Top Ten List of the Decade
Before I finish the Top Ten plant lists of 2009, and before I start on the Top Ten cactus of the decade list, I thought I would start with something less controversial:
Top Ten NFL Quarterbacks of the Decade
Now, to be sure, the final 2 are pretty well predetermined. And don’t think the fact that I’ve been a Patriots fan for 35 years, since my dad got us season tickets to the very lousy pre-Grogan Pats in 1974, or that I’ve been a Michigan fan almost 30 years will have anything to do with my final choice. Nothing at all.
First we have a couple that didn’t quite make the list.
Jake Delhomme had one great year mid decade and one good superbowl but that’s not enough to make it onto this list.
Drew Bledsoe – overall career numbers would be good enough (45k yds and 250 TDs), plus a Superbowl season even if he was injured for most of it, but his best was in the 90s.
Onwards to the 10!
10. Steve McNair – if the NFL can give him 3 pro-bowls and an MVP that’s good enough for #10.
9. Daunte Culpepper might be one of the weakest QBs on one of the weakest teams right now, but the first half of the decade he was the best with the Vikings.
8. Kurt Warner sure is good, but is he top ten good? Almost 30k yds and almost 200 TDs for the decade puts him right here. Plus he started off the decade with a classic Superbowl win.
7. Matt Hasselbeck – 3 time Pro Bowl, 5 playoffs and 1 Superbowl. Plus look at those gaudy numbers – 24k yards, 150+ TDs.
6. Donovan McNabb – 5 time Pro Bowl, 1 Superbowl and a massive comeback. Plus 30k yds in the decade is nothing to sneeze at.
5. Ben Roethlisberger – close to 20k yards in only 6 seasons, 2 Superbowl wins, including one in which he played well.
4. Drew Brees – I’m putting him pretty high up here because his best seasons have come at the end of the decade, leading this years Saints and with last years awfully gaudy numbers: 5,069 65% 34
3. Brett Favre – an easy choice who may have been the top if not for his damn lingering, plus his best years were in the ’90s. Good cameo in “Something About Mary”.
The final two are…
…no surprise at all.
2. Peyton Manning – Over 40,000 yards in the decade alone, plus one championship too. 3 MVPs seems like a lot of baubles.
1. Tom Brady – 3 championships, plus one of the greatest single seasons ever are hard to ignore. 4,806 68.9% and 50TDs is too much. Best QB of the Decade and if one could properly judge QBs from different eras, right up there with Sammy Baugh for Best Evah.
