Top QB in the NFL is Brady or Manning or is it?

Ask any of your friends who is the best quarterback in the NFL?  You will most likely get a variation of answers that include Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and possibly Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.

The funny part about the current quarterback debate is that it's predicated on past success and not current success.  If you ask any intelligent football mind they will likely tell you Brady or Manning are the two best quarterbacks in the game, yet Manning won his only Super Bowl in February of 2007 and he owns a 9-10 career playoff record.  While Brady owns a 14-5 playoff record and three Super Bowl victories, he hasn't won a playoff game since the 2007 AFC Championship Game and you can’t forget about the crushing Super Bowl loss to the Giants when Brady and the Patriot offense was M.I.A. most of the game.  Last season put Brady in the same conversation of what Manning has been doing for years, great regular season, disappointing postseason.  

The Brady supporters will tell you that he has three rings, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.  Since starting an astonishing 10-0 in the playoffs, Brady has lost 5 of his last 9 playoff games and hasn't looked good doing it. The Peyton Manning retractors say that he puts up numbers in the regular season and disappears in the playoffs; well the last four years would say that Manning and Brady are far more similar than they are different.  Since his last Super Bowl win, Ben Roethlisberger has won two rings, while Brees, Rodgers and Eli Manning have all won a Super Bowl.

 

It's time we all looked at the other worthy quarterbacks. Assuming that the criterion to be considered elite is having at least one Super Bowl win, it’s a five player debate.

 Aaron Rodgers recently won his first Super Bowl last February over Ben Roethlisberger, who already has two rings of his own. Rodgers’ Packers were essentially untouched in the offseason, plus they get back RB Ryan Grant and TE Jermichael Finley, who were lost to injury last season.  Rodgers took the mantle from Brett Favre and ran with it, but as the 2011 season comes up the Packers are not the favorites in their own conference, that belongs to the Free Agency winners, the Philadelphia Eagles. 

 

Brees defeated Manning two years ago in the Super Bowl but is stuck in the shadow of Manning despite having comparable numbers for his age and a Super Bowl victory to his credit. 

Still hanging far under the radar is Roethlisberger, who despite having two Super Bowl rings is still thought of as a by-product of a system and not the determining factor behind the Steelers success.  Throughout their history the Steelers have always won with defense and a solid running game and that is no different today and that history is what plagues Big Ben. 

In his second Super Bowl win, Roethlisberger lead a game-winning drive culminated by a terrific throw on the run to Santonio Holmes.  A game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl is usually stuff of legends but not for Roethlisberger, he will always be looked at in the second tier of quarterbacks by many.

Despite all that I have mentioned, with the game on the line I would still take Brady, but the competition for the best quarterback in the game is still very much up for debate.

Randy Moss Retires

Randy Moss called it quits and retired from the NFL after 13 entertaining seasons Monday in a career that spanned four different teams.

In the 1998 NFL Draft Randy Moss was selected 21st overall by the Minnesota Vikings out of Marshall.  Many teams passed on him and he made every one of those team regret that decision over his 13 year career.

Moss electrified the league from day one in Minnesota as quite possibly the greatest physical specimen to every play wide receiver in the NFL.  His combination of size and speed made him an all time great deep threat on his patented "9" route.

The numbers are absolutely incredible, 153 touchdown catches (2nd all-time), fastest to 5,000 receiving yards, youngest to get to 100 receiving touchdowns and of course the 23 touchdown 2007 season with the New England Patriots.

Throughout his career many people criticized Moss for his "I play when I want to play" attitude but the talent was unquestionable.  The controversy continued to follow Moss throughout his career, after Moss scored a touchdown in the Wild Card Playoff game in 2004 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay and did a "fake mooning" celebration to the crowd, he was fined $10,000.  Upon being asked how he would pay the fine to the league office he uttered this gem to reporters, "Straight Cash Homey."

After spending two years wasting away in Oakland, Moss was traded on draft day 2007 to the New England Patriots for a fourth round pick and the result was the greatest offensive combination between a receiver (Moss) and a quarterback (Tom Brady) for one season in NFL history.  Brady threw for 50 touchdowns and Moss caught 23, both all time records.  The Patriots fell short of their perfect season losing to the Giants 17-14, Moss did have the go ahead touchdown late in the 4th quarter.

