutler but there were issues before that. Either way our o line needs major work which is why major needed players are getting hurt.

I honestly don't really like Cutler, but that more because of his attitude then anything else. It's the same reason I don't like Tom Brady. Their egos are to big to be in the same room as them.

That's who I think are the current 10 best. Peyton will need to show me he can recover from that injury before he gets back on it. At that point I'd put him at 4 and slide everyone down.

Cutler got hurt making a tackle after an INT, so the O line had little to do with his injury, and Forte was already saying the Bears were more or less running him to death, so his was likely more of a playcalling related injury than anything else.

I have only one thing to add to this discussion, then I'm off to other threads.

This NFL season proved, definitively, that Peyton Manning is MVP of the entire league. When Tom Brady was out for most of a season, the Pats still did respectably well. With Peyton out, the Colts fell apart. The team was, for the last decade, /not/ the Indianapolis Colts; the team was the Indianapolis Peyton Mannings. The man redefined the game. He was and is the best.

^This is not smart. The Colts were slipping. I would have put money down before the season that the Colts would not have made the playoffs even with Manning.

BigBen's ONE superbowl?

Umm, BigBen has been to THREE Superbowls and has TWO rings. While people like to point out his first superbowl he played terribly, check out the game at mile high for the chance to get to the superbowl. He owned Champ Bailey (who was in his prime) the WHOLE GAME.

The second superbowl he pulled off better passes than Eli this last superbowl.

I hate everyone getting on the Eli boat. He's a good QB, no doubt, but he isn't everything everyone is making him out to be. He had a good superbowl with good passes, but he is streaky as shit.

Ben has had two seasons of bad injuries. Let's see how he does this year when his offense isn't bubblescreens and deep passes, shall we?

@SD: Mike Vick isn't anything but a mediocre QB that runs, Jay Cutler hasn't done anything to prove he's in a class of the top 10 except hype, Matt Schaub hasn't won a postseason game with a high octane offense...

Matt Schaub hasn't been in a postseason game with a high octane offense, and it's funny that you wave the injury excuse over Ben but not Schaub's last year.

I mean, I think we can all agree that the Texans' main deficiency, prior to last year, was having a shit defense, and that was exacerbated with Peyton Manning being in the division. Schaub was hurt before they got to the playoffs in the first year they had a legitimate shot at it, with factors outside of his control hurting their chances the previous years.

But really, I admit my top ten might not be the best, let's see one from someone else.

Matthew Stafford....Matthew Stafford...Took the shittiest team in the league almost to the top in his first full year of play...just *wait* until this year. Mark my words, boys...

We'll see. I always feel bad for the Browns they're like the Cubbies of the football world.

Peyton Manning is (was...) a choker...Could take 'em TO the playoffs...Onyl twice to the Superbowl...only one win. Not the best in the league. GREAT...but not the best.

Oh he is. I'm pretty interested in how he'll play in Denver.

Peyton>Eli

Looks at their stats on top of that look at the Colts without him.
2-14 in 2011, vs 10-6 with virtually the same team.

Colts relied on Peyton, while the Giants has pretty good team not counting Eli.

Peyton was basically couching their entire O-line and was calling most of the plays which is why they fell apart. It's also why I said Peyton > Eli. That takes some massive talent to be able to do that.