Top 107

[blstoker]

Every once in a while there's the debate, who's better Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. Usually, it boils down to whoever you like more personally. So, I got curious about what the numbers say, and how other QBs stacked up as well. To do this, I didn't just compare eras apples to oranges, but actually took each players numbers compared to the league average. The numbers used were completions, completion %, yards, TDs, TD%, INT, INT% and rating for every QB who has 10 years of experience and at least 5 years as their team's majority starter with at least 2 years starting from 1966 or later (Super Bowl Era). These numbers were taken into consideration for each player's entire career, top 5 seasons and play offs. Numbers also considered were years in the playoffs, play off starts, play off wins, pro bowls, 1st team all pros, MVPs, 4th quarter comebacks (career and top 5) and game winning drives (career and top 5). In all, each player is compared in 34 different categories.

 

[blstoker]

107-101

107. David Carr
106. Mike Phipps
105. Kordell Stewart
104. Gus Frerotte
103. Jeff Blake
102. Brian Griese
101. Bob Berry

 

[blstoker]

100-91

100. Trent Dilfer
99. Bill Munson
98. Rodney Peete
97. Archie Manning
96. Jim Zorn
95. Steve Grogan
94. Jay Schroeder
93. Bill Nelsen
92. Richard Todd
91. Norm Snead

 

[blstoker]

90-81

90. Jon Kitna
89. Jack Kemp
88. Greg Landry
87. Chris Miller
86. Steve Beuerlein
85. Michael Vick
84. Charley Johnson
83. Mark Rypien
82. Babe Parilli
81. Doug Williams

 

[blstoker]

80-71

80. Jim McMahon
79. Bobby Hebert
78. Dan Pastorini
77. Chris Chandler
76. Tommy Kramer
75. Jim Harbaugh
74. Chad Pennington
73. Jake Delhomme
72. Jeff Hostetler
71. Joe Namath

 

[blstoker]

70-61

70. Lynn Dickey
69. Carson Palmer
68. John Hadl
67. Jake Plummer
66. Matt Schaub
65. Joe Ferguson
64. Craig Morton
63. Neil O'Donnell
62. Steve DeBerg
61. Earl Morrall

 

[blstoker]

60-51

60. Frank Ryan
59. Brian Sipe
58. Jim Everett
57. Kerry Collins
56. Ken O'Brien
55. Jeff George
54. Jim Plunkett
53. Drew Bledsoe
52. Jim Hart
51. Brad Johnson

 

[blstoker]

50-41

50. Trent Green
49. Steve McNair
48. Ron Jaworski
47. Dante Culpepper
46. Mark Brunell
45. Bert Jones
44. Phil Simms
43. Steve Bartkowski
42. Danny White
41. Sonny Jurgensen

 

[blstoker]

40-31

40. Vinny Testeverde
39. Dave Kreig
38. Jeff Garcia
37. Bernie Kosar
36. Billy Kilmer
35. Boomer Esiason
34. Matt Hasselbeck
33. Eli Manning
32. Daryle Lamonica
31. John Brodie

 

[blstoker]

30-21

30. Rich Gannon
29. Randall Cunningham
28. Roman Gabriel
27. Bob Griese
26. Tony Romo
25. Donovan McNabb
24. Troy Aikman
23. Len Dawson
22. Ben Roethlisberger
21. Philip Rivers

 

[blstoker]

20-11

20. Jim Kelly
19. Bart Starr
18. Joe Theismann
17. Terry Bradshaw
16. Kurt Warner
15. Dan Fouts
14. John Elway
13. Ken Anderson
12. Steve Young
11. Ken Stabler

 

[blstoker]

10-1

10. Warren Moon
9. Brett Favre
8. Fran Tarkenton
7. Johnny Unitas
6. Roger Staubach
5. Dan Marino
4. Drew Brees
3. Peyton Manning
2. Tom Brady
1. Joe Montana

 

[seahawksfan234]

Looks like a pretty accurate list to me, obviously give or take a few guys here and there. I'm curious as to the formula that you used and how you weighed things such as Superbowl victories/appearances in comparison to touchdown passes for example.

