1. Tom Brady, New England: Never mind the Spygate stuff. No quarterback does a better job reading defenses and effortlessly finding the open receiver. Last season, his third-down passer rating was a nosebleed-high 115.6.
2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis: A victory in Super Bowl XLI allowed Manning to quiet all talk that he can't win big games. Superb as he is, he definitely missed Marvin Harrison last season.
3. Tony Romo, Dallas: OK, so he's 0-2 in the playoffs. But Romo still has the potential to be great. He already has 10 games with 300-plus yards passing. That's three shy of Troy Aikman's club record.
4. Drew Brees, New Orleans: Where would the Saints be without Brees? Certainly not on the national radar screen. And, according to STATS LLC, the Saints dropped a league-high 41 catchable balls in 2007.
5. Brett Favre, New York Jets: There's a reason we paid attention to his retirement rumba: The three-time MVP was on fire last season. Can he do it with a new team, though, when he's turning 39 in October?
6. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh: Just when we thought the motorcycle accident might forever change him as a player, he bounced back last season with 32 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions.
7. Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle: He has a bad body for a quarterback, but who cares? Hasselbeck makes quick decisions, is very accurate underneath and runs the Seahawks offense the way it's supposed to be run. Very underrated.
8. Jeff Garcia, Tampa Bay: Lost in all the Bucs' flirtations with Favre was this: Garcia just wins. No one was more accurate last season on passes that sailed 20 yards or deeper.
9. Carson Palmer, Cincinnati: Unlike Brees or Garcia, Palmer looks like he rolled off a quarterback assembly line. He could have assembled some better numbers in the interceptions department last season, though. He had a career-high 20.
10. Eli Manning, New York Giants: If not for his performance in the playoffs and Super Bowl last season, Manning wouldn't be in the top 10 on this list. But he showed poise most didn't think he had.
11. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia: When he's relatively healthy, and that hasn't been often of late, McNabb is one of the league's better quarterbacks. He's very tough and, considering the beating he takes, he needs to be.
12. Derek Anderson, Cleveland: Don't know much about this out-of-nowhere Browns quarterback? Think young Drew Bledsoe. Anderson stands tall in the pocket and has the huge arm necessary to take advantage of Cleveland's field-stretching receivers.