Moss played on a 15-1 team ('99 Minnesota Vikings) and 16-0 team ('07 Patriots) and neither won the Super Bowl.  Moss was often compared to Terrell Owens, but Moss had better speed and had much better hands. 

Moss' overall body of work is the closest thing we have seen to Jerry Rice in his prime.  Moss was one of a kind and we will likely never see another Randy Moss.

The NFL is back

The NFL is back in a big way with training camp in full swing and most of the big-time free agents signed on with their respective teams.  While you can't win a championship in July, you can certainly lose one.  Here are a few teams that have made or missed on some deals early on.

New England
As usual the New England Patriots are taking on reclamation projects, in the past it was Corey Dillon and Randy Moss and the 2011 version will be Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth.  As the Patriots always do, they were able to acquire their pieces with limited risk giving up only two 6th round picks for Haynesworth and a 5th round pick for Ochocinco.  Whether it works will remain to be seen but, nobody will be surprised if their latest acquisitions have stellar seasons this fall.

New York Jets

Going into his third season Rex Ryan is still looking for a Super Bowl victory that he has guaranteed the last two season and in each season he has fell short on the road in the AFC Championship Game.  The Jets helped their young quarterback Mark Sanchez by signing big-play threat Santonio Holmes to a 5 year/$50 million contract but they lost out on the big fish in free agency, cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha when he signed Friday afternoon with the Philadelphia Eagles.  It seemed like foregone conclusion that the Jets would get Nnamdi and form a terrifying cornerback tandem with Darrelle Revis but now the Jets are scrambling a bit and they absolutely HAVE to re-sign Antonio Cromartie or they will have a hard time with pass heavy New England and Indianapolis.

Carolina Panthers
While some said that drafting quarterback Cam Newton number one overall in April's draft was a mistake the Panthers are certainly giving Newton a lot of help. Newton may not play right away, allowing second year quarterback Jimmy Clausen to make an impression on new coach Ron Rivera but I have to believe it won't be long before Owner Jerry Richardson will want to see his franchise player on the field. The Panters have given their fans some hope for the future by  re-signing Charles Johnson (DE) and Jon Beason (LB) as well as adding tight ends Jeremy Shockey and Greg Olsen.  Carolina is very young and likely won't threaten anyone in the NFC South but they certainly will be exciting to watch and may solidify the NFC South as the best division in football.

As we approach the first set of pre-season games it will be interesting to see how the chips fall and how the new acquisition's affect their new teams.

Derek Jeter's 15 years of greatness

Derek Sanderson Jeter will likely join the exclusive 3,000 hit club this weekend in the Bronx.  He will be only the 28th player to ever reach that plateau.  Yet, for the last two seasons we have spent most of our time poking all the holes in the 37-year-old's hitting when what we should be doing is celebrating him.

Since his ML debut in 1995, Jeter has compiled seven 200 hit seasons and a career batting average of .312.  Yes he is not the player he used to be, that is clear to anyone, but what doesn't appear to be clear to anyone is what we will be losing when Jeter retires and heads to Cooperstown.

He was a key piece of five championship teams, including the 1998-2001 Yankees, quite possibly the final dynasty we will have see thanks to the big spending of free agency.  Jeter never won an MVP, never hit 25 home runs, only totaled 100 RBI once but all along the way you could pencil him in for a .300 average, 200 hits and 100 runs scored each season in the Bronx.

In an era when nearly everyone was using some form of enhancement it appears "The Captain" was one of the few that is not even questioned.  He will be a first ballot hall of fame inductee and we will like never see another superstar athlete handle the big apple the way Jeter has.  He grew up a Yankee fan and knew what all the tradition meant and embraced it.  Think about the fact that Jeter has lived under the microscope of "Page 6" for his entire career and he has been without scandal every step of the way.

What many people want to talk about are his diminishing batting average and his lack of quickness at shortstop.  I like to think about "The Flip" or his walk-off home run in game 4 of the 2001 World Series and of course No. 2 going full speed into the stands to make a catch.

Like I said there will never be a player quite like Derek Sanderson Jeter ever again.

Introduction

Hello sports fans! My name is Dennis and I'm an aspiring sports writer. I've created this blog to share my opinions concerning current events in the world of sports.

A little bit about me: I'm a student at Indiana University in Blommington, IN. I'm currently completing an internship with the South Bend Tribune in South Bend, IN, but will be returning to Bloomington this Fall. I will be graduating in December 2011 and am excited about moving on to the next phase of my life.