It's something that's debated nearly every time a touchdown pass is thrown.
Every time Tom Brady slings one of those 60-yard bullets in the end zone, or Joe Montana's drive to capture the Super Bowl in 1988, Dan Fouts playing in the Ice Bowl in Cleveland, or Elway taking his team 98 yards to beat the Browns.
While it may be unfair to judge the all-time greatest due to the fact there are so many factors, we'll include three quarterbacks in our quest for the all-time professional football team.
Without further ado, here are my nominees for quarterback.
10.Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
9. Warren Moon, Houston Oilers
8. Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers
7. Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings
6. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
5. Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts
4. Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
3. Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins
2. John Elway, Denver Broncos
1. Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers
Now, I'm sure I left out some who people feel could sneak into the top 10, I understand. How about Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Dan Fouts, Troy Aikman, and Jim Kelly?
Vote for your top three quarterbacks of all time.
Stay tuned and keep voting as the quest for the all-time pro football team continues.
Comments (25) Add a comment »
from 9 days ago
My top three quarterbacks, of all time have got to be Joe Montana, John Elway, and Dan Marino.
John Elway is hands down the greatest quarterback I've seen with my own eyes, (born in 1987, 21 years old), but the numbers, clutch drives, super bowls, awards, Joe Montana has got to be the greatest. I think a Super Bowl for Dan Marino changes this argument, but unfortunately, quarterbacks are judged by their ability to win the big game.
Please, let the debate begin!
from 9 days ago
You wrote a very solid article and I like that you mixed it up from the usual top ten we see. It was a very good list for top ten quarterbacks of the "Superbowl era", but if you go all the way back Otto Graham and Sammy Baugh (best qb ever) should be there. As a Houston fan I applaud the Warren Moon pick although im not completely sure he deserves top 10.As much as I like Dan Marino (whom i consider the best pure passer of all time) he cannot be placed ahead of Tom Brady or Johnny Unitas because of the lack of championships.
As for me my list of top 10 Superbowl Era quarterbacks goes as follows.
10. Troy Aikman or Terry Bradshaw (both were very much products of great surrounding talent)
9. Roger Staubach
8. Peyton Manning
7. Steve Young
6. Brett Favre
5. Dan Marino
4. Tom Brady
3. Johnny Unitas
2. John Elway
1. Joe Montana
from 9 days ago
3)Dan Marino
2)Tom Brady
1)Joe Montana
from 8 days ago
Definitely, Otto Graham, Sammy Baugh, like I said, I can't include everyone, but yes those guys were amazing. It's also harder, obviously, because I never saw them play. And I think I'd put Brady higher once his career is over, but I don't think he's ahead of Marino, Montana, or Elway YET.
from 9 days ago
I understand that there is a "top of mind" or "who's hot now" bias, but you have to say Tom Brady is in the top 3. Peyton will be there and I'm a firm believer he will retire with the best numbers ever for a QB if he stays healthy. So, here are my top three as of now.
3. Joe Montanna
2. Tom Brady
1. Brett Favre
Looking at the QB's everyone is listing, with the exception of Dan Marino, everyone is voting based off of Superbowl wins. That isn't fair in my opinion because some of the top QB's didn't have the talent around them to win a superbowl, or multiple Superbowls. Good list though and always a fun topic to discuss. I'm looking forward to a "All time top Left Guard" list. HA!
from 8 days ago
Elway went to 5 superbowls and beat Favre in one, I don't see how he can be ranked behind him. Futhermore he is the epitome of a quarterback who didn't have the talent around him for much of his career; seeing as he didn't have a RB until Davis or a pro-bowl reciever until Rod Smith in 1997.
from 9 days ago
3) Elway
2) Favre
1) Montana
Favre and Elway are 1 and 2 on the all-time wins list respectively. All 3 of these QB's have rings. Montana is there simply because he has the most Superbowls out of the 3, meaning he was the most clutch in the big game.
