greatest quarterback ever

[Seven]

How tough is this question. 70 bijillion varibles added to each inductee. Football has changed so much I wouldn't even know where to begin. John Elway.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by torrescatch22

would Elway have ever won a ring without TD? maybe not.

would Staubach have ever won a ring without the ORIGINAL TD? who knows?

my point is every great QB is only as good as his surrounding cast IMO.

a great QB is measured by leadership, wins, and heart.

with saying that here is my top 5. . . . .

1) John Elway
2) Roger Staubach
3) Joe Montana
4) Troy Aikman
5) Brett Favre

honorable mentions(and creaping up fast) are Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

now, if Staubach's and Elway's defenses were that good would they have had as many comeback wins? I don't think so. but that goes into the "heart" aspect of my opinion.

[View Full Quote]I am not old enough to have seen Johnny U play, so this list is based on the QBs I have seen play. Now I should say that Elway and Favre should get more credit(especially Favre) due to the fact that they had fewer weapons. and as for Aikman, he would/should have been the only QB with 4 straight championships(AT LEAST!!!!!) if Jimmy and Jerry wouldn't have gotten into the infamous battle of egos.

but the bottom line is that all of these QBs have done amazing things on the football field, so they could be #1 on anybody's list. . . .

but this is mine.

Elway is my #1 of all time. . . . .

just wish he would have had a big blue star on his helmet instead of that stupid horse.

Staubach did win a ring before TD, he did it with a DT though.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by Wolverine

Joe Montana best ever. No way. Maybe the best in the WCO but outside of the WCO he had to weak of a arm to make the throws in other offenses.

Guys like Elway Marino Favre Aikman Manning just to name a few could make it in any offense cuz they could make any throw and throws very few other QBs could make. Montana outside of the WCO woulda never had a chance at doin what he did.

Montana took the Chiefs to the AFC championship game and made the playoffs the next year, and KC did not run a WCO.

[wxcpo]

My top 5 would be;

1. Farve. Starting to show his age a little, but 8 straight seasons of 3800 yards passing or more with 5 straight seasons of 30 or more TD passes. Dallas has never had a QB throw for 3800 yards or 30 TDs in a single season. Plus Farve hasn't missed a start in something like 100 years, the man simply goes out there and plays the game hurt or not. Has 4 seasons with 4000 yards or more passing and 8 seasons with 30 or TD passes. In all the major statistical categories he is either 2nd the Marino or 3rd behind Marino & Elway. If I were drafting an all time team he would definitely be the guy I want running the show.

2. Marino. Unfortunately for him he was drafted by the Dolphins and not the 49ers because if he had played for some of those 9er teams of the 80's there would simply be no debate to who was #1. Marino is #1 in every major statistical category and has put up records that may never ever be touched. Passed for over 5000 yards once and for over 4000 yards 6 times and a record (until last season) 48 TDs.

3. Elway. My least favorite QB of all time, but not the reason he is #3 on my list. IMO the top 2 guys are simply better than Elway and have the stats to prove it. Sure Elway has the titles that Marino doesn't, but Marino never had the supporting cast that Elway or Farve enjoyed. Elway is on this list more so because of what he could do with his legs than what he could do with his arm.

4. Montana. This one kills me all most as much as the Elway pick, but tough to argue with him being a top 5 all time QB. In 1989 had an unbelievable 70.2 completion percentage and only threw 8 INTs all season. Was the best when it mattered most, in the Superbowl. Led his team to 4 titles and didn't throw 1 INT in 122 pass attempts. The game winning drive against the Bengals was one of the greatest superbowl drives ever.

5. Tarkenton. I would have loved to been able to actually watch this guy play, he must have been one of the best to watch. Frome all the highlight reels I have seen on this guy he simply frustrated defenses with his escapability. Only 2 other QBs (Cunningham & Young) ran for more yardage than Tark. Statistically he is in the top 5 in all major categories.

Aikman IMO ranks 6th all time because of his 3 superbowl titles. Like Montana, Aikman was at his best when it mattered most, on the biggest stage of a professional football players career. The unfortunate thing for Aikman was that he had such a strong supporting cast in Emmitt, Michael, Moose, Novechek, Harper and so on and so on (I know how unfortunate huh). That did hurt though because in those 3 superbowls Aikman only threw 5 TDs and 4 of those were against Buffalo.

