As I was engaged in my Monday ritual of digging into Peter King’s MMQB, I was unamazed and unimpressed with his usual list of MVP candidates.  What where all five of them…?  You guessed it – QB’s.  Surprise, surprise.
Peyton
Favre
Brees
Brady
Rivers

Hello, there’s more to these teams than just their QBs. Can we all stop focusing on the prima donnas and media-hyped storylines please?!   What about Chris Johnson?!  What about, um… Adrian Peterson?  What about…, um… what about…

That’s when it hit me.  What are the other storylines?  I’m sure there are some, but I really can’t think of any that stick out more than any of those five QBs.  I’ve written about it before, but beyond Chris Johnson, I don’t think anyone else is really in the conversation.  As to Peterson, I’ve watched every Vikings game and I can tell you this – if Favre isn’t there, the Vikings are 6-4 or 7-3 at best.  Teams are loading up the box and making Favre beat them.  Thankfully for the Vikings, he’s doing it.  Look at Favre’s numbers.  21 TD’s – only 3 Int’s.  That’s pretty amazing.  But that’s the point – he’s HAD to be amazing or the Vikes wouldn’t be winning.  Would Sage or Tarvaris be able to do what Favre has done? Not a chance.

What about the other teams? 

The Colts – what’s their record without Peyton this year?  .500?  Maybe.

Brady and the Pats – they’re 7-3 WITH Brady.  Without him (and without Cassell), .500 or below.

Brees is having an MVP year.  The Saints would still be decent without him, but not 10-0 good.  Again, like the Vikes, probably 6-4 or 7-3 (their division isn’t real strong either).

We haven’t even mentioned Big Ben. Since when did the Steelers become a passing team – they’re the #4 passing team in the league. Go figure.

In fact, every division leader, with the Exception of the NFC East and AFC North, have HAD to have excellent play from their QB’s – and in all honesty, that’s really what’s separating them from the pack of mediocre teams.  So maybe more than other years, this really is the Year of the QB. 

If you need any more hard evidence, of the top 11 passing offenses in the NFL – seven of those are the division leaders (Colts – 1; New England – 2; Arizona – 3; New Orleans – 5; Dallas – 9; Minnesota – 10; San Diego – 11). The only division leader outside the Top 11 is Cincinnati – 20^th.  The other teams in the top 10 in passing offense – all in (or tied for) 2^nd place in their divisions.

So I’m not sure anyone can really argue against Peyton, Favre and Brees being the top MVP candidates.  If the Titans perform a miraculous comeback, maybe CJ gets in the discussion, but I don’t see anyone else getting there.  Look at the crop of QB’s we’re getting to experience right now.

Sure-fire Hall of Famers:
Peyton
Brady
Warner
Favre

Super Bowl winners:
Big Ben
Eli Manning

Quality performers:
Drew Brees
Aaron Rodgers
Philip Rivers
Donovan McNabb

Exciting young guys:
Ryan
Flacco
Stafford
Sanchez

With all these guys, it almost balances out Jamarcus Russell.

So I for one am changing my tune.  Instead of arguing and fighting the over-propensity to glorify the QB position – this year, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the ride.  We may not have another run like this for a while.

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