Greatest QB Ever?

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

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.

This list is pretty tight...

 

[Clayton]

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.

I remember his Chiefs team. It was the most talented Chiefs team in my life when Montana was in there healthy. Even if he was healthy, that Bills team ran circles around everyone in the AFC.

I have Montana at #2. If Peyton throws 3 INTs in the Super Bowl or something equally tragic, I might drop him. Peyton's list of accomplishments are unreal and a lot of his downfalls in the playoffs involve special teams.

 

[Brahmsian]

Of the ones I've actually watched I'd have to go with Montana.

Would have loved seeing him in a Patriots uniform.

 

[rmilia1]

Did this on another thread but I looked at QB's and the top 10 alltime lists for yards, passing TD's, QB rating, MVP's, Super Bowl MVP's and SB wins. Awarded 10 points for first on the list, 9 for second etc etc all the way down. Top 10 list was

1. Peyton Manning 45 points
2. Tom Brady 43 points
3. Drew Brees 33 points
4. Brett Favre 30 points
5. Joe Montana 28 points
5t. Aaron Rodgers 28 points
7. John Elway 22 points
8. Steve Young 21 points
8t. Kurt Warner 21 points
10. Dan Marino 19 points

- Just missed the cut were: Terry Bradshaw 18 points, Bart Starr 17 points, Johnny Unitas 17 points, Warren Moon 15 points and Fran Tarkenton 13 points

 

[Clayton]

- Just missed the cut were: Terry Bradshaw 18 points, Bart Starr 17 points, Johnny Unitas 17 points, Warren Moon 15 points and Fran Tarkenton 13 points

I think the problem I have here is that Moon missed 6 years being in the CFL because the NFL was....lets just say really ignorant.

Unitas not being in the top 10 just means that the model is flawed. The eras were completely different

 

[rmilia1]

I think the problem I have here is that Moon missed 6 years being in the CFL because the NFL was....lets just say really ignorant.

Unitas not being in the top 10 just means that the model is flawed. The eras were completely different

Id agree with that probably. No way to correlate the difference though. Clearly the league is more pass friendly now which is why the list is solely comprised of people who have played the last 30 years or so. Makes Montana, Marino and Elways appearance on the list even more impressive IMO

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

The problem with these lists are: no way to compare eras, too many people put too much stock into SB wins for a QB.

Brady only had 145 yds passing in their SB victory against the Rams. Their defense won that game with 3 turnovers that accounted for 17 of their 20 points. The only points Brady led them to that wasn't the result of a turnover was the last drive to set up the winning FG.

When he became the starter, the defense flat out told him to manage the game and not turn the ball over and the defense would win the game for them. It was that way as long as the Pats had a great defense. When their defense got worse, Brady was required to do more and he has. He has been more responsible for their success the past 6-7 seasons, but less so the prior seasons.

Yet, some people have him at #1 because he has 3 rings.

Other great QB's have been less fortunate regarding team success and therefore have no rings and are downgraded. Marino only had 2 RB's his entire career rush for 1000 yards or more. 2 out of 17 seasons. Also, their defenses were never outstanding either, forcing Marino to do everything to help the team win.

Many consider Montana the greatest QB. However, he always had great teams, receivers and running backs. He was the perfect QB for the West Coast Offense because it requires a lot of 5-15 yards routes and relies more on precision than arm strength ( which Montana lacked ). He had incredible field vision ( something I wish Bradford had ), but can he really be the greatest if he can't throw the deep ball?

Plus, way too many people forget about the old-timers when compiling these lists. Many included them on their lists here, but many national lists think the NFL QB started in the 70's or something.

To me, guys like Sammie Baugh, YA Tittle, Tark and others are left off way too often and guys like Bradshaw are given waaaay too much credit.

How can anyone compare Montana, Brady, Manning to Baugh? Have any of them been successful punters as well? Have they returned kicks like Baugh did?

Have any of them transformed the game the way Tark did with his scrambling? Prior to Tark, QB's rarely scrambled. Teams had to start drafting lighter, faster defenders in order to compensate for Tark's scrambling. He was the one that started the scrambling QB way before it became what it is today.

Plus, those older QB's played when football was football, not this sissified league where the QB's pretty much have free reign and the defenders are penalized if they take 2 steps after the QB throws the ball and he gets hit.

It put more stock into the older guys who played when it was rough than I do this younger generation that have been pampered by these new rules and allowed them to put up these ridiculous numbers.

 

[ozarkram]

If its about changing or transforming the game. Then the nod I believe should go too Namath.

 

[SEC Official]

Without going into a list... I would have Montana at the top. But I am a child of the 80's and I think the generation you grow up in when football makes that lasting impression help form your list.

 

[SEC Official]

This list is pretty tight...

I would agree.. the Montana, Johnny U, and Manning would be hard to argue against.

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

Here is the bottom line. Biggest game of the season, you are down 3 with 3:20 remaining. 92 yards between your team and pay dirt. Who do you want as your QB?

 

[ozarkram]

Elway.

 

[rmilia1]

Here is the bottom line. Biggest game of the season, you are down 3 with 3:20 remaining. 92 yards between your team and pay dirt. Who do you want as your QB?

NFL Career Fourth Quarter Comebacks Leaders (since 1960) - Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[HuskerCradle2Grave]

NFL Career Fourth Quarter Comebacks Leaders (since 1960) - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Looked at that too. Would you really pick Peyton?

 

[rmilia1]

NFL Career Fourth Quarter Comebacks Leaders (since 1960) - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Oddly the QB with the best average for 4th quarter comebacks per year of guys that have played at least 5 years is Matt Ryan. 17 4th quarter comeback wins in 6 years or 2.83 a year. For guys that have played at least 10 years the Manning brothers both average 2.5 per year.

 

[Nosferatu]

Here is the bottom line. Biggest game of the season, you are down 3 with 3:20 remaining. 92 yards between your team and pay dirt. Who do you want as your QB?

Montana by a large margin...

 

[rmilia1]

Looked at that too. Would you really pick Peyton?

Id probably take Elway in that situation or Montana but any guy in the top 5 on that list is fine by me

 

[Clayton]

Here is the bottom line. Biggest game of the season, you are down 3 with 3:20 remaining. 92 yards between your team and pay dirt. Who do you want as your QB?

Big Ben.

 

[Vitamike]

Did this on another thread but I looked at QB's and the top 10 alltime lists for yards, passing TD's, QB rating, MVP's, Super Bowl MVP's and SB wins. Awarded 10 points for first on the list, 9 for second etc etc all the way down. Top 10 list was

1. Peyton Manning 45 points
2. Tom Brady 43 points
3. Drew Brees 33 points
4. Brett Favre 30 points
5. Joe Montana 28 points
5t. Aaron Rodgers 28 points
7. John Elway 22 points
8. Steve Young 21 points
8t. Kurt Warner 21 points
10. Dan Marino 19 points

Do you notice your 'Top 10' list is void of QB's prior to Montana?

Those stats look to be good measures for 'today's' QB's however rather poor measures of yesteryear's QB's.

Wouldn't you agree?

No top ten list IMO, of any sort that is worth it's weight, will omit Johnny U from the Top Five much less the Top Ten at this point and time in Football History.

 

[$500 Million]

Sticking with QB's I actually saw play:

1. Joe Montana
2. Dan Marino
3. Peyton Manning
4. John Elway
5. Tom Brady
6. Terry Bradshaw
7. Brett Favre
8. Kurt Warner
9. Troy Aikman
10. Steve Young