Greatest QB Ever?

[BOSS429Mustang]

On another thread on this board the debate came up about where Manning rates on the Greatest QBs list. It is definitely an interesting topic that elicits a lot of opinion and emotion. It's also a very volatile subject as well, but does lend itself to lively discussion. Here is my choice for the best ever. Would be interested in hearing what others think.

1. Joe Montana
2. Dan Marino
3. Peyton Manning
4. John Elway
5. Steve Young
6. John Unitas
7. Dan Fouts
8. Ken Anderson
9. Tom Brady
10. Brett Favre

Except for the top 3 or 4 its highly subjective I know. Only the top four are probably a consensus in some order or another. Just MHO.

 

[Vitamike]

On another thread on this board the debate came up about where Manning rates on the Greatest QBs list. It is definitely an interesting topic that elicits a lot of opinion and emotion. It's also a very volatile subject as well, but does lend itself to lively discussion. Here is my choice for the best ever. Would be interested in hearing what others think.

1. Joe Montana
2. Dan Marino
3. Peyton Manning
4. John Elway
5. Steve Young
6. John Unitas
7. Dan Fouts
8. Ken Anderson
9. Tom Brady
10. Brett Favre

Except for the top 3 or 4 its highly subjective I know. Only the top four are probably a consensus in some order or another. Just MHO.

I'd say even your top 3 and 4 are highly subjective.

Many of us old farts would have Johnny U at or near the top of the list and names like Young and Fouts may not even make a top ten list.

What do you do with guys like Otto Graham, Sammy Baugh, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Bart Starr?

I'd say they all make a top 25 and that list would realistically have some great Rams' QB's too. Like Warner, Brocklin and Gabriel!

 

[shopson67]

I won't go too deep, but I would have Marino at the top. Best NFL passer of all time. Teams win championships, not one player.

 

[NEhomer]

Tebow
Dilfer
Leaf
Sanchez
Bledsoe

 

[Vitamike]

Tebow
Dilfer
Leaf
Sanchez
Bledsoe

homer we all know your top 5 list is more like this...

1. Captain America
2. Tom Terrific
3. Mr Gisele Bündchen
4. Shady Brady
5. Nobody who is not named Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom" Brady, Jr

 

[mrwallace2ku]

1)Jim Plunkett

2)Kenny Stabler

3)Roger Staubach

4)Bart Starr

5)Tom Brady

6)Terry Bradshaw

 

[Vitamike]

1)Jim Plunkett

2)Kenny Stabler

3)Roger Staubach

4)Bart Starr

5)Tom Brady

6)Terry Bradshaw

Hey Wallace!

Welcome to the Rams boards, be very careful over here, jimmies are rustled way too easily!

Surprised you have Jimbo as Numero Uno when your boy Fran Tarkenton will make some's list for top ten or so.

I'm sure you know in 18 season, Tarkenton topped the record books in passing completions, touchdowns and yards by the end of his career. He rushed for almost 4,000 yards with 5.4 YPC, earned 9 Pro Bowl selections and an NFL MVP.

Imaging where he might land on top QB lists had he managed to win a SB or two.

 

[Clayton]

Not scientific but

1. Peyton Manning
2. Joe Montana
3. John Unitas
4. Tom Brady
5. Dan Marino
6. Otto Graham
7. John Elway
8. Brett Favre
9. Steve Young
10. Warren Moon

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Hey Wallace!

Welcome to the Rams boards, be very careful over here, jimmies are rustled way too easily!

Surprised you have Jimbo as Numero Uno when your boy Fran Tarkenton will make some's list for top ten or so.

I'm sure you know in 18 season, Tarkenton topped the record books in passing completions, touchdowns and yards by the end of his career. He rushed for almost 4,000 yards with 5.4 YPC, earned 9 Pro Bowl selections and an NFL MVP.

Imaging where he might land on top QB lists had he managed to win a SB or two.

Got that right Vitamike. My brother is a Vikings fan, and I used to hate it when the Rams had to face Tarkenton in the 70s. The guy scrambled around like some of these guys do today, before it was "stylish" like now. If he'd have won even one, I'm sure he would have been much higher on the list. An interesting site I've found is ranker.com. They rank best players according to votes. Worth checking out.

 

[mutigers1fan]

Let the college kid put a vote in with the old guys. I don't have Elway quite that high. Johnny U, Slingin' Sammie Baugh, Bart Starr, and Terry Bradshaw have to be names who are mentioned.

