Shutdown Corner is proud to present the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints
		Once again, this week features the Brees/Manning flip-flop at the top, with Brees placing his foot squarely on top of Manning's head this week. He did have the one interception where Falcons DB Brett Grimes climbed air to snatch it out of the sky, but Brees spent most of the game being pretty damn brilliant. I'm not predicting 16-0 for the Saints, but if there's one reason they can get there, it's that the play they get from the quarterback position gives them a very big margin for error in every game. Like last night, for example.
2. Peyton Manning(notes), Indianapolis Colts
		Not a great week for Peyton, but his season so far gives him enough juice to keep the top spot. It's kind of funny that the guy can complete 31-of-48 passes for 347 yards, and I'm calling it "not a great week," but that's the level of quarterback play we're being blessed with this year in NFL National Football League. Sorry, I wanted to try that.
3. Aaron Rodgers(notes), Green Bay Packers
		The Vikings outplayed the Packers, but did Brett Favre(notes) outplay Aaron Rodgers? Sort of yes, sort of no. Favre was just about flawless, but the burden on Rodgers was far greater. The Packers had no Adrian Peterson to lean on, they don't have a great defense, and they didn't get to play with a lead. They asked Rodgers to do everything, and he responded with 287 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks. I'm giving the edge to Rodgers based on degree of difficulty. As a side note: You know who has the best quarterback rating in the league right now? It's not Brees, and it's not Manning ... it's Mr. Aaron Rodgers. The top two is dangerously close to being broken up.
4. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings
		Continuing the Rodgers vs. Favre on Sunday discussion from above, I do have to acknowledge some bias towards Rodgers. I know this, and you know this. I still think a slight edge to Rodgers is the right call. Favre's been amazing, but the Minnesota offense is so perfectly tailored to putting the quarterback in a great position. Obviously, that doesn't mean just anyone could step in and put up the kinds of numbers Favre is putting up, but he doesn't have the weight of an entire offense on his shoulders, either.
5. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		A week off for Pittsburgh, and Roethlisberger stays put in the five-hole.
6. Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans
		Matt Schaub slides a bit this week after a zero touchdown, two interception performance against the Bills. I don't think Schaub will mind, though, because he also got some good news this week: he might soon have a running game, courtesy of Ryan Moats(notes). If the Texans add a consistent ground game to what Schaub and Andre Johnson(notes) are already doing ... sweet sassy molassey, that's going to be quite an offense.
7. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		It's so difficult to hash out the bottom of this list every week, because there's so little separating so many quality quarterbacks, but it seems like Philip Rivers is the one guy who can be counted on for consistency. His QB rating has been 93 or better in his past four games, and he's never been below 84.5 on the year. Thank you, Phil, for making this slightly easier.
8. Tony Romo(notes), Dallas Cowboys
		Just 15 minutes and 30 seconds into the Cowboys/Seahawks game, Tony Romo had already hit five different receivers. By the end of the game, 10 different Cowboys had caught passes. I love that stat, because it shows that a quarterback is getting through his progressions, making all kinds of different reads, and isn't relying too heavily on one guy. Three stellar weeks for Romo and counting.
9. Joe Flacco(notes), Baltimore Ravens
		Here's what Flacco accomplished on Sunday: 20-of-25, one touchdown, no interceptions, one win against an undefeated team and one big, sloppy wet kiss from Dan Dierdorf avoided after the game. I like Dierdorf, but he does tend to get carried away at times ... and yet, the unyielding river of verbal lust that he lavished on Flacco on Sunday was completely warranted.
10. Tom Brady(notes), New England Patriots
		Brady had the week off, so let's talk about the two other guys who were considered for this spot. First, Eli. After reaching as high as number two on this list, he is now completely gone. Sorry. There are too many good quarterbacks here for three bad weeks to be tolerated. Second, Mr. McNabb. Great, great game on Sunday, but you know what I'd like you to do? Have two of them in a row. You've burned me before, sir.
Noses pressed against the glass: Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles; Carson Palmer(notes), Cincinnati Bengals; Eli Manning(notes), New York Giants; Kyle Orton(notes), Denver Broncos; Jay Cutler(notes), Chicago Bears

