Another week and another edition of the ESPN.com position power rankings have been released as voted on by the ESPN bloggers and journalist. As you would expect, the top spot goes to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as he received 6 of 8 first place votes and two second place votes. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning finished second with 72 points that included just 2 first place votes, 4 second place votes and 2 third place votes. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger finished fifth, one spot behind Aaron Rodgers from the Packers. The highest vote Roethlisberger received was a fourth place vote from AFC North blogger James Walker. Had the Steelers won the Super Bowl against the Packers, he certainly would of finished fourth instead as the ranking of Rodgers was certainly influenced by his recent championship.
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco finished tied for 10th with Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo with only 5 points. Only 14 quarterbacks received top 10 votes, but the panel seemed pretty set on their top 6 which was easy to do. I was a bit surprised that Saints quarterback Drew Brees did not received another 2nd place vote or two as the gap between him and Manning has shrunk in my opinion. Don\’t get me wrong, Manning is still a great quarterback, but he still only has one Super Bowl ring to show for his efforts and Brees has been very consistent over the past few years.
I was glad to see Roethlisberger edge out Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers as I had a feeling that the panel would make it a close one. I think the gap however should have been larger than the 3 points, especially seeing that Roethlisberger has 2 rings and Rivers has yet to get his first. Rivers is a good quarterback mind you, but the way that Roethlisberger is able to extend plays should easily get him the nod, but of course I am biased a tad. I do not think this set of power rankings will evoke the discussion that other positions have over the last several weeks. There are just not many elite quarterbacks in the NFL and the voting finished pretty much how I envisioned it would.