Guys who I think could be top 5 by the time their careers are done. Peyton Manning without a doubt will be top 5 and he is very close to being there IMO. Tom Brady also has a great chance of being in the top 5.

[NorthTexan95]

While this is a highly subjective question I think Johnny U is being underrated by many here. He's definately one of the the top five quarterback of all time now matter what your criteria.

[LeonDixson]

Originally Posted by wxcpo

My top 5 would be;

1. Farve. Starting to show his age a little, but 8 straight seasons of 3800 yards passing or more with 5 straight seasons of 30 or more TD passes. Dallas has never had a QB throw for 3800 yards or 30 TDs in a single season. Plus Farve hasn't missed a start in something like 100 years, the man simply goes out there and plays the game hurt or not. Has 4 seasons with 4000 yards or more passing and 8 seasons with 30 or TD passes. In all the major statistical categories he is either 2nd the Marino or 3rd behind Marino & Elway. If I were drafting an all time team he would definitely be the guy I want running the show.

[View Full Quote]2. Marino. Unfortunately for him he was drafted by the Dolphins and not the 49ers because if he had played for some of those 9er teams of the 80's there would simply be no debate to who was #1. Marino is #1 in every major statistical category and has put up records that may never ever be touched. Passed for over 5000 yards once and for over 4000 yards 6 times and a record (until last season) 48 TDs.

3. Elway. My least favorite QB of all time, but not the reason he is #3 on my list. IMO the top 2 guys are simply better than Elway and have the stats to prove it. Sure Elway has the titles that Marino doesn't, but Marino never had the supporting cast that Elway or Farve enjoyed. Elway is on this list more so because of what he could do with his legs than what he could do with his arm.

4. Montana. This one kills me all most as much as the Elway pick, but tough to argue with him being a top 5 all time QB. In 1989 had an unbelievable 70.2 completion percentage and only threw 8 INTs all season. Was the best when it mattered most, in the Superbowl. Led his team to 4 titles and didn't throw 1 INT in 122 pass attempts. The game winning drive against the Bengals was one of the greatest superbowl drives ever.

5. Tarkenton. I would have loved to been able to actually watch this guy play, he must have been one of the best to watch. Frome all the highlight reels I have seen on this guy he simply frustrated defenses with his escapability. Only 2 other QBs (Cunningham & Young) ran for more yardage than Tark. Statistically he is in the top 5 in all major categories.

Aikman IMO ranks 6th all time because of his 3 superbowl titles. Like Montana, Aikman was at his best when it mattered most, on the biggest stage of a professional football players career. The unfortunate thing for Aikman was that he had such a strong supporting cast in Emmitt, Michael, Moose, Novechek, Harper and so on and so on (I know how unfortunate huh). That did hurt though because in those 3 superbowls Aikman only threw 5 TDs and 4 of those were against Buffalo.

Guys who I think could be top 5 by the time their careers are done. Peyton Manning without a doubt will be top 5 and he is very close to being there IMO. Tom Brady also has a great chance of being in the top 5.

I would have to have Staubach, Unitas, Graham, Starr, ect in there somewhere. Probably ahead of Farve and Tarkenton IMO. But like I said in a previous post, it's near impossible to compare players from different eras, systems, etc. Too many variables.

[The30YardSlant]

Originally Posted by lvnindapast

joe montana is the greatest quarterback ever to play the game.

No, Joe Montana is the Anti- ....

[THUMPER]

Here are my top-5 QBs of all-time:

1. Otto Graham: Led his team to the championship game in every season he played winning 7 out of 10. Great passer, fierce competitor, cool under pressure, Graham had it all. His record for rushing TDs by a QB wasn't broken until 1999 by Steve Young even though he wasn't known as a runner. He was the top rated QB 6 times, 2nd and 3rd twice each. Other QBs at that time were: Sid Luckman, Sammy Baugh, YA Tittle, Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield, & Bobby Layne, all Hall of Famers.

2. Johnny Unitas: Johhny U was one of my heroes when I was a kid and even to this day when I play QB I am Johnny U with my black hightop cleats. When healthy there was no one better. He played hurt for most of his career and still set records that weren't broken until Marino came along in a pass friendly era. Unitas set those records when the rules favored the defense and the running game. He was the master of the play-fake, had a great arm with excellent accuracy either short or deep. Receivers said his were the easiest passes to catch because of the touch he had on them. In an era when QBs called their own plays he was the best at it.