Shutdown Corner is proud to present the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Peyton Manning(notes), Indianapolis Colts
		Again, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees(notes) trade spots. What did Peyton do against the Rams? Nothing too special: 235 yards passing, three touchdowns, no interceptions. Nothing that set the world on fire, but nothing to dispel the notion that he's the best quarterback in football, either.
2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
		Besides, it was more about what Brees did than what Manning did. I don't want to send the message that a game-winning second half is outweighed by a horrendous first half, but if you want the top spot, you can't have one touchdown, three interception days. You just can't. He might've even fallen out of the top two if he didn't lead that tremendous comeback.
3. Aaron Rodgers(notes), Green Bay Packers
		Making the biggest jump this week is Aaron Rodgers, who benefits from a week where a lot of the top guys weren't overwhelmingly awesome. Rodgers -- and this is a sick statistic -- has a quarterback rating of over 110 in each of his past four games. And he does this while leading the league in number of times sacked. Incredible.
4. Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans
		He leads the league in yards passing, and he leads the league in touchdown passes. Whether or not your brain is ready to accept it, Matt Schaub is one of the NFL's most dangerous offensive weapons. Riding Schaub's arm, the Texans are winners of three of their last four.
5. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		There is one quarterback in the NFL completing more than 70% of his passes (actually, there are two, but Peyton Manning doesn't count, because I believe he's actually half robot), and his name is Ben Roethlisberger. He slides a tad, because he didn't have a great day against a tough Vikings defense: 14-of-26, 175 yards, one touchdown.
6. Brett Favre(notes), Minnesota Vikings
		Likewise, Favre also slides a bit because he didn't have a great day against a tough Steelers defense. He had a touchdown taken away from him on a phantom leg-whip call, and the interception bounced off of Chester Taylor's(notes) palms, but still, he didn't do enough to win.
7. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		Rivers jumps back up the list a little bit after a week of feasting on the Chiefs secondary: 268 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Even better news for Rivers is that the Chargers showed some slight signs of maybe doing some things that might help him, like, oh, I don't know ... blocking and having a running game.
8. Eli Manning(notes), New York Giants
		Poor Eli continues to tumble down the list. Giants everywhere are tumbling down all kinds of lists, as we see that maybe their dominant start had something to do with the meatballs on their schedule: Washington, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland to start the season. All the sudden, Eli plays two good defenses, and he has two bad games. Perhaps this is not a coincidence.
9. Tom Brady(notes), New England Patriots
		Handsome Tom drops two spots in the rankings: One for each interception he threw this week. I'm not going to get too down on the guy, though, as he also threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns. He's had big games in the last two weeks against bad defenses, while struggling a bit earlier in the season against some good defenses. He's sort of the anti-Eli, in that way.
10. Joe Flacco(notes), Baltimore Ravens
		I kept going back and forth here between Kyle Orton(notes) and Joe Flacco. Orton's doing a fantastic job with the Broncos this year, but here's the question that decided it for me: If I had to pick one guy to take his team the length of the field in 60 seconds, where there's no time for screens, slants, or dump-offs, who would I take? I take Flacco. Orton's doing great in a take-care-of-the-ball, don't-risk-much offense, but I see Flacco as the more dangerous quarterback.
Noses pressed against the glass: Kyle Orton, Denver Broncos; Tony Romo(notes), Dallas Cowboys; Carson Palmer(notes), Cincinnati Bengals; Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles; Matt Ryan(notes), Atlanta Falcons; Jay Cutler(notes), Chicago Bears

