I wouldn't necessarily include Ben Roethlisberger in the group of young new quarterbacks in the league as he has been around for a number of years and is a hardened veteran at this point, but at 28, he is still one of the younger quarterbacks in the current group of elite QBs. In my mind, that group includes Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Roethlisberger. But look at what has happened this year. Three out of the four of these elite guys are out of the playoffs. Who has replaced them? Aaron Rodgers, 27, Jay Cutler, also 27 and Mark Sanchez, 24. These guys are all just coming into their own and with Manning now 34, Brady at 33 and Brees age 32, we could be seeing the beginning of a new era.
Cutler has been starting the longest, this past season was his fourth year as a full-time starter for an NFL team. He had an up and down rookie and sophmore campaign in Denver in which he displayed unbelievable arm strength and accuracy at times, but also a lot of bad decision making. He was traded to the Bears amidst Josh McDaniels' roster purge upon his arrival in Denver before the 2009 season. Cutler was very well received in Chicago as the Bear fans thought they had finally landed their long-awaited franchise quarterback. How did he respond? Cutler promptly went out and threw 26 interceptions and pretty much single-handedly sunk the Bears playoff hopes by continuously turning the ball over in critical moments. Bears fans wanted his head and it looked like the Cutler experiment was a disaster...
Hold on though. The Bears went out after the season and signed Mike Martz, the pass happy mad scientist, as their offensive coordinator, a move thought by many to be a questionable one. But Cutler has really shined in Martz's elaborate offensive scheme. He cut his interceptions down to 16 and has been able to wrap his brain around Martz's system very well, which is notoriously complex and hard to learn. Very impressive for his first year under Martz. Call me crazy, but if Cutler can continue to grow in Martz's offense for a number of years and really make it his own, the two could be an intriguing combo in years to come.
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| Pointiest nose in all of sports |
Despite not having the trust of... well really anyone... including his own fans who seem to be waiting for him to have a meltdown, Cutler has his team a game away from the Super Bowl. He can silence the haters this Sunday by out-dueling Rodgers, the hottest QB in the league and the wet dream of every sports analyst in the country right now.
Rodgers is on fire. He just got done manhandling the #1 seeded Falcons in the Georgia dome. He thoroughly outplayed Matt Ryan, another guy who is emerging as one of the elite young quarterbacks in the game. The week before that he went into Philly and eliminated Mike Vick and the Eagles. This season is Rodgers' third season as the Packers' starting quarterback, as he replaced Brett Favre to start the 2008 season. He's gotten better each year and has especially improved as this season has played out. He is playing the best ball of his life right now. He threw for 3,900 yards and 28 touchdowns with 11 picks this season. Statistically he's a bit down from last season, but he's taking fewer sacks this year and a lot of last season's bloated stats (4,400 yards, 30 TDs) can be attributed to the team's porous defense and having to play from behind a lot. This season the defense has stepped up and Rodgers hasn't had to throw as much. He's managing the game more effectively now and looks like one of the best, if not the best, quarterbacks in the league. Hell, if I had to decide today, I would call him the best in the league. A trip to the Super Bowl will only solidify this ranking for me.
^^^Here's Rodger's putting on his patented championship belt after a score.
In only his second year in the NFL, Mark Sanchez already has an impressive 4-1 record in the playoffs. His lone loss came last year against Peyton Manning and the Colts. But Sanchez can put that behind him now as the Jets went into Indy and beat the Colts in the wild card round this year, then turned around and beat the Patriots in Foxboro a week later. Sanchez played well in those games, making good throws when he needed to, including a beautiful, timely touchdown to Santonio Holmes in the 4th quarter against New England.
If Sanchez can also somehow get through Roethlisberger, he will have completed an almost impossible task. No other quarterback other than Roethlisberger, Manning or Brady has represented the AFC in the Super Bowl in eight seasons. The 2003 Super Bowl in which the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Oakland Raiders, was the last one to not feature one of the big three. Rich Gannon played in that game... that's how long ago we're talking about. If Sanchez can lead the Jets over the Steelers Sunday, he will have defeated all three of these quarterbacks in succession, Manning in the wild card round, Brady in the divisional round and Roethlisberger in the conference championship.
The emergence of guys like Rodgers, Sanchez and Cutler has been exciting and has changed the face of the league. With other rising stars like Josh Freeman in Tampa Bay, Matt Ryan in Atlanta and Joe Flacco in Baltimore, we have the makings of some epic battles in years to come.
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