Greatest QB Ever?

[Silas]

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.

Somehow when I think of the guys on this list, I don't form a mental image of Sam Bradford.

That being said I agree with your list, though I'd move Steve Young down the list.

Montana and Unitas were the two best QB's I've watched. It is, of course, subjective and the list covers different eras and different evolutions of the game. I'd take any of these guys today, though.

 

[mutigers1fan]

Husker and SECOfficial, I appreciate the love for my list.

Angel, you're right about compiling a precise list being impossible. I tried to use SuperBowls as a tie breaker more than anything else. I looked at Baugh for my list but I decided he'd be higher if the list was for best player, but because it was purely for best QB then counting in his plays as a punter and tailback weren't relevant. I tried to compare guys to their era and not to each other but its hard, especially considering I've seen so few of them play. Favre's first game as a Packer was the day I was born so I don't even remember most the guys on my list. Obviously we will all have different lists and my opinion is no more valid than anyone else's.

 

[Dragon]

1. Dan Marino
2. Joe Montana
3. Peyton Manning
4. Roger Staubach
5. Tom Brady
6. Bart Starr
7. Steve Young
8. Terry Bradshaw
9. John Elway
10. Brett Favre

11. Any Minnesota quarterback other than Fran Tarkenton.

 

[broncosmitty]

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

Joe Namaith was very mediocre. Most overrated player, in any sport, at any position, in the history of everything.

 

[ozarkram]

Joe Namaith was very mediocre. Most overrated player, in any sport, at any position, in the history of everything.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And you sir know nothing about football. Also just an opinion.

 

[Rambunctious]

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

and no Jim Everett? whats up with that?

 

[Rambunctious]

My favorite Quarterback and one of my favorite players is Warner. He may not be #1 to everyone but he is to me. I also liked the snake Ken Stabler. QB's like him and the two Dans, Marino and Fouts scared you when your team had to play against them.

 

[Rambunctious]

Fun Rams vs Seahawks page

RAM-SEAHAWK GAMES OF THE PAST


Bulger's greatest game has a write up on this site. I'll never forget that comeback game.

 

[Chilipepper]

1. Johnny Unitas.
2. Bart Star
3. Joe Montana
4. Kurt Warner
5. Dan Marino
6. John Elway
7. Tom Brady
8. Sonny Jurgenson
9 Roger Staubach
10. Fran Tarkenton
Others Warren Moon, Steve Young, so many more

 

[shopson67]

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.

Including super bowl wins and super bowl MVPs is a little sketchy, as super bowl appearances and wins are team accomplishments, not QB accomplishments.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

any list without Marino & Montana in the top 5 isn't worth reading in my humble opinion.

 

[LTR1961]

This may have been mentioned but I certainly didn't read the entire thread. It's hard to compare QB's of different eras because the game has changed too much over the years. When I was a kid watching football DB's could chuck a WR anywhere on the field as long as the ball wasn't in the air. First they put in the 5 yard chuck rule and now they call defensive PI if they even breath on the receiver. It's much easier to put up huge numbers in today's game for both the QB's and the TE's.

The best pure QB I ever watched was Dan Marino but he never won the big one so people don't put him as high on the board. He had the quickest release I've ever seen and he was accurate as hell He had the misfortune of playing for a team that didn't run the ball well and in many of his years weren't all that good defensively.

I'm too young to remember Unites in his prime but many of the old timers say he was the best ever. Some say Sammy Baugh (speling??)

 

[mrwallace2ku]

1. Dan Marino
2. Joe Montana
3. Peyton Manning
4. Roger Staubach
5. Tom Brady
6. Bart Starr
7. Steve Young
8. Terry Bradshaw
9. John Elway
10. Brett Favre

11. Any Minnesota quarterback other than Fran Tarkenton.

lolz...

 

[mrwallace2ku]

"BEST RAM QB" I ever saw play the game?

2 come to mind St Louis...K Warner LA...R Gabriel

 

[Retroram52]

I agree MrWallace.

 

[SJ76]

Best one I Ever saw was #13.