I want to first and foremost apologize to those who took offense to it. No one should take personal offense to the rankings that I made. I put them in an order, which did not need to happen. But as a whole I would take the top 5 quarterbacks, with no particular order: Brady, Brees, Manning, Rivers, Rodgers.
I said I did things based almost purely on stats. With those stats I whole heartedly believe the rankings that I put.
The biggest controversy came to in regards to Tom Brady. I don't like him, never have, probably never will. Did that play into my decision a little bit? I would like to think no, but it probably did. I argued for his position in the post, but to just clear the air, here are some random thoughts:
1) Most of the time it goes Brady, Manning or Manning, Brady.
2) Like I said with my tweet last night, "I fully intended to go Manning 1 Brady 2. But studying the stats I felt compelled to go differently."
3) I wanted to be a little bit different, but only if that stats would allow me.
4) I have said multiple times that Tom Brady is a better quarterback today than he ever was during the team's multiple Super Bowl run. What I don't like (actually as a Colts fan I love this, but for sake of this discussion I don't like it) is that his team, when fully dependent upon him, can't win in the post season.
5) I feel like the quarterbacks I ranked ahead of him have had to overcome a lot more. Brady landed in a great situation. The others mostly helped lift their teams to greatness.
6) Why Rivers over Brady? Rivers has a loser coach. Brady has one of the best ever. Rivers team has continually gone down all around. Brady has had stability (by choice the Pats cut players left and right). Rivers does better under pressure. Brady does terribly under pressure. Rivers has better stats. I'm not choosing Rivers because I hate Brady, in all reality I'm, as a Colts fan, much more scared of Rivers than Brady. I hate Philip Rivers. I just feel like Rivers has done more for him team recently than Brady.
7) Brady won MVP. They play in the AFC East. They got a great gift vs. Chicago (a team that's defense could have stopped them had it not been on snow). They squeaked by vs the Packers with a depleted team (no Aaron Rodgers). They squeaked by the Colts (Meriweather made sure Collie would end up back on the sidelines) with a depleted team/receiving corps. Squeaked by San Diego. Squeaked by Baltimore. Other wins included vs the Bengals, Lions, and Steelers (playing their first game with their 3rd strings OT). They were not the juggernaut everyone thought they were. The game plan and Offensive line kept Brady's picks down. He had a great season, but when pressured he is a way below average quarterback.8) The question was who are your top 5 QB's now. Peyton- Carries that team on his back. Rodgers- Just won a Super Bowl and looked phenomenal doing it. Rivers- Young, good talent, has the potential to carry a team (just look at this stats).
9) When bad times hit, I see the Pats get chippy, and lose composure. That is the mark of an undisciplined team. I don't see that much out of the teams that their quarterback sits atop this list.
10) Finally, I just think we will see a new Brady next year. Maybe their schedule will get harder (probably not though), but we will see them with a lesser offensive line, meaning more pressure, meaning less skill. I may be proven wrong. We shall see.
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