The greatest players of the greatest position in sports. Who is the best QB ever? The debate has been around for ages.
Even though I would love to give an all-time list of the greatest QBs ever, I feel that would be impossible for me. The truth is, I don't feel it's just to compare Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas, and Roger Staubach to their modern-day bretheren: Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and Troy Aikman.
The game has changed and so has our criteria for a great quarterback. Also, to make a list spanning the history of the NFL would be foolish. I never saw these men play, and I wouldn't be able to appreciate what they truly meant to their franchises and be able to judge their performance based on what was asked of at the time.
What I do have a better understanding of is the modern game, so without further ado: The Top 10 Modern-Era Quarterbacks.
TOP 3 (No Order)
Brett Favre
Favre is easily my favorite QB of all time, and, as a Packer fan, it would be impossible for me not to be biased. Favre meant everything to the state of Wisconsin, and almost any Packer fan would defend Favre vehemently to the death.
There are three measures of a QB: Super Bowls, wins, and TDs. Favre has the record for the latter two, although, it is interesting to note that it took him a few more starts than Dan Marino to get the TD record, and John Elway also has a higher winning percentage than Favre does, but Favre has more victories than Elway.
Those facts take away slightly from the achievement, but I feel that Favre's durability makes up for those things. To have 253 consecutive starts is amazing; how many wins did Elway take away from the Broncos by not suiting up? How many TDs did Marino not throw by being injured. As for Super Bowls, it's true he only won one.
For me, that doesn't detract from his greatness, though. Imagine if he didn't have to play against the Cowboys in the early '90s. They were a dynasty and one of the greatest teams ever. It's interesting to speculate how many Super Bowls Favre would have won in better circumstances.
Favre had everything you wanted in a QB. Favre had a cannon of an arm, and not only was his arm strong, but he also demonstrated excellent accuracy, touch, and placement on his throws.
People also tend to forget that, in his prime, Favre was an extremely mobile QB. Although I'm not sure of the validity of the source, I heard that, coming out of college Favre ran 4.5 second 40-yard dash. To put that into perspective, that's faster than Vince Young's 4.6 second 40-yard dash time.
Favre's quick release and excellent pocket presence were surpassed only by few. (Marino being one.) Perhaps Favre's biggest knock is his high interception total. It's undeniable he has thrown more interceptions than anybody in history. I feel that this statistic is blown out of proportion, though.
18 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Max Iascone about 1 year ago
good list and good job backing it up, I wouldn't exactly call Tarkenton modern era so one of the honorable mentions should get his spot, Brady in my opinion but I'm a pats fan so i'm wicked biased,
Terry Bradshaw should have been mentioned, he may have had the best (arguably) team ever behind him but 4 rings is 4 rings no matter how you slice it, Phil Simms is also a possibility at least as an honorable mention, good work bud
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Jeremy Kaufman about 1 year ago
Pretty good list, not too far off from mine loll........The only things I disagree with are your obvious bias towards Brett Favre and putting Steve Young way too low. Other than that though its all good.
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Devlan Sheahan about 1 year ago
Yeah I'll admit i'm biased on Favre, but you'd have a very tough time persuading me to feel he's not top 5 or top 3 material. As for Young you may very well be right, I never got to watch him play really though (well besides him throwing a TD to T.O. in the playoffs :(...even though RICE FUMBLED just a few plays before that)
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Dean Jacobus about 1 year ago
What do all these QBs have in common?
Sammy Baugh
Bobby Layne
Joe Namath
John Hadl
Terry Bradshaw
Daryle Lamonica
Otto Graham
Len Dawson
John Unitas
Archie Manning
Sonny Jurgensen
Bart Starr
Fran Tarkington
Ron Jaworski
Roger Staubach
Jim Kelly
Warren Moon
????????????????????????
A higher career interception percentage than Brette Favre. So he threw more passes, took more chances, and nailed more of them, on a percentage basis, than the quarterbacks listed above.
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Stew Winkel about 1 year ago
good article. always a great debate. i like the idea about tiers - i would probably say first tier: marino, elway, montana. second tier: favre, manning, brady. next tier: aikman, young, moon, kelly. honorable mention: fouts and cunningham.
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Devlan Sheahan about 1 year ago
Thanks, I agree with your list too (I of course would flip-flop Elway and Favre, but I am an incurable Favre worshipper) As for the tiers thing, I've taken a liking to it too, but it was bred from my inability to say that one guy is concretely better than another...especially since I haven't watched a lot of these guys play enough to really accurately say...
