There is perhaps no greater debate in sports than the argument of the greatest Quarterback of all time. Often times personal preference and personalities get in the way too much. That’s why Mike and I will provide for you a completely objective and fact supported argument for our own top ten. You may not agree but then again you’re probably wrong so whatever.
I’ll start with a few notables not being included:
Joe Namath: His colorful personality, off the field antics, and famous guarantee often cloud the fact that Namath had a losing career record, threw more interceptions than touchdowns in his career, and only made the playoffs twice. Yes he did guarantee victory in SuperBowl 3 over the heavily favored Colts but did he really deliver on that guarantee? It was hardly the offense that won them a 16 7 game and the running game really dominated anyway. Overall his career was one of throwing for a lot of yards and touchdowns, but even more interceptions on bad Jets teams. On top of that, his career comparisons on Pro Football Reference website are Marc Bulger, Aaron Brooks, and Jay Scroeder. Should I throw them in the top ten as well?
Terry Bradshaw: Yes he did win four SuperBowls, that’s not the debate. Those Steelers teams were loaded with 10 other Hall of Famers including his center, 2 receivers and his running back. Sorry but a Qb was hardly an important position on a team like this in the seventies. Hell in 1974 he was benched for half the year and wouldn’t have played at all if his backup Joe Gilliam didn’t get hurt. Yes at the end of his career he did have some good seasons, however the only 2 times he lead the NFL in TD’s he had nearly as many Interceptions and he never lead the league in QB rating. The fact of the matter was that with 5 Future Hall of Famers on D, they weren’t going to give up more than 10-15 points a game and that could be easily had with Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier running the ball. However unlike Namath, Bradshaw is an all time great and deserves his spot in the Hall of Fame, he just isn’t in the top ten.
10. Otto Graham: Imagine a Quarterback leading his team to the championship game his first season, now imagine he does that every season of his career. This is reality for Otto Graham. Every one of his 10 seasons ended in the NFL championship game. Graham was the QB and the leader of the best dynasty in NFL history. Granted, the passing game wasn’t as important as it is now and that’s why he’s 10 and not 1.
9. Steve Young: He may not be the first name you think of when you think all time greats but go back and look at the numbers. What they reveal was that Young was utterly dominant during that era and in the later years was better than Montana. He didn’t do much in Tampa but after getting traded to San Fran he played bits and pieces of every season while Montana was always hurt. After 5 seasons of basically splitting time with Montana, young had thrown 43 Tds and only 14 Ints, in most cases outplaying Montana. In 1992 Montana was traded and Young was given the job full time. For the next 8 seasons Young showed full time what he had only shown glimpses of in the past as he went on an absolute tear. He won 2 Mvps, a Superbowl (in which he put up a historic 6 td performance), led the league in passer rating 6 times, completion percentage 5 times, and touchdowns 4 times. Young may not have had the longest prime and may not have won as many SuperBowls as the other men on the list but no one dominated the league like he did.
8. Bart Starr: Well I guess you could say he had a pretty successful career, he won 5 championships including the first 2 Super Bowls. Like Graham he lead one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history in an era when passing was less important. However the passing game became increasingly important as the years went on and the only reason the winning continued for the Packers was because of Starr’s performance.
7.Tom Brady: As much as it pains me to say it, Brady is an all time great Qb. Although I do believe he’s vastly overrated and cheer for an injury every year, I also know that he has 2 of the 3 best statistical seasons in NFL history. To me the greatness of Brady comes in after his championship seasons. On those 2001 to 2004 teams Brady was basically asked to be a game manager and played very well at that part but in no way was he the irreplaceable key to success. Hell in 2001 he was below average, he just did what it took to win and sorry if I didn’t think he was the Next Montana after he lead on a 40 something yard drive in 2 minutes, maybe that’s just because I was 8 and didn’t know who Montana was but still. Starting in 2006 he became more important to the team and in what I think is his biggest accomplishment, he led an offense of nobodies to within seconds of a SuperBowl appearance. Then there’s the obvious 50 Touchdown rape fest in 2007 and the mistake free while still leading the league in TDs 2010. However what has hurt his legacy in recent years must be the failure of the team in the playoffs since the Patriots became an offense first team. Since that time they are 2-3 in the playoffs. Now heres to hoping that Brady fails so bad in the next few seasons that he tarnishes his legacy completely and won’t even be on the list. Don’t think there’s time for that? Ask Brett Favre.
6. Fran Tarkenton: When you think of Tarkenton, you think of the greatest scrambling QB of all time as well you should. Upon his retirement he was the all time leader in rushing yards for a Quarterback. But he was also the all time leader in passing yards and Touchdowns. He dominated his era statistically like few others have. The biggest criticism of him is a valid one, he never did win the big one. He was given plenty of chances playing for the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants for much of his career. He really doesn’t have an excuse, the teams he played on were dominant during the regular season and the playoffs, then just fell apart during the championships. Despite this shortcoming, Tarkenton was one of the most unstoppable forces in NFL history, think of the way Michael Vick played in the first half of this season, now imagine that spread over a 15 year career. That was reality for Tarkenton.
