Monday’s poll and question of the day: Who is the best quarterback in the NFL?
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As a bonus for you, the reader, we have combined the poll and question of the day into one handy feature for today only. (OK, it’s really not that exciting). Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get to vote on it, then leave a comment telling us why you voted the way you did. We’re still waiting for our first reporter to check in with his answer, but until then, start voting: Who is the best quarterback in the NFL?
Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times
The league’s best quarterback? Tom Brady is inching back to that spot, but I want to see him do it in a typical setting and not some slip-sliding snow bowl. Drew Brees has the league’s best passer rating and clearly elevates the players around him, but he needs to get his team to the Super Bowl. Same goes for Philip Rivers. It’s Peyton Manning who’s at the top of the ladder and heading for his fourth MVP award. Nobody has better control of an offense or is more meticulous than Manning. Even offensive coordinator Tom Moore concedes that he doesn’t “call plays†but instead suggests concepts to Manning, and that the quarterback makes the decisions. And just look at the way Manning, after losing Anthony Gonzalez in the opener, has turned Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie into something more than bit players. Manning is still the man.
Ethan J. Skolnick, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Now that triple-digit ratings have become more commonplace on the passing charts than on a NASCAR track (with Tom Brady’s 99.0 ranking eighth), it’s virtually impossible to rely on statistics to determine the league’s best quarterback. So it comes down to personal preference, and which guy you’d want leading your offense if you needed to win a big game and didn’t have elite complementary pieces at all positions. For now, until Drew Brees proves it in the playoffs, Ben Roethlisberger goes a prolonged period without interceptions and Brady does what he did against the Titans against a team that cares, it’s Peyton Manning. No Marvin Harrison. No Anthony Gonzalez. No Tony Dungy. No consistent running game. No problem. He’s never played better.