However, Favre's passing records, consecutive starts, 3 MVP's, most wins, and only 1 losing season in 16 makes him the best regular season QB by far. He hasn't exactly been a flop in the playoffs either, just didn't reach the Superbowl quite as often as Montana.
from 8 days ago
Definitely a good point, I wanted to put Favre higher, beacuse he's accomplished so much, but it was hard to justify putting him ahead of Elway or Montana. Maybe he should go ahead of Marino? I don't know, that top 5 really could be reshuffled 10 times and you couldn't ague against it. It definitely seems Montana is gonna be the starting qb on this team though!
from 8 days ago
If you go all the way back Sammy Baugh trumps them all. Not only was he the first true quarterback and held every single passing record upon his retirement but he also led the league in interceptions and punt avg. Making him the only player in NFL hisotry to lead the league in an Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams category. Slingin' Sammy.
from 8 days ago
This is a very good point, and to be honest, I didn't know that. Point well taken. But at the same time, I think it's hard to compare quarterbacks from completely different times. Football as a whole is played entirely different now as opposed to back then. Certainly not discrediting anything Sammy Baugh has done, but for me, it's just too hard to compare those different generations. But like I said, point well taken.
from 8 days ago
I agree that's why when i made my top ten list I did so in regards to the Superbowl era.
from 8 days ago
Think the biggest problem you could argue on this, is trying to weigh the stats players, like Marino, against the Super Bowl Winners, like Montana. It would be a hard task to say, compare Jim Plunkett, 2-0 in the big game, against Brett Favre, 1-1. But at the same time, How much of a QB's job, is winning, and how much is it the failure of his team? Marino never had a running game. Elway didn't have one until TD came along. And Favre, well, he learned to work with a lot of creative pieces.
Plunkett, his major advantage, was his defense could get him the ball back, thanks to Lester Hayes and Rod Martin, but he also had Cliff Branch for a wide reciever....but his major running game didn't come until the second Super Bowl.
Players like Montana, Bradshaw, and Staubach, it's argued a lot, that all 3 had HOF players surrounding them. Same goes for Aikman, who benefitted both from a good draft, and a foolish move by the vikings, in a trade.
For a top 10, in the Super Bowl Era, I'd probably go:
Montana, Bradshaw, Aikman, Brady, Bart Starr, Staubach, Plunkett, Griese, Simms, and Manning.
Now, before I get tarred and feathered, from Montana down, each player, is listed on Super Bowls won. Montana, you can't argue with 4. Same with Bradshaw, again, 4 rings. Brady has 3 right now, i'll let the others argue any legalese on Belicheck's part. From there, you have Starr, who has two rings, but several NFL Championships before the advent of the Super Bowl, Staubach, who did win 2, but lost two, then Plunkett, 2-0.
Griese, to his credit, wasn't around for some games due to injury, but the Dolphins did get to back to back Super Bowls, plus one perfecto. Simms helped introduce us to Parcells, and then, since there's a dozen QBs or more with one win, the best one win QB, I'd take Peyton Manning.
This is just off Super Bowl wins.....I'll let someone else put up a formula for stats top 10.
from 8 days ago
Good points and analysis except for Phil Simms. That team was built around their defense and technically he only won one superbowl seeing as Jeff Hostetler was the starter in their second one.
from 8 days ago
1) Montana
2) Favre
3) Aikman
from 8 days ago
I like the Phil Sims vote, also what about Fritz Pollard? No one has even mentioned him.
from 8 days ago
TOP FIVE
1) Montana -- Won 4 Super Bowls, protected the ball better than anyone else.
2) Brady -- Won 3 Super Bowls, lacked an offensive supporting cast while capturing all 3.
3) Elway -- Won 2 Super Bowls, put up scary numbers and might have the best arm in history.
4) Unitas -- Won 1 Super Bowl, numbers do not compare to today's game, but played in a different era
5) Manning -- Won 1 Super Bowl, awesome numbers, great supporting cast
HONORABLE MENTIONS
6) Favre -- Won 1 Super Bowl, record numbers for both TD/INT
7) Marino -- Won 0 Super Bowls, would be ranked higher except for that
8) Young -- Won 1 Super Bowl AS A STARTER, best scrambler of all-time
from 8 days ago
If we consider all eras equal, then Bart Starr is tops. He has 5 NFL championships under his belt during the Lombardi era, no other QB can say that.
