By Ed Thompson
Scout.com Senior NFL Analyst
Posted Nov 26, 2009
As NFL teams enter Week 12 of the NFL season, who are the top--and the worst--quarterbacks of 2009? Scout.com's Ed Thompson provides you with his Power Rankings of the league's signal-callers based on their stats and performances during the first eleven weeks of the season.
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1. Peyton Manning, Colts Manning leads the league in completion percentage (69.8), yards per game (317.1), is second in first-down percentage and is tied for second in touchdown passes (21). He's only fallen short of the 300-yard mark twice this year.
2. Brett Favre, Vikings Favre's 69.7-percent accuracy has helped put him on pace to finish with a career-low five interceptions this season. Since becoming a starter in 1992, he hasn't thrown less than 13 picks in a season. Favre's tied for second-best in touchdown passes with 21.
3. Drew Brees, Saints The Saints quarterback goes head-to-head with Tom Brady on Monday night. Brees leads the NFL with 21 touchdown passes and is third-best at moving the chains with 40-percent of his throws resulting in a first down. More on the Saints...
4. Tom Brady, Patriots After just one 300-yard game in his first five games, Brady has exceeded that threshold in all of his last five outings. He's second in yards per game (304.9), fourth in touchdowns (20), and has thrown just six interceptions this year.
5. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers Roethlisberger leads the NFL in getting a new set of downs for his team with 40.4 percent of his passes, is fourth in yards per game (286.7) and third in completion percentage (68.9). He's expected to play this week despite last weekend's concussion.
6. Aaron Rodgers, Packers Rodgers' 278.8 passing yards per game is fifth-best in the NFL, and he's tied for sixth in touchdown passes with 19. He's been sacked a league-worst 43 times, but is also tied for first in pass completions of 40-plus yards with 11 this year.
7. Matt Schaub, Texans Schaub has thrown for over 300 yards in six games--including his last two--but the Texans are 2-4 in those contests. He's third in passing yards per game (295.8), tied for sixth in touchdown passes (19), and is tied for second with 38 completions for 20-plus yards.
8. Kurt Warner, Cardinals Warner is in the top ten in all major passing categories, including one that he wishes he'd be ranked much lower. His 11 interceptions is the sixth-highest mark among NFL starters. During his last two games, he completed at least 76 percent of his passes.
9. Philip Rivers, Chargers Rivers isn't quite putting up the eye-popping numbers he did in 2008, but he's still a dangerous opponent. His top ranking this year is in converting first downs with 39.9 percent of his passes, fourth best in the NFL.
10. Eli Manning, GiantsAfter a strong start, Manning slumped a bit and is only among the top ten throwers in one major category--touchdown passes (18). That said, he's on pace to set a personal career-best for a single season in passing yards and touchdown passes.
11. Donovan McNabb, Eagles For the third consecutive year, McNabb is completing better than 60 percent of his passes. The 11th-year veteran is coming off a 71.9-percent completion performance against Chicago and has thrown at least two touchdown passes in his last two games.
12. Joe Flacco, Ravens Flacco's 256-yards passing against the Colts was the first time he's thrown for better than 200 yards since October 18. He's seventh-best at moving the chains with 38.5 percent of his passes, but in three of his last five games he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass
13. Tony Romo, Cowboys Romo is eighth in passing yards per game (262.4), is tied for twelfth in touchdown passes (15), and is on pace for his second 4,000-yard season of his career. But he's thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns over the last three weeks (3).
14. Carson Palmer, Bengals Palmer's most notable strength this year is in keeping the first-down marker flipping with 35.9 percent of his passes--twelfth-best in the NFL. It's unlikely he'll throw for 4,000 yards like he did in 2006 and 2007, but the team doesn't need it thanks to better balance.
15. Matt Ryan, Falcons Ryan's struggling. Earlier this year, he was the league's second-best quarterback at getting a first down with 42.4% of his passes, but he's now fourteenth with a 34.6 mark. And over the past four weeks he's thrown for five touchdowns against six interceptions.