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Mitchell Hahn about 1 year ago
I don't know if you can quite put Brady on the same tier as Manning and Favre, yet at least. He is too young and has TOO good of a team around him to show his true talents and abilities
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Silas Beyman about 1 year ago
Joe Montana was the best QB ever, bar none. He made the position into the leadership position, and truly brought attention to the San Fransisco 49ers.
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Devlan Sheahan about 1 year ago
I think a lot of people would agree with you, plus 4 Super Bowls is hard to argue with.
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Dave Das about 1 year ago
A few points.
Elway didn't cost his team many games by sitting out. He missed, I think 13 games his career, and many of those were in the last few years when the Broncos were good enough to win without him....so he didn't cost them.
It's also unlikely the 90s Cowboys cost the Packers Super Bowl wins. The Packers of 93 and 94 were not good enough to win it all even without the Cowboys. The Bills and 49ers were much stronger teams for those years. You could say the 1995 Packers would have won the Super Bowl if not for the Cowboys, but what championship team hasn't been denied by another a great team from a championship? It happens all the time. If anyone was denied it was the early 90s 49ers who were a great team at the same time of the Cowboys, unlike the Packers who got great while the Cowboys were declining.
Favre didn't run a 4.5 coming out of college. He ran a 4.9. Elway ran around a 4.7. Actually Troy Aikman ran about a 4.6 believe it or not.
Favre is a great quarterback, I will never deny that. But what other great quarterback has cost his teams more postseason games with dumb play? Example:
2001 Playoffs vs. Rams: Favre throws 6 interceptions in that game. The Packers defense plays well in that game, holding the Rams to under 300 yards offense in that game. Kurt Warner is showing signs of the thumb injury that derails his career. In a game that was winnable, Favre just gave it to the Rams.
1995 Playoffs vs. Cowboys: Favre plays well, but assures the loss with an interception to Larry Brown at the end of the game.
2002 Playoffs vs. Falcons: Favre plays bad in 1st ever home playoffs loss.
2003 Playoffs vs. Eagles: Favre giftwraps the end of the game by throwing a lollipop of an interception to Brian Dawkins to end the game. A horrible interception, the Packers had a great chance to get to the Super Bowl that year.
2004 Playoffs: Packers vs. Vikings: Favre plays horrible at home in a loss to the Vikings, throwing 4 interceptions.
2007 Playoffs: Favre throws an interception to cost the Packers a berth in the Super Bowl.
I'm less inclined to blame Favre for say losing in the playoffs vs. the Cowboys in 1993 or 1994 in which he was facing a much superior team, and it wouldn't matter how well he played. But some the games I mentioned were winnable games. Other than the 1995 Cowboys none of the opponents were great teams, and many times his play or in a few instances "a play" cost the Packers a win. If you look at the playoff career of say Joe Montana or John Elway, you will find playoff losses, blowouts actually, but they almost never lost a playoff game due to their play alone. When their team didn't let them down or up in the air, they played well. They certainly never threw a game like Favre did in 2007 or 2003. I know, I have all their playoff games on tape/dvd.
Lastly, you don't make enough mention of the skillsets of the quarterbacks other than Favre, which is how a scout would evaluate the players. I can assure you scouts won't sit there comparing stats or quarterback ratings. You're making it into quantitative argument instead of a qualitative argument. For pure skillsets no one has had the skillset of Elway. He's the highest graded player coming out of college at his position, if not any position. Ask scouts or GMs who is the most naturally gifted quarterback ever and his name will come up more than any other. He took 5 teams to the Super Bowl, the first three void of any all pros or pro bowlers on offense. His stats went up late in his career because he got better talent, and got into a better offense. He played the first 10 years of his career with a conservative coach who was basically AFC's Mike Ditka in Dan Reeves. Elway had better stats as an older quarterback, but he was a better player in his 20s. Stats are dependent on way too many variables, many of which have nothing to do with the player.
Lastly, Joe Montana may have not had the greatest skillset, as far as arm.....though his arm was underrated. But he had the greatest career. This is indisputable. Look at his 1988-1990 performances in the postseason. He likely has the best good play vs. bad play ratio of any quarterback ever. He also made reads faster than any quarterback in NFL history. No one could get to his 4th and 5th reads (if at all) faster than Joe Montana. It was a remarkable skill that he had, that I have never seen done better by anyone in NFL history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itN2dSv87As
Look at the 30 second mark of this video.
