NFL MVP 2012: Why This Vote Shows 2012 Was the Year of the QB

All anyone needs to know about the 2011 NFL season in terms of quarterbacks is that one of them threw for 5,000 yards and wasn’t even an afterthought for the Pro Bowl.

A season that started in strife between owners and players wound up with the players who are paid the most doing the most to generate excitement.

The Saints’ Drew Brees threw for 5,476 yards and wasn’t even the most effective quarterback in the NFC, much less the NFL. That honor would have to go to Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, who didn’t have to throw as much, but was scorchingly effective when he did.

Rodgers threw for 4,643 yards and 45 touchdowns, and when you add in just six interceptions in 16 games, his 122.5 quarterback rating was off the charts. With his ability to do almost anything needed, he might have had the most complete season for a QB in NFL history.

Brees threw for 46 scores but was intercepted 14 times; his 110.6 rating would, in many years, have been the NFL’s best. For Brees, it was about more than numbers. He is not just the face of the Saints but the leader in New Orleans, and 2011 was his best showing.

Tom Brady, who has the Patriots back in the Super Bowl as AFC champs, threw for 5,235 yards, 39 scores, 12 interceptions and a 105.6 rating. He already has three Super Bowl rings, and a win Sunday would make this is best season yet.

The Giants, who square off Sunday with New England for the Super Bowl title, saw Eli Manning just miss 5,000 yards (4,933). He has frequently been lumped in the good-but-not-quite-great category, but this year he may have put that behind him.

And then there was the Lions’ Matthew Stafford. He threw for 5,038 yards and wound up not making it to the Pro Bowl. In part, that was because of the other great seasons being put up, while also because this was his first season as a dominator; he didn’t have enough street cred coming in.

Even so, two of the dominating NFL stories were about quarterbacks who either didn’t make the playoffs (Cam Newton of the Panthers) or who didn’t begin the season as his team’s go-to guy (Tim Tebow of the Broncos).

Newton, the first pick in the draft, set a new NFL record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 14, threw for another 17 scores and clicked for 4,051 yards. It was the best season for a rookie NFL quarterback ever.

Tebow began the season as the No. 2 quarterback in Denver, but by the end of the year he’d led the Broncos into the playoffs, in the process turning his last name into a trademarkable specialty. "Tebowing" entered the lexicon as the act of going down on one knee and praying regardless of what others around are doing.