If you say that era matters, then you probably have to pick a QB in the last 15-20 years, which puts Montana right at the edge of relavence.
I would argue that either way it takes a team to win a championship, stats will ultimately be a better indicator of the greatness of any QB.
Using that approach, Marino is better than Elway, and Manning is better than Brady. I don't hear many people arguing that to be the case.
(Of course, Favre holds most of the career records for now: yards, TD, completions?, INTs, WINS, consecutive starts, but Manning may pass most of those in several years.)
from 8 days ago
3. Marino
2. Favre
1. Elway
from 8 days ago
Who hold all the records for a quarterback. He is #1 and he wore #4. If he would have had a team around him like Joe did for that long a period of time he would have had many more world championships. You can not judge the best just on championships but have to look at the records. No one on your list comes close to him. If you want to judge just on World Championships then Bart Star would be on top with 5 in a 6 year period with 3 in a row.
from 8 days ago
So holding the records for most attempts, incompletions, and interceptions should justify him being number one? You are suffering from a case of Packer fandom or veneration for someone that just retired. Moreover I distinctly remember Favre finishing his career on a poorly thrown ball that was picked off; not to mention he had a terrible playoff record for the last years of his career. Favre is a great quarterback and maybe the most fun to watch, but he is certainly not the best to ever play the position. He dosen't have the game winning drives as the likes of Elway, Montana, or Brady to warrant him being place above them either.
If you were starting a team with no talent around him, I would place Steve Young (because of his running ability and accuracy), Elway, and Favre as top three. So the debate is largely based subjectively on what a person defines as being a great qb.
from 8 days ago
Actually Spense, I know we've already talked about Favre plenty, but at one point about 6 years ago he was in the top 5 for most 4th quarter comebacks, obviously behind Elway.... I don't remember who else was above him, but he's had plenty of comeback wins.
I'm not sure you can hold attempts, incompletions, and ints against him either. Back when Marino had the most attempts and completions, I remember everybody making a big deal out of that stat in a positive way.
If anything, it shows his greatness through not only his durability, but you have to be one heck of a player to have the most ints of all-time and still get 3 MVP's and never be benched for throwing too many picks.
It's obvious that you and I disagree on where Favre stacks up in all-time greatness, just wanted to throw in my half-nickle on your comments. :)
from 8 days ago
Actually, Bill, that's part of the classic argument, trying to measure a player's greatness, even though he didn't win a lot of super bowls.
I mean, look at Marino. held a ton of records, still holds a couple to this day. zero wins.
Favre, 2 visits, one win.
Marino could have used a running back, like either a marcus allen, a Terrell Davis, or even a Barry Sanders.
Favre, for a little window, had a great passing game that was coupled with a great defense, that got him two shots.
Some teams seem to be built for the longer journey....others, last a season or two.
After all, look at the Bears, and he 46 defense. They got to one Super Bowl in the 80s, then didn't make it back until Hester played out of his mind as a rookie.
Some clubs, win the Super Bowl, and don't even need a QB to excel, like the Ravens or the Bucs.
Play smart football, and don't turn it over......will make for a lousy season, but I'm sure the ring will help a bruised ego.
But then, you could ask Marino, which is better.....all the stats in the world.....or having one ring.
from 8 days ago
Actually, here's one place, where we can open a large can of arguments.
Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns. From 1946-1955, 7 Titles, including 5 in a row.
Here was a QB, that had one heck of a run.
Even on the seasons they didn't win it all, they either played in the championship, or were in 3rd place....frightening to think the league had a team running this well.
from 8 days ago
Good point; although he did have arguably the single greatest player ever in Jim Brown to hand off to.
from 8 days ago
Spenser, not so. Brown didn't come along to Cleveland until 1957, 2 years after Graham retired.
Now, frightening, would have been with both of them in one squad.
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