I think you have a good list, but you should give better reasons for the other players being on the list other than Favre. If you're too young to have seen the other players play, go get some games online. They are there.
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MJ Kasprzak about 1 year ago
If the Broncos were good enough to win most of those 13 games, then how important was Elway?
I agree with your assessment of how many more championships the Packers would have won, even though the Bills were getting killed by the same Cowboys team we pushed in those play-off games--the reality is the 'Boys were more likely to overlook us than their Superbowl foe, and you have to go deep before you are ready to win it all.
I knew there was no way Favre had a 4.5, but thanks for finding that info.
Favre's dumb play is the reason I do not put him #1, but I have to disagree with you about most of your examples:
1995 we lost because Dallas was better--the reason we always lost to Dallas (even in '96, they were better on that day at home with us missing receivers and left tackles).
In 2002, Sherman cost us that game by not challenging the right thing on that punt (not whether it was a fumble, but whether it was touched by us first) and digging us a hole Favre tried to get us out of--same hole happened in this year's play-offs, but McCarthy kep everyone even-keel.
2003 he had a bad thumb, and again Sherman should have gone for it on fourth and one (we had never failed on a third OR fourth in one ALL SEASON, and Green was getting six/carry!) and chosen a better defense on fourth and 26.
2007 Although he did have a HORRIBLE second half, McCarthy kept forcing him to make the plays by passing every down, and if anyone recovers one of the FOUR Giants' fumbles we win.
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Devlan Sheahan about 1 year ago
Great comment, the only playoff game I'd have to disagree with you on is the 2003 playoff game against the eagles, you ever hear of 4th and 26? A lot more of the blame has to go to the defense and Mike Sherman (twice on key third and 2's he called pass plays that did not work, when we had a top 5 running game that year, with Ahman Green rushing for over 1800 yards that year.)
I will openly admit that I have only had the chance to watch Brady, Favre, and Manning play. I mean saw some of the others play too, but I wasn't old enough to appreciate what they were really doing. That's part of the reason why I didn't feel confident putting them into a definitive order and part of the reason why I didn't do an all-time list. I don't have much to go off of besides stats and what everyone says about them.
I think it would be interesting for me to watch film of all these players in their prime, including Favre...I was 6 or 7 when they won the Super Bowl.
As for Favre's 40 yard dash time, thank you for the correction i DID admit that i wasn't sure of the validity of the source (it was on Yahoo answers or something to that effect.) I am curious to where you found that out? I'd like to be able to look up stuff like that on other old players.
Thanks again for the comment, and a good perspective.
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Paul Prestigiacomo about 1 year ago
Great article! Brett Favre is definitely my favorite, and it won't be the same watching the Pack without him. However I must disagree with you about Troy Aikman. He should not be on this list ahead of Brady or Fouts. Aikman's 81.9 passer rating would probably be lower if he didnt have the offensive all-star team that he had during those Super Bowl years. He had the best offensive line of all time plus Emmitt, Irvin, Alvin Harper, and Jay Novacek. You could have won three rings at quarterback with that team!
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Devlan Sheahan about 1 year ago
LOL...I know a Packer fan (and ergo a Cowboy hater) when i see one...and you may be right about where aikman should be, I decided that if I were to redo the list I'd put Brady ahead of Aikman, take out Tarkenton (cuz I rethought about whether or not he is a "modern QB" which is kind of an ambiguous title as it is) and put Aikman back at 10 with Brady at 9.
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Tim Seeman about 1 year ago
My favorite stat to use in the Brett Favre debate is how much the Packers won from 1992 to 2007. Only one franchise in the NFL had less than three losing seasons in that span. Green Bay. It's true that all teams have had their years in that span, but not every team has made every year successful like the Packers have.
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MJ Kasprzak about 1 year ago
If you really want lots of feedback as you say in your bio, I can give you lots of constructive criticism and encouragement--post notes on my bulletin board anytime. You have the formula for a good writer: you are young + willing to put your stuff out there to be judged + your passion comes through=success.
As for this list, see how many comments you have gotten? That's a good sign as to the topic you chose. I do disagree with many of your rankings, but you made a lot of the same points I did on my "Great QB Debate" and, like I said there, there is no way to prove a list like this--what makes it fun is that it is totally subjective.
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tim about 1 year ago
pretty good list,all great QB's.always debatable as to who's the best.even as a Colts fan,i've always admired Favre.
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Devlan Sheahan about 1 year ago
Thanks, and it's my personal opinion that Manning most likely has to be considered the best ever in a few years.
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