5. Dan Marino: 420 Career Touchdowns with only 252 Interceptions, 61,361 Passing yards, seasons of 48 and 44 Touchdowns. I’d like to say more but unfortunately the numbers really tell the whole story for Marino. And those are only the good numbers, the worst one is 8-10, his career playoff record. He had less than a 78 rating in exactly half of those games so you can play the whole no running game, no defense card all you want but Marino just didn’t perform a lot of the time. That being said, he was the sole reason a lot of those Miami teams were even in the playoffs at all and he is one of the most well respected men around the game today. Although he may not have a Superbowl, I’m betting Trent Dilfer would trade careers with Marino in a second.
4. Johny Unitas: Unitas was the original QB, he was the man America saw calm, cool, and collected as he led the Colts on a game winning drive in the NFL championship game in 1958, also the first game ever televised. From then on he was a hero to every young football fan. For years he was the best the league had to offer and consistently showed why he was the fan favorite. Unitas put up the best numbers in the league while consistently winning. He started in 1958 and 59 winning consecutive championships then continued that through the evolution of the league and appeared in Superbowl 3 and 5 winning the latter and cementing his legacy as one of the greatest of all time.
3. John Elway: John Elway single handedly lead 3 Below average football teams to SuperBowls. That means more than any number I could throw out there. He was the key to a team that did what few other teams had done in league history. Compare those Bronco teams to the other teams that have appeared in 3 Superbowls in 4 years, there is no comparison. The 70’s Dolphins, The 90’s Cowboys, and the 2000’s Patriots are unquestionably better than those Bronco teams. The only reason they had a shot was because of Elway. Then you can throw in him winning those 2 other Superbowls later and the fact that he’s the only Qb to start 5 Superbowls and what you have is an all time great. Elway may be a major douche, no one’s arguing that, but hey who else would you rather have when you’re down 10 with 4 minutes to go? Joe Montana and Peyton Manning? Yeah I was getting there.
2. Joe Montana: Montana was a winner through and through. Together with Bill Walsh he walked into a perennial loser and turned it into one the greatest dynasties ever. With San Fran Montana became one of 2 men to win 4 SuperBowls as a starting QB and the only man to win 3 MVPs. He was the face of the winningest team of the decade and there was just cause for that. He was Joe Cool, there was no beating him, he was the coolest guy ever and it showed on the field. He led game winning drives in Championship games and SuperBowls like it was nothing. He usually goes unquestioned as the greatest of all time. I was going to drop him a lil bit more but I couldn’t do that to Joe! I would feel like I was betraying a friend! Well as one final bit of an argument that pushed him over the top as a great QB was him going to Kansas City and making them an immediate SuperBowl contender. He’s the man, I Love him, everyone loves him, I’m sorry Joe.
1. Peyton Manning: I could write a book on this guy, but for now I guess I should keep it short, this being a blog article and all. But I just can’t ignore the fact that he has put up MVP numbers every season since 1999, I don’t even remember 1999 I was 6! But what you might remember about it was that an entire decade has passed since then, Bill Clinton was President, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Dan Marino, and Warren Moon were all still in the league, and Pokemon and the Backstreet Boys were all the rage. Every year since then Manning has put up MVP numbers. If he played as many games as Brett Favre, there wouldn’t even be a Comparison, Manning may still well get to 450-500 touchdowns and over 75000 yards. Now enough about the Numbers, here’s what he did for his team. Between 2008 and 2009 he led his team to win 25 of 26 games with the one loss coming in the playoffs. Take some time to digest that, now consider that this was an injured team with a weak running game, young receivers, a below average and injury riddled defense, and in 2009 they had a rookie head coach. You can’t say enough about the Impact Manning had on these teams. He’s more valuable than any player has been to any team in Sports history. Without him these 2000s Colts who won more games than any team has in any decade, may not have made the playoffs once. Not convinced yet? Consider 2010 where he might as well have been playing with a little league team, Bob Sanders, Jeff Saturday, Melvin Bullitt, Antwan Bethea, Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, Joe Addai, and countless others were hurt. The team was sitting nearly dead at 6-6 and looked like they may not make the playoffs, Manning was coming off 2 bad games and they were playing with receivers such as……shit I don’t even remember, you know why? Because they may as well have been named Joe Fucking Nobody or God hates Peyton Manning. And guess what? Manning put the team on his back and won 4 straight, boom he’s the best, end of story.
Honorable Mentions include: Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, Donavan McNabb, Drew Brees, Dan Fouts, Sid Luchman, Sammy Baugh, Warren Moon, Kurt Warner, and Terry Bradshaw.
To all those young QBs out there, this list could be changed if you work hard and stay hungry my friends.
