Before Joe Theismann films a Super Beta Prostate commercial, does Lawrence Taylor tell him to "break a leg"?

            (current mood: ashamed)

           

            Hello, fellow primordial ooze at the bottom of the food chain but the top of the pond.  This is AQ, Pond Scum Sports’ fifth columnist (in more ways than one), back from a vacation at Mt. Rushmore.  Well, actually, I’m going back there soon to bring you the American League’s Mt. Rushmore, followed by the Mts. Rushmore of the two football conferences.  You’ll see those articles in October.

            So I’ve been watching a lot of NFL Primetime clips on Youtube, which one outstanding user- Andy Provin- has been periodically uploading.  For those of you who have been living under a rock, Primetime hasn’t been on (in its original format) since the 2005 season, except during the playoffs.  Similar segments to Primetime- called The Blitz- air on SportsCenter the night after the games, but The Blitz doesn’t show highlights of all the games.  The loss of Primetime left a huge void in The Highlight Zone of sports.  You can download a good selection of the highlight music from Primetime and The Blitz here.  You're welcome.

            One thing that struck me about Boomer and TJ’s commentary was that they used to get very excited if a quarterback (or both quarterbacks) had a 300-yard game.  Football was quite a different game 20, 15, or even 10 years ago.  Before I was born (almost 26 years ago!) QB’s had thrown for 400 yards in a game 94 times.  Since then, QB’s have thrown for 400 yards 182 times!  There were 20 400-yard performances in 2011 alone.  This recent change in the importance of passing has led to increased scrutiny of quarterbacks’ performances, as opposed to the performances of everyone else on the team.  QB’s are blamed for losses more than pitchers are.  Baseball is 90% pitching, but football is a far lower percentage passing.

            No one blames QB’s for losing (and praises them for winning) more than Ron Jaworski, an Eagle legend turned ESPN commentator.  A QB with an about-average 73-69-1 record who places emphasis on winning.  A QB of a three-point favorite who couldn’t beat Jim Freakin' Plunkett in Super Bowl XV (the Raiders won 27-10).  Yeah, winning matters more than passing yards, TD-INT ratio, passer rating, ability to perform outside the pocket….

            I decided to create my own quarterback countdown for the 2013 season.  It doesn’t take into account “career value,” but “value during the 2012 season and the start of 2013.”  Not all of the QB’s in my countdown are the same as his, because some of the 2012 starters are injured now.  Here we go:

            32. Christian Ponder (yes, the Vikings made the playoffs last year, but it was all thanks to Adrian Peterson’s explosive comeback)

            31. Chad Henne

            30. Brandon Weeden

            29. Mike Glennon (who hasn’t started yet for Tampa Bay)!

            28. Sam Bradford

            27. Geno Smith

            26. Terrelle Pryor

            25. Carson Palmer

            24. EJ Manuel

            23. Ryan Tannehill

            22. Jake Locker

            21. Michael Vick

            20. Andy Dalton

            19. Alex Smith

            18. Jay Cutler

            17. Colin Kaepernick (why is he running the ball so often when he’s got a great running back?)

            16. Cam Newton

            15. Matthew Stafford (would be ranked much higher if he could win more games.  Oh no, I’m turning into Ron Jaworski!)

            14. Tony Romo

            13. Matt Schaub

            12. Robert Griffin III

            11. Eli Manning

            10. Andrew Luck (Jaworski put him at #10 also)

            9. Ben Roethlisberger

            8. Philip Rivers (he needs a defense that can play 60)

            7. Russell Wilson

            6. Joe Flacco

            5. Matt Ryan

            4. Tom Brady

            3. Peyton Manning

            2. Aaron Rodgers

            1. Drew Brees

            Now, in terms of career value, and not based on their projected performance this season… here are the QB’s who will definitely make it into the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility:

            1. Tom Brady

            2. Peyton Manning

            3. Drew Brees

            And the ones who will most likely make it into the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility:

            4. Ben Roethlisberger

            5. Eli Manning.  Both won two Super Bowls; the only eligible QB with two Super Bowl rings who’s not enshrined in Canton is (you guessed it) Jim Freakin' Plunkett.

           

            And the ones who I expect to end up there if they perform at least half as well as they currently do for another few years:

            6. Aaron Rodgers

            7. Joe Flacco

            8. Philip Rivers

            Others who will have to step up in the playoffs if they’re to have any chance of enshrinement:

            9. Matt Ryan

            10. Tony Romo

           

            Those were my top 10 active QB’s based on career value.