Shutdown Corner is proud to present the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints
		What do you do if you want the top spot back? You go up against the best pass defense in the league (though I think that myth is pretty much dispelled at this point) and you carve them up like a delicious glazed ham. It was Peyton Manning's(notes) turn to lose the top spot while on a bye week=. You got served, sucker!
2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
		I hope you had a wonderful bye week, Peyton, filled with dreams of even more endorsement dollars and Kenny Chesney concerts. Looking ahead, it's the Rams this week and their 27th-ranked pass defense. If this Brees vs. Manning battle were to go on all year, you wouldn't hear me complain about it.
3. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		Between Tom Brady's(notes) day, Drew Brees' day and some other dramatic happenings around the league, Ben Roethlisberger's 417-yard day against the Browns somehow got lost. Roethlisberger is now your NFL yardage leader with 1,887 on the year.
4. Brett Favre(notes), Minnesota Vikings
		I feel dirty when I have to move him up the list, but that's just it: I have to. When the Vikings need big chunks of yardage, Favre gets them. He doesn't have the yardage total of some guys, but that's only because the Vikings didn't need or ask him to throw the ball in the first two weeks. The last four, they have, and he's been top-notch.
5. Eli Manning(notes), New York Giants
		'Twas not a great day for Eli against the Saints, as he only managed 178 yards, one touchdown and one interception. I'm going to consider the whole year's body of work before I start dropping him too far, though. Some guys are gaining on him, but I still love the efficiency.
6. Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans
		Quick: Who leads in the NFL in touchdown passes? Did you guess Matt Schaub? I hope so, since this is the Matt Schaub section, and if you didn't, you might be a bit of a numbskull. I'm even open to arguments for Matt Schaub cracking the top five here. He's first in touchdowns and second in yardage. His day of 392 yards and four touchdowns sort of got overshadowed, too.
7. Aaron Rodgers(notes), Green Bay Packers
		Another week, another quietly excellent performance from Rogers. True, it was only the Lions, but 358 yards are 358 yards. It also helps that he was playing against Daunte Culpepper(notes) (6-of-14, zero TDs, one INT) and Drew Stanton(notes) (5-of-11, zero TDs, two INTs), because those two can't help but make another quarterback look good.
8. Tom Brady, New England Patriots.
		It took six weeks, but here he is. I get hate mail all the time from Brady fans for not including him in the power rankings, but based on his play this year, he just hasn't deserved it. In fact, I'd still caution everyone from jumping on the "Brady is Back" train, because that otherworldly performance on Sunday came against possibly football's worst secondary since the invention of the forward pass.
9. Joe Flacco(notes), Baltimore Ravens
		Flacco threw for 385 yards in Baltimore's comeback attempt against the Vikings, but couldn't pull out the win. No disrespect to Derrick Mason(notes) is intended here, but would anyone else like to see what Flacco could do with a deeper receiving corps and a better tight end?
10. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		I suspect that many of you will accuse me of a homer pick here, selecting Rivers for the final spot ahead of Orton. And that's fine, since I am a homer. I still think this is the right call, though. I've been amazed by what Orton's been doing all season, and it's not meant to slight him, but the Chargers just ask Rivers to do more. He goes downfield more, and he's basically their whole offense. Believe me, it's much better to do it the other way.
Fell out: Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles; Matt Ryan(notes), Atlanta Falcons; Kyle Orton(notes), Denver Broncos Also narrowly missed: Jay Cutler(notes), Chicago Bears

1. Mark Sanchez(notes), Quarterback, New York Jets. Being a rookie quarterback has to be a lot like playing "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!" for the first time. You open up the game, and everything's fun and easy, and you're thinking, "Hey, I'll slap Glass Joe around all day long!" You feel pretty good about yourself. Then Von Kaiser and Piston Honda aren't so bad, but then Don Flamenco starts doing some wild stuff, and you think, "Alright, I'm going to have to take a second and figure this out." Eventually, I'm sure that Mark Sanchez will be fighting Mike Tyson for the title, but right now, he's trying to figure out Don Flamenco. He threw five picks yesterday and wasted a 210-yard game from Thomas Jones(notes).

2. Matt Forte(notes), Running Back, Chicago Bears. Forte carried the ball 15 times last night and gained a total of 23 yards. This came against the Atlanta Falcons, currently ranked 23rd against the run in the NFL, giving up 4.7 yards per carry. Sadly, there's even more bad news for Forte. In the third quarter, at the Atlanta 1-yard-line, he fumbled on consecutive plays, with the Falcons recovering the second one. Not a pretty evening.

3. Jason McCourty(notes) and Ryan Mouton(notes), Cornerbacks, Tennessee Titans. One thing that's getting lost in Tom Brady's(notes) brilliance yesterday is that it came against a UFL-like secondary. Not to take anything away from Brady, but the Titans' two starting corners, as well as their nickel back, were all out Sunday. These two rookies started at corner, and, as you might expect, Randy Moss(notes) and Wes Welker(notes) had their way with them. I'm not saying every NFL quarterback would've thrown down the beating that Brady did yesterday, but most NFL quarterbacks would've beaten them up pretty badly.

4. Every Offensive Player, Seattle Seahawks. Matt Hasselbeck(notes) went 10-for-29 on the day, the Seahawks rushed for 14 yards as a team, and they gave up five sacks. Their best offensive play of the day, and the only way they got into field-goal range, was with a fake punt.

