The NFL Top 100: Going Deeper - Offense

Agree that it’s hard to isolate a single season when ranking players. Career achievement will always creep in.

Super bowl rings aside, I actually agree with Brady’s no 1 ranking, if based on the 2010 season which was arguably one of his best from a stats perspective. Also, Brady is freakishly consistent if anything.

But from what I have seen of comments by the players, I am not the only one.

Lists of this type are always more of an entertainment exercise than anything else and should be viewed as such. Truth be known, this specific list came about as a way to increase viewer ratings for the NFL Network during an otherwise boring off season. They can only rerun “The Top Ten Left Handed Quarterbacks of All Time” so many times before even the most die hard fans stop watching.

Arian Foster is WAY too high… unless we’re JUST talking about last year.

But Schaub doesn’t. And I would put Eli over Mcnabb at least. I’m not a huge fan of Eli, but he’s better than Mcnabb at this point. At WR, I would put Calvin Johnson over Roddy White. That’s about it. Pretty solid list and can’t really argue with too much. QB position being my biggest issue.

to rank the players going in to the 2011 season. I don’t think there was much more than that. It wasn’t just about what they did last year all the time and it wasn’t always about a players career. More like a guess on who will be the best in the 2011 season

The NFL Network said they polled some players, but left the criteria kind of vague. They didn’t give it any parameters. Some players voted for just 2011, some voted for 2011 + career, and some voted any other way you can imagine. Just who was polled, no one is saying, but there have been Superstar players say they were never polled.

That said, here’s my take on the subject. I do not like these lists. Even if we narrowed the criteria down to just the play of 2011 and had only GM’s and coaches and scouts— those who know how to evaluate play, the list would still boil down to very different opinions. Just look at draft rankings every year.

This list wasn’t the worst. I especially hate the “greatest _ of all time” lists. It’s hard enough to compare and quantify the merits of today’s players. Its futile comparing players from one era to another. We’ll never know if Barry Sanders could do __ with Dallas’ offensive line, or if Emmit Smith could hold a torch to Jim Brown. We’ll never know what accomplishments Archie Manning would have achieved on a good team. There is no exact way to quantify how great a player is because many contributions do not fall under a statistical category.

Is Tom Brady really that good, or does the TEAM around him give him a great advantage? What about Joe Montana? I’m not 90, so I really can’t say one is better than Otto Graham. Oh, and this player won __ Super Bowls is the lamest. Mark Brunell won a Super Bowl— as a 40 year old back-up who stank up his token start when we rested the starters. Randall Gay won two Super Bowls. Does that make him better than Nnamdi Asomugha? I can’t say John Elway is better than Marino because he won 2 Super Bowls. He lost 3 and didn’t win those 2 until Terrell Davis. I can’t say the Steelers of the 70’s are more of a team than the Niners of the 80’s.

It’s “fun”, but none of us are qualified to make the judgement, and there is no real way to quantify everything about a player needed to make the judgement. And even if there was, it would be many different opinions. Nothing scientific about the process, so the result is bunk.

My only real thought is “Who is Brian Waters?”

My only real thought is “do you live under a rock?”

Waters is a five time Pro Bowler and the 2009 Walter Payton Man of the Year. He was presented his trophy on national TV just prior to Super Bowl XLIV. The Saints were in that one, btw. Not sure how you missed him. Were you helping out in the kitchen?

Also, why would Romo NOT be on that list? Prior to being injured, he was consistently Top 10-15 QB material, since taking over as the starter in Dallas. You obviously have to take career TRENDS into account, not necessarily achievements. To that extent, I agree with you that McNabb doesn’t truly belong in anyone’s Top 12 going forward. Not Flacco, though. He’s still very much within the range at which he’s ranked, as are several other QBs not mentioned, yet presumably not too much further down the position list.

Brandon Lloyd had a great season last year, yet has been anything but consistent throughout his career. On top of which, his production seemed to tail off once Tebow took the reins from Orton. While I think he’ll remain Denver’s top WR, I don’t see him making the same size waves on the big lake in 2011. Same goes for Mike Williams, whose success was a product of Hasselbeck targets, not YAC. There’s no telling if Matt will be back or not. Even if he is, they drafted Kris Durham, who’s bound to cut into those already pedestrian numbers.

1. Brady: Give #1 to Brady for accomplishments alone. Bear in mind he has had the most complete team to surround him during his entire career. Great Coaching and scheme hasn’t hurt either. His INT to TD rating is always one of the best and this is due both to his skill as well as the team around him.

2. Peyton. Has been the best (IMO) clutch QB during his tenure. His 4th quarter comebacks have been well documented. The only time he doesn’t seem to live up to this hype is in the must win play-off situations. IE Against the Chargers and most importantly against the Superbowl Champs The New Orleans Saints, WHO DAT!

3. Drew Brees. We all love him and he is #1 in our hearts. His ability over come challenges, both physical as well as surrounding talent, to carry the team makes him a #1 QB in this category. He now has the surrounding cast both in team talent and Coaching to give both of the above QB’s a true run for the #1 position. Time will tell. Some think last year showed a declining Drew Brees, but I think it was a team failure that lead to his reduced success rate as well as his increased INT rate. All of the above being said, Drew lead this team to the NFC game in his first season, and ultimately to the Lombardi in spite of having to play with players like HWWNBN. So I think Drew has done the most, with the least, for the longest and is 1st in this respect.

Patriots suck!!! That should make everyone feel better.