The Blue Line: The Golden Age of the Quarterback

In the Denver Broncos’ Week 7 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, quarterback Peyton Manning made NFL history, as he passed Brett Favre for most career touchdown passes thrown. At 38 years old, Manning shows no signs of slowing down, either. His record will continue to grow, perhaps too far to be caught.

Manning has shattered NFL records since joining Denver. Many believe that he should, though, considering the tremendous depth of his receivers. While nothing can dispute Peyton’s unparalleled success, perhaps some of his adversaries would also post staggering numbers with Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Wes Welker and Julius Thomas at their disposal.

Quarterbacks not named Peyton are enjoying tremendous recent success, too. And they’re doing it without the best receiving corps in football. In the month of October, New England’s Tom Brady has thrown 14 touchdown passes and has not thrown a single interception. Ben Roethlisberger is currently leading the Pittsburgh Steelers, ESPN’s 22nd ranked team after Week 6, in a battle for the highly contested AFC North.

The quarterback position took the NFL by storm in Week 8. Brady continued his historic career, throwing five touchdown passes with an 85.7 percent completion rate and 148.4 quarterback rating (QBR) against the Chicago Bears. Facing the New Orleans Saints this week, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers threw his first interception since Week 1; his QBR remains at 81.6 on the season, third in the league.

Roethlisberger eviscerated the Indianapolis Colts defense for six touchdowns and 522 yards, coming just 32 yards shy of the NFL’s all time single-game passing record. He did, however, become the first quarterback in history to throw for multiple 500-yard games.

Despite the outrageous numbers quarterbacks are putting up nowadays, a quarterback is rarely considered great without winning championships. At just 25 years old, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson led the franchise to its first Super Bowl title in February. At 28, Joe Flacco, with an MVP performance, led the Baltimore Ravens to their second Super Bowl title in franchise history in 2013.

I feel that far too many football fans take the current level of quarterback play for granted. There are at least five first ballot hall-of-fame quarterbacks playing right now – Manning, Brady, Rodgers, Roethlisberger and Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

Although Roethlisberger cannot statistically compare to Rodgers, Brees, Brady and Manning, his postseason record of 10-4 and his two Super Bowl rings send him to the Hall of Fame.

Rodgers is 5-4 in the postseason and led the Packers to victory in the only Super Bowl he started. His poise and his ability to lead game-winning drives under the pressure of time, along with his ability to compete (and more often than not win) make him a sure Hall of Famer.

Brees has had many doubters throughout his career. Most people believed a quarterback under 6-feet tall could not produce. Additionally, the Saints were hardly a competitor until Brees’s arrival. He silenced both groups when he brought the Super Bowl to New Orleans in 2009.

This upcoming weekend, the Broncos visit the New England Patriots in a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship game. This weekend’s matchup marks the 16th time that Manning and Brady have played against each other, as the pair will try again to determine who is the better quarterback.

Manning supporters point to his countless records as evidence that he is the better player, while Brady’s followers say that his three Super Bowl victories and 18 playoff wins, compared to Manning’s 11, make Brady superior. It does not matter which quarterback you support. If you have followed football in the 21st century, you can identify the top two quarterbacks as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

This duo has been omnipresent atop nearly every analyst’s quarterback rankings for about a decade. Even as they enter their late 30s, they show no signs of leaving those rankings any time soon. The inevitable truth, though, is that they are reaching the end of their extraordinary careers.

Fear not, though, for the amount of talent wielded by today’s younger quarterbacks is astounding. Dual-threat quarterbacks like Washington Redskins’ Robert Griffin III, San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick and Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton are astonishing athletes.

In his rookie year, “RGIII” led the Redskins to their first divisional title since 1999, at which point Griffin himself was just 9 years old. Kaepernick won the Niners’ starting job after Alex Smith went down with injury, and has added a new dimension to their offensive game. Newton, or “SuperCam,” led the 12-4 Panthers to the second seed in the NFC last season.

The best current young quarterback in the NFL, though, is Andrew Luck. Luck has led the Colts – a team that went 2-14 the year before he was drafted – to back-to-back playoff appearances. Now in his third season, Luck is on his way to shattering personal records. With the Colts offensive weapons like T.Y. Hilton and veteran Reggie Wayne, Luck is almost guaranteed a bright future.

An NFL without Brees, Brady and Manning is right around the corner. The future remains bright, though, with a plethora of young talent.