5. Donovan McNabb(notes), Quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles. If Andy Reid is jealous, he can feel free to share this award with McNabb, because there's no way McNabb should've been throwing the ball 46 times against the Raiders. Their run defense was among the worst in the league, and the Eagles came in throwing the ball like it was a backyard 2-on-2 game. The fact that McNabb completed only 22 of the 46, despite Nnamdi Asomugha(notes) missing most of the game, though, is on McNabb.

1. Drew Brees(notes), Quarterback, New Orleans Saints. We had a bucket full of offensive explosions yesterday, but none more impressive or meaningful than Drew Brees's 369 yards and four touchdowns against the Giants. The G-Men had, statistically, before yesterday, the best pass defense in the league, and Brees came in and mowed through them like they were a random collection of slobs. Brees is a beast, his Saints are the team to beat in the NFL and when they're as sharp as they were yesterday, I don't know that they can be stopped.

2. Richard Seymour(notes), Defensive End, Oakland Raiders. Seymour accepts the award on behalf of the Raiders' entire defensive line, Trevor Scott(notes) in particular. Seymour and Scott had two sacks each and spent their entire Sunday in Donovan McNabb's(notes) personal space. Now, it's only fair to mention that Eagles tackle Jason Peters(notes) left the game in the first half, and that led to some of this, but domination is domination, I don't care who's on the field.

3. Tom Brady(notes), Quarterback, New England Patriots. Now that's more like it, Tom. Brady threw for 380 yards yesterday, which was only 387 yards more than his counterpart, Kerry Collins(notes). Oh, and Brady did that in just a little bit more than one half of football. Not at all shabby.

4. Maurice Jones-Drew(notes), Running Back, Jacksonville Jaguars. When you call out your coaches mid-week and demand the football more, you better respond when you actually get it. Jones-Drew did. The Jags handed it to him 33 times yesterday, and Jones-Drew responded by picking up 133 yards and three touchdowns. He added five receptions for 45 yards on top of that.

5. Ryan Succop(notes), Kicker, Kansas City Chiefs. Settling for a ton of field goals is usually a good way to lose a game, except when you're playing the Redskins. The rookie kicker, and the last fellow selected in the NFL draft, went 4-of-4 yesterday. And then Tamba Hali(notes) sacked Todd Collins(notes) for an extra two points, making it 14 on the scoreboard for the Chiefs, so anyone who just briefly glances at the scoreboard thinks they scored two touchdowns! Yay!

Tom Brady's(notes) first half against the Tennessee Titans today should finally put to rest the premature questions about what was wrong with the three-time Super Bowl champion. In the snow in Foxborough, Brady threw five first half touchdown passes for the New England Patriots, who lead the winless Titans 45-0.

So, let's ask again: What's wrong with Brady? Absolutely nothing.

The questions were always a bit ridiculous. Brady was returning from a serious injury, yet people seemed to expect him to step right in and lead the Pats to another undefeated record. He was getting flak because he was merely performing well, not spectacularly.

Now that he has performed like his old self, people will automatically say that Brady is fully back, which is probably every bit as absurd as asking what his problem was. One half makes not a comeback, the same way five games don't mean a guy is washed up. Brady's comeback from injury will have to progress throughout the season. The fact that he torched a Titans team that has seemingly given up is a step in the right direction, but also doesn't mean Patriots fans should be booking hotel rooms for February in Miami.

Some quick facts about Brady's half:

1. He threw more touchdown passes in the game's first 30 minutes than the Lions, Dolphins, Rams, Panthers, Browns and Raiders had total for the season coming into today.

2. All those touchdown passes came in the second quarter, the most thrown by a quarterback in one period since 1950. 

3. The Patriots 45-0 halftime lead is the biggest in the NFL since 1950.

4. The yardage and touchdown passes were all first half career highs for Brady.

5. Brady's 24/28, 345 yard, 5 touchdown start was good for a quarterback rating of 157.6 (a perfect rating is 158.3). If you ever need examples of why the QB rating system is archaic, look no further. How can Brady's half not be perfect?

For some reason, Brady has started the second half for New England. It seems like an unnecessary move given the lead, weather and Brady's prior injury, but Bill Belichick has never been one to play it safe. 

Update: On the Patriots first drive of the second half, Brady threw for his sixth touchdown pass of the game. The NFL record for a game is seven, last achieved by Joe Kapp in 1969.

