El Hombre Scale: Week 11

Each Monday, we'll celebrate the top 5 and bottom 5 QB performances from the previous week.

TOP 5

Matthew Stafford
Who cares that it was only the Browns? Youngest player ever to throw for 5 TDs. 400 yards passing. Erased a 21-point deficit. Leads final drive with no timeouts. Shades of Flutie as he avoids numerous defenders before chucking up a Hail Mary. Throws winning TD pass with no time left after injuring his left shoulder. That's some huge cajones.

Eli Manning
He was bound to have a good post-November 1 performance at Giants Stadium one of these days. (Shhh, don't tell anyone that it was 55 degrees an sunny on Sunday.) Eli might need to do that a couple more times this season to bail out a crummy defense.

Tony Romo
The end-of-the-day stats don't look good (15/27, 158 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT), but he was 7-for-8 on the final drive and made a sick play on the winning TD pass. For someone who takes a load of crap every time he doesn't come through, maybe he deserves some props for pulling this one out. And he was banged up with a bad back.

Aaron Rodgers
Annihilated the same pass defense that ate up Jay Cutler last week. Some thanks should go to Greg Jennings, who silenced some skeptics by finally ripping off a couple big plays. Nasty double-move on a first-quarter reception.

Brady Quinn
At least Notre Dame fans had something to cheer about this week. Nice bounceback by Quinn after an uninspiring performance on Monday night. And while he's getting criticized for throwing an incompletion on 3rd down to set up the Lions winning drive, are we sure that Mohamed Massaquoi (a rookie WR) ran the correct route on the play?

BOTTOM 5

Charlie Batch
It's difficult to top Jay Fiedler's feat back in 2005, who came in for after a Pennington injury, messed up his own shoulder after taking a hit on his 3rd snap, and was done for the year. Batch came close - on the field for 4 plays in relief of Ben Roethlisberger, and now he's done for 6 weeks with a wrist injury. The Jets were forced to play Brooks Bollinger and then dusted off Vinny Testaverde for a final cameo. If Roethlisberger is out for the long haul, are the Steelers in better shape with Dennis Dixon at QB?

Josh Freeman
Looked confused for the first time in his young career - 17 completions for only 126 yards and 3 picks.

Jay Cutler
We're not into piling on an easy target, but Cutler stunk last night. And it's extra annoying when he costs you a fantasy win.

Mark Sanchez
When the Jets drafted Sanchez, optimists noted how successful rookies Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were in 2008. But neither player was asked to go out and be the front guy very often. Ryan was an occasional complement to a dominating running game, and Flacco had the luxury of a suffocating defense. This year's Jets have shown flashes of both, but have done neither consistently. And now for the 3rd time (Saints and Bills, previously), Sanchez has crushed his team's chances with a turnover-packed game. The question is, have the Jets put him in a bad position to make those kinds of mistakes, or has his reckless play put the Jets in an impossible spot to protect and develop him? Probably a little bit of both.

Chris Simms
The Broncos start the game with the ball on their own 26, and after 7 straight runs, they're at the Chargers 17 and poised to deliver the game's first punch. And then Denver calls for a pass, Simms neglects an open receiver in the flat, takes a sack, fumbles, and the Broncos never had much of a shot after that. Haven't we seen enough of this guy - 4 years of overrated, choke-filled games at Texas, 5 years of blah production at the pro level including a TD/INT ratio of 12/18 - to realize that this guy would've been cast aside if he didn't have a dad who was a Super Bowl-winning QB over 20 years ago?