Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

With the entire regular season in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to take a look back at 2009 and how the players lived up, or failed to live up, their expectations. That’s right, it’s time for our annual installment of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and we’ll kick things off with a look at the quarterbacks. Some players, like Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts lived up to our high expectations. Others, such as Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears and Matt Cassel of the Kansas City Chiefs, did not live up to the hype.

So, with that said it’s time to take a look at quarterbacks from the 2009 season. Keep in mind there is no “Pretty Good” or “Moderately OK” category so guys like Chad Henne of the Miami Dolphins and Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers are in no man’s land, at least for now. First up, is a look at THE GOOD quarterbacks, guys who had good seasons regardless of expectations. After that we’ll delve into THE BAD quarterbacks and then, for those of you willing to relive the pain, we’ll detail THE UGLY as you try not to lose your lunch.

THE GOOD

1. Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers) — We expected him to be good before the season started, but to see Rodgers outperform the likes of Brees, Manning and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots only confirms the potential for the second-year starter. This season, Rodgers completed 64.7 percent of his passes as he threw for 4,434 yards with 30 passing touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He also had five rushing touchdowns to go along with all of that. What’s even more shocking is that he did all that despite playing behind a poor offensive line that allowed him to be sacked 50 times, a number that tied Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the league lead. Rodgers also helped lead the Packers to wins in seven of their final eight games, which allowed Green Bay to make it into the playoffs.

Rodgers was the top fantasy quarterback this season while playing behind a very bad offensive line, which figures to be the main area of improvement in the off-season for Green Bay. Rodgers will only be entering his third year as a starter, but he’s already so good it’s hard to fathom what he might be capable of doing in 2010. With a better offensive line, there’s no reason to think that at some point Rodgers could take a shot at Brady’s single-season touchdown record of 50, which was set in 2007.

2. Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) — So Brees didn’t come close to breaking Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards record this season like he did two years ago, but a quick look at his stats reveal it was Brees’ best season to date. Brees and the Saints’ offense always looked a step ahead of opposing defenses, and that was evidenced by Brees completing 70.6 percent of his passes for 4,388 yards with 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Think about that for a second. Brees completed 70 freaking percent of his passes, how absurd is that?

With the development of young receivers Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson to go along with Marques Colston, the Saints will be stocked out wide for some time. Also count in the reemergence of tight end Jeremy Shockey and the emergence of running back Pierre Thomas, and you have an offense that’s primed for another huge year in 2010.

3. Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts) — Manning became the first player in NFL history to win the league’s MVP award for a fourth time, and it was well deserved. Manning led the Colts to a 14-2 record despite dealing with young wide outs at two of the three wide receiver positions, inconsistency at running back and having a defense without one legitimate star, not to mention a new head coach and new offensive line coach. And, the most impressive part was that he made it look easy as he completed 68.8 percent of his passes for 4,500 yards with 33 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

There was a lot of new developments in Indianapolis this season, including new starters at wide receiver, the injury to Anthony Gonzalez and having to deal with a new coaching staff and Manning handled it all incredibly well. There’s no signs of Manning slowing down anytime soon; in fact, he could actually improve upon his 2009 numbers this upcoming season.

4. Brett Favre (Minnesota Vikings) — After how bad the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback was in 2008 when he was part of the New York Jets, especially at the end of the season, nobody expected him to play as well as he did this year. And yet, when he started playing for the Vikings this season, it looked like a natural fit as he threw for 4,202 yards with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 68.4 percent of his passes. The most impressive stat might be the seven interceptions, which is a single-season career-low for Favre. In fact, Favre fumbled the ball three more times as a Jet than he was intercepted this season as a Viking.

Of course, we don’t really know what 2010 will hold for Favre. With the way he’s played this season, Minnesota will surely welcome him back, and we would expect him to return, though you can be sure there will be some waffling. Should he return, however, he’ll be set up for success again, though replicating this season’s numbers will be a tall task.

5. Matt Schaub (Houston Texans) — We all knew that Houston Texans’ quarterback Matt Schaub had the potential to be a great player, but in his first two seasons as a full-time starter, injuries limited him to just 11 games each year, and limited him even further in the games he did play. This season, Schaub stayed healthy enough to play in 16 games, and the results were impressive as he threw for 4,770 yards with 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while completing 67.9 percent of his passes. 

Schaub also almost led the Texans to their first playoff appearance, but ultimately, they fell one win short. The good news is that Schaub can expect to return the major components of his offense next season, including wide receiver Andre Johnson, tight end Owen Daniels and running backs Steve Slaton, Ryan Moats and Arian Foster. With the way he played this season, and what the Texans expect to return next year, Schaub should very well remain a top-five quarterback.