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Shutdown Corner is proud to present the weekly quarterback power rankings. They're just as arbitrarily decided as normal power rankings, except they rank quarterbacks, not whole teams. Rankings are based on play this year alone and meant to represent who is playing the best football at the current moment.

1. Peyton Manning(notes), Indianapolis Colts
		Another week, another 300 yards, another leisurely jog to victory. Up next, the Colts have a bye week, and then in Week 7, it'll be a bloodbath against the Rams. Enjoy your mop-up time, Jim Sorgi(notes).
2. Eli Manning(notes), New York Giants
		Watching Eli against the Raiders defense was like watching an in-his-prime Mike Tyson fight Urkel. He just did whatever he wanted. He didn't even play an entire game; in fact, he played just a smidge more than a quarter. What he did do, though, was perfect. He had a 158.3 quarterback rating on the day.
3. Drew Brees(notes), New Orleans Saints
		Is it a teensy bit unfair to drop him a spot when he didn't play? Yes. It's nothing against Brees, of course, it's just how strongly I feel about Eli Manning at the moment. Those of you who prefer Brees, though, don't fret: They'll get a chance to sort it out when they go head-to-head this week.
4. Ben Roethlisberger(notes), Pittsburgh Steelers
		Large Benjamin inches up a spot after a 277-yard, three-touchdown day in Detroit. He hit six different receivers, too, and spreading the ball around isn't always a strength for him.
5. Brett Favre(notes), Minnesota Vikings
		After last week's fantastic performance against the Packers, the Vikings slipped back into "We don't need Brett to be great, and he wasn't, but he was certainly good enough for us to win" mode. He also threw a lollipop of an interception to James Laurinaitis(notes), which doesn't help him in these power rankings.
6. Philip Rivers(notes), San Diego Chargers
		Rivers and the Chargers had the week off, so he'll stay in the six hole. I'll say this, though: If the Chargers weren't able to use the bye week to make improvements in the offensive line, the running game, and the defense's ability to stop anyone, it will be extremely difficult for Rivers to stay here.
7. Aaron Rodgers(notes), Green Bay Packers
		In a lot of ways, Rodgers is in the same boat as Rivers. If the help around him doesn't improve, it's going to be really hard for him to keep playing well. Chad Clifton(notes) is back at practice this week, so that's a positive. So is playing Detroit on Sunday.
8. Matt Ryan(notes), Atlanta Falcons
		Ryan finally slips into the top ten this week, on the shoulders of a 22-of-32, 329-yard, two touchdown day against the 49ers. He's played well all year, but there's so much great competition at the quarterback position in the NFL this year, that his yardage totals needed a bit of a bump to be among the elite. This week was his first game of the season with better than 250 yards.
9. Kyle Orton(notes), Denver Broncos
		Say, before the season, someone asked you how many games the Broncos would win when Kyle Orton had to throw the ball 48 times. Your answer, unless your last name is Orton, would have likely been "none of them." But not only did they win one, they did it against the Patriots. Orton had a completion percentage of 72.9, and went for 330 yards.
10. Donovan McNabb(notes), Philadelphia Eagles
		He's only been back for one week, but what a week it was: 16-of-21, 264 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. That's a rating of 157.2, which led all quarterbacks with more than 10 attempts this week. Expect the McNabb train to keep rolling along with the Raiders on the schedule next week.
Fell out: Joe Flacco(notes), Baltimore Ravens, Matt Schaub(notes), Houston Texans, Jay Cutler(notes), Chicago Bears Also narrowly missed: Matt Hasselbeck(notes), Seattle Seahawks, Kurt Warner(notes), Arizona Cardinals, Tom Brady(notes), New England Patriots

Tom Brady(notes), QB, New England Patriots. At the two-minute warning, the Patrtios had the ball, 1st and 10, at their own 49 yard line, with the score tied. Tom Brady wins in that situation 100 times out of 100, right? Maybe not anymore. On second down, Brady took a sack and coughed up the football, the Broncos forced overtime and they snatched the win. For five games now, Tom Brady has not been the Tom Brady we're used to, and I think it's fair to wonder how much of that is because Josh McDaniels is now on the opposite sideline, and not on Brady's sideline.