3. Roger Staubach: When you list the attributes an NFL QB needs to have leadership has to rank among the top and Roger was the best leader ever to don pads. His teammates routinely stepped up when he was in the game because they knew he could lead them to a win. His stats would be much better if he had played more than 8.5 years as a starter. In that time he led the Cowboys to 4 SBs winning 2 of them and losing 2 close ones to the Steelers. Respected even by those who played against him. Jack Lambert said he was the toughest QB he ever faced and the only one he ever respected. If I had to pick one guy to lead my team he would be it.

4. Sammy Baugh: Consider the era when Baugh played then look at what he accomplished. The ball was fat and rounded instead of pointed and was much more difficult to throw accurately yet Baugh completed passes at what would be considered good now. His career completion % of 56.5 blows away everyone else who played in that era except Sid Luckman's 54.6%. In 1945 Baugh completed 70.3% of his passes, that record wasn't broken until the pass friendly 80s by Ken Anderson (and in a strike shortened season at that). Baugh was also an outstanding Punter and DB. His punting records will probably NEVER be broken. His 51.3 yard average still stands as does his lifetime average of 44.9. He is credited with 28 INTs as a DB but the league didn't start keeping individual INT stats until his 5th season when he had already established a reputation for picking off passes so no one really know how many he had but probably at least double that number which would put him in the top-10 all time. Probably the best all-around player ever.

5. Joe Montana: This was a tossup between Montana, Elway, and Marino but I chose to go with Montana because of his success and leadership although Marino was a better pure passer and Elway was a better player. Montana had similar qualities to Staubach in terms of leadership. His numbers might be inflated by the pass-happy system he played in but there is no denying the success he enjoyed and the games they won mostly due to his leadership.

[THUMPER]

Originally Posted by jksmith269

Your correct and that just goes to what I said.

Moon would be the one most over looked because he played in canada first. I loved Fouts when he played in air corieal's (SP) offense. Now Kelly I wouldn't add to the list Young well hes a niner and cant go there. J\J Griese if not for the undefeated season I don't think you'd add him to the list maybe so but IMO you wouldn't

Um, Earl Morrall was the QB for most of those games in 1972 when the Dolphins went undefeated. IMO, it is an absolute disgrace for Greise to be in the HoF. He barely threw the ball for most of his career, usually handing off to Csonka, Kiick, or Morris. He was a very good QB later on when he had to throw but I could name a dozen other QBs of that same era who were better.

[Tio]

WOw, I thought this was obvious.....










































Quincy Carter

[wxcpo]

Originally Posted by Tio

WOw, I thought this was obvious.....










































Quincy Carter

Why can't people just let it go.

[Hostile]

Originally Posted by wxcpo

Why can't people just let it go.

Why can't people just accept the fact he was joking?

[Doomsday]

To me its not even close, John Elway. I might be biased because I grew up in Denver and saw pretty much every game he played in but I dont think there is anyone who could do the things he did. There is no one I would rather have in the huddle if my team was down with 2 minutes left in the game. He did more with less talent then any other QB in NFL history as well. I always hated the Broncos (denver fans are moronic) and having to watch them every week but I became a huge Elway fan.

[Doomsday]

Originally Posted by wxcpo

My top 5 would be;

1. Farve. Starting to show his age a little, but 8 straight seasons of 3800 yards passing or more with 5 straight seasons of 30 or more TD passes. Dallas has never had a QB throw for 3800 yards or 30 TDs in a single season. Plus Farve hasn't missed a start in something like 100 years, the man simply goes out there and plays the game hurt or not. Has 4 seasons with 4000 yards or more passing and 8 seasons with 30 or TD passes. In all the major statistical categories he is either 2nd the Marino or 3rd behind Marino & Elway. If I were drafting an all time team he would definitely be the guy I want running the show.

Favre is the most overrated/overhyped QB to ever play the game. He is good but I wouldnt put him on my top 5.

[Doomsday]

Originally Posted by Zaxor

you aren't telling me Montana can win without a team around him... are you?

Montana was weaked armed and had not Walsh's system took the NFL by storm I am not convienced we would even be talking about Montana...Montana reminds me of Jason Garrett...very bright just not very physically gifted...

However Elway would have been successful regardless of system and carried 3 very poor teams to the superbowl (think I am joking...name a hall of famer that played with Elway)

I don't mean to dog on Montana...but I was never impressed and as time goes by am even less impressed

Shannon Sharpe