Quarterback Rankings

One of the most common questions I hear lately-aside from, “Hey, you’re that guy from Hole Punch Sports-can I have your autograph/number?”-is whether the Broncos can ever win a Super Bowl with Jake Plummer.

It's a good question. The quick answer is yes, since Jake is obviously more talented than recent Super Bowl champion passers like Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson. Sometimes the success of journeymen is attributed to the salary cap for reasons I don’t understand. However, players like Dilfer and Johnson are clearly still the exception when it comes to championship quarterbacks. Other cap-era winners include John Elway, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger. And besides, Bowl winners before the cap weren’t all destined for the Hall-or have you forgotten Mark Rypien?

Having said that, Dilfer and Johnson weren’t really that bad. Dilfer was a tough and selfless leader, while Johnson’s combination of immobility, accuracy, and mistake-free play made him almost the anti-Plummer.

Regardless, I think the Broncos can win a Super Bowl with Jake Plummer. Two reasons: first, I don’t see how we can realistically upgrade the position and I’m trying to keep my hopes up, and second, he’s one of the top few quarterbacks in the league.

I’m serious. Plummer won a playoff game with the Arizona-Freakin’-Cardinals-and who else would be capable of that? And he’s shown steady improvement over his career, even if he still makes some dumb throws.

To prove it, I’m going to list everyone who is better (as of today). Thus, my Quarterbacks Who Are Better Than Jake Plummer Power Rankings (expect to see these on ESPN.com next year):

1. Tom Brady, Patriots: He won one playoff game this year to cap off a frustrating season for the Patriots. In other words, he managed as many playoff wins in one single down year as the Broncos franchise has in the entire post-Elway era. Still by far the class of the position.

2. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers: I have promoted Roethlisberger since he first caught my eye as a college senior, and I’m not going to let my continued frustration over the Broncos’ loss color my opinion. Big Ben has all the tools-a rocket arm, accuracy, mobility, and guts. Yes, he struggled in the Super Bowl, but he’s allowed one rough game in what’s theoretically the toughest postseason road possible (a No. 6 seed beating the No. 3 and No. 2 from its conference, and both No. 1s).

3. Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks: These rankings will probably be overly influenced by the playoffs I just watched, but Hasselbeck was outstanding. Occasionally tries too hard, like his former mentor Brett Favre, but can make decisive strikes all over the field. Didn’t have great numbers in the Super Bowl, but his receivers didn’t exactly help him out, either.

4. Jake Delhomme, Panthers: If I wasn’t writing this just after playoff time, he definitely would have fallen through the cracks. Forget the clichés about his selflessness and team-first attitude; Delhomme is very accurate, which for some reason often gets overlooked. He was awful in the NFC title game, but has won too many playoff games to be labeled a choker.

5. Carson Palmer, Bengals: Pending a successful recovery, Palmer should continue his prolific passing feats from this year. I don’t want to put too much stock in one season, regardless of how good it was, but I can’t remember ever being this wrong about a quarterback. Of course, for all we know he may never be the same.

6. Mike Vick, Falcons: I am shocked I have him so high here, but it sort of underscores my point, which is that great quarterbacks aren’t as plentiful as you think. I don’t know how much better he’ll ever get as a passer, but the Falcons are always dangerous when he’s at the helm. Not sure exactly how he gets it all done, but he looks like a winner.

7. Brett Favre, Packers: Favre suffered through a miserable year and may retire. He was awfully generous with the turnovers this year, but that’s been an on-and-off problem his whole career. Off-the-charts toughness of every kind and a clear first-ballot Hall of Famer. Has shown a troubling tendency to fall apart in big games as he gets older, but the supporting cast is far from what it used to be.

8. Daunte Culpepper, Vikings: Very similar to Plummer in lack of consistency, but his highs are higher. (Of course, Daunte has spent much of his career throwing to Randy Moss.) Culpepper possesses touch on even the deepest tosses and good mobility. He was miserable at the start of 2005, but his 2004 campaign was breathtaking enough that maybe he should be higher.

9. Donovan McNabb, Eagles: Not a personal favorite, but McNabb has been successful with the all-important wins and losses. His passing skills are still questionable-how will he fare without T.O.? I worry about the locker room atmosphere next year, but by August perhaps his comments will be forgotten. Besides, no quarterback has ever had more support from team management.

Okay, so Plummer’s in the top ten.

Honorable (?) mention: The two closest names to surpassing Plummer were Drew Brees, who still has to look over his shoulder for Philip Rivers, and Byron Leftwich. Leftwich is just a young guy, right? Sort of-he’s a few months older than Michael Vick and isn’t progressing as quickly as I would have thought. Peyton Manning is the most obvious absence from this list, but he’s a train wreck in big games and I’d honestly rather have Plummer (even though Manning has owned Plummer in the postseason). Trent Green has the numbers every year, but never wins anything. Ditto Marc Bulger. Steve McNair is one of my all-time favorites, but the punishment he’s taken over the years is taking a serious toll. I want to see how David Carr plays under new coach Gary Kubiak; he has the talent to jump onto this list. Young NFC playoff guns Eli Manning and Chris Simms will, in my opinion, never surpass Plummer’s best play. None of the new rookies-to-be impress me a bunch except for Vince Young, who is obviously still a question mark at this point.