Chris Brown, RB, Houston Texans. Even after DRC made the play late in the fourth quarter yesterday, the Texans had every opportunity to send the game into overtime, where momentum would have still been on their side. But two of their last three offensive plays where Chris Brown getting the ball at the one-yard-line, and then being unable to do anything but run into a guy and stay there. Of course, Matt Schaub(notes) can take some of the blame for overshooting Joel Dreessen(notes) in the back of the endzone on third down, too, and so can whoever called those plays, because the Texans clearly weren't going to get any kind of a push against the Cardinals defensive front.

Clinton Portis(notes), RB, Washington Redskins. Clinton Portis accepts this award on behalf of all the Redskins, but he gets chosen for the honors for whining to the coaches about a teammate, when he's not exactly lighting the world on fire, either. Last week, Portis yapped to the coaches to get fullback Mike Sellers(notes) pulled from the game, and while it may have been true that Sellers blew a play, Portis can feel free to pull his own weight, too. He's averaging 3.7 yards per carry on the year (backup Ladell Betts(notes) is at 4.9) and got just 57 yards on 19 carries yesterday.

Kerry Collins(notes), QB, Tennessee Titans. Having Kerry Collins as your quarterback is fine, as long as you don't ever plan to be trailing. When he's got to throw the ball 32 times, you just aren't going to win. Of course, you could take the Raiders approach, trail all game, and still not let your quarterback throw (JaMarcuss Russell [obviously, we're not getting through an LVP post without at least a mention] threw 13 times yesterday), but I guess you'll lose either way.

Derek Anderson(notes), QB, Cleveland Browns. I believe DA is the first player to ever win a game and be included among the least valuable players. Congratulations, Mr. 2-of-27 for 23 yards. Did Brady Quinn(notes) do something to Eric Mangini's wife or something? Does Derek Anderson have pictures of Mangini and an underage sheep?

Ray Lewis's little "Waaaaah" fit after losing to the Patriots made this a popular week for complaining that quarterbacks are coddled, pampered and protected like fairy princesses.

If I could, I'd like to cast a vote in favor of the coddling. As far as I'm concerned, Tom Brady(notes), Peyton Manning(notes) and Drew Brees(notes) are America's darlings and our most precious national treasures. If Ray Lewis(notes) even looks at a picture of one of them on the internet, it's fine with me if he's penalized, fined, imprisoned and flogged.

Protecting the quarterbacks of the NFL is a good thing. Good quarterbacks are what make for good football games. Good quarterbacks are the reasons third downs are converted, red zone opportunities are cashed in, and long, pretty drives are possible.

We need these guys healthy. We need them upright. At just about any cost.

And yes, this means that we'll sometimes get chintzy calls like the ones that went against the Ravens last Sunday. I look at calls like that as an unavoidable byproduct of a sound policy. Sometimes, it looks, and is, a little weak, but we're still better off having these policies than not having them. They make for a better league and a better football product.

I wish, just for comparison's sake, we could have a week where all 32 teams took the field with their backup quarterbacks instead of their starters. You think that would be pretty? You think you'd enjoy that Sunday? We'd go from Manning, Brady, Brees, Favre and Roethlisberger to Sorgi, Hoyer, Brunell, Tarvaris, and Batch. Are you still willing to spend seven hours a Sunday watching football with that lineup?

We can't have it. One week with the backups, and people will be on their knees, praying for quarterback safety. They'll petition the league for quarterbacks to be able to play the game in protective bubbles. They'll beg scientists to figure out a way to give every decent quarterback the power to shoot lightning out of his fingertips at pass rushers, as if he were The Emperor.

Maybe, from time to time, we get a weak call or two. What are we really missing out on? A few blows to the head? A couple of knee shots? Come on. There's enough violence in a football game, isn't there? If not, maybe before every game you watch, you should rent a Bumfights video. That way, you still get your violent, bloodthirsty fix, and we can still keep the good quarterbacks of the world alive.

I'm not saying there's no such thing as a bad call when it comes to quarterback contact. There are, and there's room for common sense here, too. A fingernail grazing a facemask does not constitute a blow to the head. Inconsistency in how things are called, obviously, can't be tolerated, but it's like any other area of officiating. Mistakes are going to be made, and one guy's going to call things different than another guy. It's not perfect. Nothing is.

Quarterbacks play the most exposed position in a dangerous game. The very nature of their job requires them to not protect themselves and leave their bodies exposed to vicious shots on almost every passing play. as at least three or four men try to do nothing but turn their lights out. They deserve a little extra protection, because they deal with the most risk.

More importantly than that, though, they're the most important things to the existence of quality football.