16. Kyle Orton, Broncos Orton's completing 62 percent of his throws and has thrown just five interceptions. But he's also only contributing an average of 220 passing yards per game and is eighteenth in touchdown passes (11). Denver needs a spark from him this week versus the Giants.
17. Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks The 11th-year veteran is completing 60-percent of his throws this year. While he's passed for over 300 yards in two of his last three games, he's thrown just two touchdown passes versus four picks during that stretch
18. Jason Campbell, Redskins Although he's got the sixth-best completion rate in the NFL (66 percent) and is sixth in moving the chains with his passes (38.8 percent), the Redskins have only put more than 17 points on the board once this year with him leading the offense.
19. David Garrard, Jaguars Garrard has been a bit of a feast or famine quarterback. He's 11th in completions of 20-plus yards with 31, but his eight touchdown passes puts him in a tie for 24th in the NFL. Without a strong finish, his future as a starter anywhere in 2010 becomes questionable.
20. Jay Cutler, Bears Cutler's tenth in the NFL in passing yards per game (252.4) and 12th in touchdowns with 15, but his 18 interceptions is the worst mark in the league. He's on pace to log his second consecutive 4,000-yard season, but it's not likely going to benefit the Bears this year.
21. Alex Smith, 49ers Despite his 61-percent completion rate this year, Smith hasn't been getting the job done since returning to the starting lineup. He's a slow starter who's completed just 45.8 percent of his passes in the first quarter and no touchdowns.
22. Vince Young, Titans Young has added a new dimension to the Titans offense, but it's way too early to coronate him as the franchise quarterback. In four starts he has three touchdown passes, has turned the ball over two times and is averaging only 156 passing yards per game.
23. Chad Henne, Dolphins Henne is still a work in progress, and the use of the wildcat offense can't be helping as he's trying to get into a groove. He's been below the 60-percent completion mark for five straight games and has just three touchdown passes during that stretch.
24. Matthew Stafford, Lions Stafford showed a lot of grit coming back into the game last week to make the game-winning toss despite a badly-injured shoulder. His five touchdown passes against the Browns nearly matched his total for the year before the start of the game. He's showing progress.
25. Matt Cassel, Chiefs Cassel's 55-percent completion rate is sub-par, and he's struggled to move the chains through the air with just 26 percent of his throws resulting in a first down. But his 12 touchdowns to six interceptions ratio is at least respectable.
26. Jake Delhomme, Panthers Delhomme only has eight touchdown passes this season and has thrown 14 picks. And his 57.1-percent completion rate is the second-worst single-season mark of his 11-year career. It may be time for him to settle into a second-string mentor role in 2010.
27. Mark Sanchez, Jets Sanchez is pressing, trying to force plays that simply aren't there--as evidenced by his 16 interceptions. And while he still makes some great plays, including 29 completions for 20-plus yards, his completion rate of 52-percent is one of the lowest among current starters.
28. Kyle Boller, Rams With Marc Bulger out for three to six weeks due to a knee injury, Boller takes over as the starter once again. During his previous two starts this year, the team scored a combined total of just ten points. But 32.6 percent of his throws this year have resulted in a first down.
29. Brady Quinn, Browns Despite a morale-busting loss on the closing play last week, the Browns had to be glad to see Quinn log his first 300-yard game--including four touchdown passes. With the Bengals up next, Cleveland needs him to do it again.
30. Josh Freeman, Buccaneers Freeman is making his share of rookie mistakes, turning the ball over seven times during his three starts. But he also has five touchdown passes and hovered around 200 passing yards per game until last week (126 yards).
31. Bruce Gradkowski, Raiders Gradkowski spread the ball around nicely against Cincinnati while completing 50 percent of his throws for 183 yards in his first start this year. He threw a pair of touchdown passes and one interception.
32. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills The Bills have a quarterback quandary. Fitzpatrick gets the nod this week after completing 58 percent of his passes last weekend. But he's thrown just three touchdowns versus six interceptions as a starter this year. He's not the long-term answer.