Quarterbacks get the girl...and not a thing more

As we enter Week 14 of the NFL season, a few things are clear. Sure, the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts will make the AFC playoffs, and the Chicago Bears will be in on the NFC side of things. Yes, Ed Hochuli looks like a stud no matter how ridiculous the referee get-up becomes. Yes, the Monday Night Football announcers really are failing to work well together. Yes, the NFL Quarterback position is one of the worst overall in the league.
Wait. The quarterbacks are not really that good? But they are protected and coddled by the rulebook at every turn of the page, you say. Quarterbacks are synonymous with leadership and great football play, you say, and they are the most important position on the field. Actually, the Offensive Tackle has surpassed the QB in importance, because, let's face it, no passes or handoffs are successful if the QB has a hard-rushing defender in his face. Great football, well not so much. Lately, the play at the position has been downright horrendous and even embarrassing.
At this point in the season, sixteen teams have played at least two different quarterbacks in meaningful games (yes, I am counting Oakland Raiders' games as meaningful). Some of these have been due to injury, most notably in Baltimore (Steve McNair & Kyle Boller), Philadelphia (Donovan McNabb & Jeff Garcia), Kansas City (Trent Green & Damon Huard), and Seattle (Matt Hasselbeck & Seneca Wallace), but many of them have had nothing to do with injuries. Denver (Jay Cutler over Jake Plummer) is the most recent team to make the switch, but they followed Dallas (Tony Romo over Drew Bledsoe), Arizona (Matt Leinart over Kurt Warner), Miami (Joey Harrington over Daunte Culpepper), Jacksonville (David Garrard over Byron Leftwich), Tennessee (Vince Young over Kerry Collins), and Washington (Jason Campbell over Mark Brunell). Houston, Pittsburgh, and Oakland have also explored other options this season, to no avail. And outside of the sixteen teams who have already called for backup, there are several more who would surely make a change if a viable option were there: Chicago (Rex Grossman), Atlanta (Michael Vick), Minnesota (Brad Johnson), Detroit (Jon Kitna), and the New York Giants (Eli Manning). That makes, in total, 21 teams with serious issues behind the center, leading their offense, and 22 if you count Green Bay, who is stuck with Brett Favre for the duration.
Now, we are down to ten QBs in the whole league who have done an acceptable job this season. This looks even worse when you consider that 16 teams make the playoffs, so a full six teams (at least) are getting in without a quarterback. Let us whittle down the ten full-timers a bit further. Upon closer examination, St. Louis, San Francisco, Carolina, and Buffalo are all more than likely staying home come playoff time, so only six out of the sixteen playoff teams will sport solid field generals. Who are these six who are defying the odds set against them?
-First off in any discussion about the QB has to be Peyton Manning, of the Indianapolis Colts. Sure, the guy has not ever won anything that matters, but he gets Indy to the playoffs every season with 12 wins or more. Besides that, he puts up phenomenal numbers and essentially runs the offense like a coach on the field.
-Second among this group is the New England Patriots' Tom Brady, he of the Super Bowl heroics and smashing good looks. Not only is Brady a winner, but he is doing it this season with absolutely no top-tier targets. This guy might as well be throwing passes to your neighborhood paper boys (and rest assured, if he were, the Pats would still be a contender). I keep waiting, year after year, for Brady to fall off, a la Ben Roethlisberger, but it just ain't happening, folks.
-Next up is surefire Comeback Player of the Year Drew Brees of the Saints. Not only is he coming off of major shoulder surgery, but he is throwing the ball to two rookies most of the time. Not to mention, he is playing for the Saints, and they simply are not supposed to be winning football games, ever. He is having an MVP-type year and has put the Saints into contention for a first-round playoff bye.
-Also coming off of injury are the Cincinnati Bengals' Carson Palmer and the New York Jets' Chad Pennington. Both seasons have been much rockier than that of Brees, but lately they have been firing on all cylinders. It doesn't hurt to have a tandem of terrific receivers in Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmanzadeh, in Palmer's case, but you still have to have someone to buy time until they get open and then deliver perfect strikes. Palmer has cemented himself as a top-echelon QB with this season. Pennington has accomplished his success without top-flight receivers or a big name running back to tote the rock 25 times a game. Add that to coming off of multiple injuries and a training camp battle to win his job back, and, were it not for Brees, you have a candidate to be Comeback of the Year.
-A newcomer to the starting ranks this year is Chargers' QB Phillip Rivers. Unlike his draftmates Eli Manning and Roethlisberger, Rivers is starting for the first time in 2006 and experiencing far greater success. Two seasons as an understudy to Brees seems to have worked wonders for Rivers, as he has been nearly flawless at the helm. Sure, he has LaDainian Tomlinson, but LT is not the one throwing every pass on target to the open man.
Besides these six who have been doing it all year long at a high level, two other QBs are worthy of this group: Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck and Dallas's Tony Romo. Hasselbeck has come back strong from injury, and Romo has been simply shocking since coming off of the bench for Drew Bledsoe. These eight should keep the playoffs interesting, even if their opponents are fighting a man down, so to speak.
Even though this season may not have been the Year of the QB, but that should be changing soon. Up and coming stars like Matt Leinart of Arizona, Vince Young of Tennessee, Jay Cutler of Denver, and Alex Smith of San Francisco should make things interesting for their teams in the years to come. Add to the group veterans showing they have it in them, like Joey Harrington in Miami, for example, and quarterback play should be on the way back up once again.