Is Education The Reason For Great Quarterbacks?

The old cliche of "chicks dig the long ball" works in baseball, but now it has crossed over to the NFL. Its more common to see Tom Brady, or Aaron Rodgers put up 500 yards in a game then to see Chris Johnson rush for over 100 yards in a game. To dig a little deeper in this new era of quarterbacks, lets look at their colleges. Education is important, and should be more evaluated then how fast someone can run the 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine.

Take Tom Brady (University of Michigan), Peyton Manning (University of Tennessee), Drew Brees

(Purdue University). These three are arguably the best quarterbacks in the NFL, combined they have multiple MVP awards, and five Super Bowl Rings. What else they have in common is each of them graduated from their respective colleges, they did not forgo there education for the NFL, some (Brees) has even gone back to school, and got a Master Degree. Education can vouch for great quarterbacks. Look at every quarterback that has at least been to the Super Bowl in the last few years, you would notice one thing, every quarterback has either graduated early or has not forgone their four years of education for the NFL.

Education is important, and since today is the "Border Battle" I will look at what makes Rodgers, and Ponder the poster child of higher education, and point out their similarities between them. Christian Ponder graduated with a Master Degree in 3.5 years from Florida State University. Aaron Rodgers graduated from University of California-Berkeley. The similarities do not stop their between Ponder and Rodgers. The NFL draft was a roller coaster for both of them. Rodgers was expected to go number one, but fell to number 24th in 2005, and Ponder on the other hand was called a "reach" for the Minnesota Vikings at number 12 in this years NFL Draft. Also they both just so happen had to follow in the foot steps of the-guy-who-should-not-be-named Brett Favre.

In the last 50 years the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings have never seemed more alike then they are now. I know people are disagreeing with me, but look at the quarterback situation for both teams. Rodgers and Ponder were never given a chance to succeed in the NFL, but at the time being both have succeeded, both teams did not want to imagine a life without Favre, but now within the last year Rodgers won the Super Bowl, and Ponder is giving Vikings fans a glimpse of what the future might hold for them. So to say Packers and Vikings are polar opposites is a far cry from being correct. Ponder and Rodgers might not look the same, but they play the same; cool, collected, rarely makes a mistake, confident that their team is going to win.

If anything, the Vikings fan could look at what Rodgers is doing now, and say this is what Ponder will look like in a few years, but in the NFL anything can happen, Rodgers could sustain a injury that will derail his career or Ponder could develop a accuracy issue that will force the Vikings to dangle in the "Suck For Luck" campaign. I hope that those last two statements never become true, because it would be great to see "Ponder Vs Rodgers" for the next decade.

Since it is Border Battle day I will give you my predictions. Minnesota-30 Green Bay 28. That right the Vikings end the Packers perfect season tonight on Monday Night Football.