My list:
1. Joe Montana - I honestly don't see how people can have anyone else here
2. Johnny Unitas - he put pro football on the map. First with a 30 TD year, 40,000 yards, created the 2-minute offense. First real passer gun slinger.
3. Peyton Manning - I see him and Steve Young as essentially even, Peyton has done it nearly twice as long. 2 uninspiring SB performances
4. Steve Young - full time starter in SF for 7 seasons, 7 pro-bowls and lead the league in completion percentage and rating 5 times in those 7 years. Also the greatest SB performance of all time.
5. Tom Brady - he also has very similar numbers to Manning and Young. 5 SB appearances and played well in them, the potential asterisk next to his 3 rings thought broke the tie to put him just below the other 2.
6. Roger Staubach - unreal record as a QB. 4 SB appearances, 3 of which he played great and the Cowboys won.
7. Bart Starr - maybe the best playoff QB ever. Best QB of his era and won his last 9 playoff games. He lead the Packers to 3 NFL Championships before the SuperBowl was started, then won 2 more as well as the SuperBowl in its first 2 years.
8. Terry Bradshaw - not a top 10 regular season QB, but in 4 SB appearances he won 4 rings and had a 112.8 passer rating.
9. Brett Favre - he threw a lot of everything, yards, TDs, INTs. At the end of the day he had a significantly higher career passer rating and very comparable other numbers than Elway and played well in both of his SB appearances.
10. John Elway - lead his team to 5 SB's but played horribly in 2 and bad in another. I think he's highly over rated as a regular season QB as well.

Just missed:
Dan Marino - Had the best passing season of all time in 1984 otherwise his career numbers are pretty on par with Favre's, he only made 1 SB however and put up less than inspiring numbers in it.

Final thought: To those who say not to weigh the SuperBowls very much, how differently would we remember Jim Kelly if the Bills had won those SuperBowls?

Interesting fact: Montana, Manning, Young, and Brady are the only 4 on my list with a better career TD/INT ratio than Sam Bradford.

 

[Clayton]

My list:
1. Joe Montana - I honestly don't see how people can have anyone else here

Good list. If Montana was so great, why did Steve Young get picked up and why was Montana pushed out eventually? Also, Jerry Rice is the best WR ever and Walsh is arguably the top offensive mind ever. You could theoretically make the argument that the team made the man. Like Bradshaw.

Granted, I wouldn't but the argument is there

 

[mutigers1fan]

Fair Clayton, let my rephrase. I don't see why anyone would argue Montana as #1. He was pushed out because they had a younger QB who they believed in(which I have at #3). Jerry Rice and Bill Walsh were great but you could also argue that Montana and Young helped make them as great as they were.

 

[Clayton]

I think you could argue the 3 best 'primes' of QBs are Steve Young, Kurt Warner and Aaron Rodgers. It get really difficult when you look at an entire body of work, though.

The game is also much more of a passing league now. Its difficult to compare eras

 

[ozarkram]

1 Dan Marino
2 John Elway
3 Joe Montana
4 Joe Namath
5 Terry Bradshaw
6 Kurt Warner
7 Dan Fouts
8 Fran Tarkenton
9 Ken Anderson
10 Steve Grogan

 

[mutigers1fan]

I think you could argue the 3 best 'primes' of QBs are Steve Young, Kurt Warner and Aaron Rodgers. It get really difficult when you look at an entire body of work, though.

The game is also much more of a passing league now. Its difficult to compare eras

Marino's prime ('84-'86) was probably better than any of those 3. Other than that though I have no one else who's prime I would put above that. Young's prime was so long it became the majority of his body of work.

 

[Retroram52]

I don't see Vince Ferragamo's name on any list on this thread. lol. Just kidding.

 

[Sportsguy9695]

1 Brady
2 P Manning
3 Brees
4 Favre
5 E Manning

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Good list. If Montana was so great, why did Steve Young get picked up and why was Montana pushed out eventually? Also, Jerry Rice is the best WR ever and Walsh is arguably the top offensive mind ever. You could theoretically make the argument that the team made the man. Like Bradshaw.

Granted, I wouldn't but the argument is there

If I remember correctly, I believe Mutigers is correct. SF wanted to go with a younger Steve Young instead of losing him. He was about to walk if he didn't get his chance after being behind Montana on the depth chart. And Montana then took his magic to Kansas City and had that team, with far less talent that SF, in position to go to the Super Bowl before getting knocked out with an injury in the AFC championship game against Buffalo.

As far as Marino is concerned, lets not forget that he had very little help in regards to a balanced offense in his time in Miami. Opponents knew the Dolphins were going to throw the ball, and still couldn't stop him. If you were going to manufacture the perfect QB, you'd give him Marino's throwing ability, Steve Young's scrambling, Farve's toughness, and Montana's poise and ability to handle any situation.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

I won't go too deep, but I would have Marino at the top. Best NFL passer of all time. Teams win championships, not one player.

There is nothing that supports that statement...

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

1 Brady
2 P Manning
3 Brees
4 Favre
5 E Manning

What are you, 12?