 

[blstoker]

Looks like a pretty accurate list to me, obviously give or take a few guys here and there. I'm curious as to the formula that you used and how you weighed things such as Superbowl victories/appearances in comparison to touchdown passes for example.

Pretty straight forward and simple. It's a pure point based ranking system. Averages are taken based on league average performance for each season a player in the in the NFL. So, if a player completes 300 passes, and the league average is 300 completions the players is assessed 100.0 points on completions for that season. This is taken for the players entire career. Peyton Manning ended with a 116.3 for completions for his career (he's completed 5532 passes against a cumulative league average for his career of 4735.8), earning him first place on that category and 1 point. These rankings are made for each category (not all were straight percentages, like pro bowls and such were raw numbers). Percentages that were used were done on a difference scale. Steve young completed 64.3% of his passes for his career, 7.7 higher that the league average over that span (56.5%), he finished first in career completion percentage and received 1 point. The player with the lowest combined number overall is in 1st place (Montana ended with a score of 371, Brady had a 480).

Super bowls themselves were not specifically targeted, jut total playoff wins (and I've only added them reluctantly as I feel team performance numbers skew the numbers). I am still not sure if adding playoffs and personal awards/clutch stats was a good idea. Some players benefited from them (Elway rose over 10 total spots) where others were severely punished for playing in a different era and less playoff opportunities (Sonny Jurgensen fell at least 20 places because he played in one epicly bad play off game). In the end, I felt that it had to be added, or I'd just field the what about the play off comments.

In the end, the things that meant the least in the comparison were All Pro selections and MVP awards. The more players in the pool for a given category hurts those who don't do well. In the MVP, only 23 players had at least 1, so the bottom 84 players only lost 23 points off the leader, as opposed to 106 in most other categories.

 

[Slimpikins]

There are a few interesting rankings on there but it is nearly impossible to rank so many guys who played the game in different ways across different eras. I did find it funny that Aikman was only two spots ahead of Romo.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I've seen great QB's as far back as Staubach, and as a Cowboys fan, I have to say the guy who I hated to see us face more than anyone was Steve Young. I know he doesn't get the acclaim of the top 10, but even when we beat him, I never felt good about it till the game was over

 

[blstoker]

There are a few interesting rankings on there but it is nearly impossible to rank so many guys who played the game in different ways across different eras. I did find it funny that Aikman was only two spots ahead of Romo.

Because this is a comparison of players based on how they stack up to their own league averages, it didn't surprise me at all. Aikman really doesn't stack up well to his era, where Romo really is pretty good compared to his era. Really what hurt Romo compared to Aikman is that Aikman ranked top 10 in the play offs, where Romo is outside the top 50. Otherwise, Romo statistically Compares better to those playing now than Aikman was to his era.

 

[blstoker]

I've seen great QB's as far back as Staubach, and as a Cowboys fan, I have to say the guy who I hated to see us face more than anyone was Steve Young. I know he doesn't get the acclaim of the top 10, but even when we beat him, I never felt good about it till the game was over

He was hurt by being a back up for so long. For a guy who spent half him career sitting behind Montana, being 12th was a surprise for me, I didn't expect him to be quite that high (and he's one of my personal favorites).

 

[Slimpikins]

Because this is a comparison of players based on how they stack up to their own league averages, it didn't surprise me at all. Aikman really doesn't stack up well to his era, where Romo really is pretty good compared to his era. Really what hurt Romo compared to Aikman is that Aikman ranked top 10 in the play offs, where Romo is outside the top 50. Otherwise, Romo statistically Compares better to those playing now than Aikman was to his era.

That makes sense and I know that Romo puts up stats, I think it is funny because I view the players so differently. Mostly, like you mentioned, because of the difference in playoff success.

 

[blstoker]

That makes sense and I know that Romo puts up stats, I think it is funny because I view the players so differently. Mostly, like you mentioned, because of the difference in playoff success.

I do wonder how much success we'd think Romo had if he had Aikman's teams (2nd ranked D 4 years straight, which included all three Super Bowls).