Do Super Bowl Rings Make the Player?

The question being raised by many is whether Peyton Manning is worth all the praise with only one Super Bowl ring.

To answer that, I have compiled a few statistics from various sources to let you determine who is the best.

There are only two quarterbacks with four Super Bowl Rings: Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. There are two with three rings: Tom Brady and Troy Aikman. Steve Young has three, but two of those were aquired as a backup. Now Ben Roethlisberger has two as well.

So if we use the Super Bowl numbers, this would be the list of best quarterbacks:

1) Terry Bradshaw

2) Joe Montana

3) Troy Aikman

4)Tom Brady

5) Bart Starr

If we go by the rings, Ben Roethlisberger would be rated higher that Steve Young, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Brett Favre, and Drew Brees. Dan Marino would not even be in consideration.

I think we all need to take a step back and look at what they have done for the game on the field as far as talent is concerned. I believe most would agree that Big Ben would never be considered better than Marino, Namath, and Manning.

But the argument that everyone makes is that Manning needs the rings. My question to that is...really?

Below are records held by Peyton Manning, followed by Tom Brady's short list and then Steve Young. Take a long,s hard look at all the accomplishment and you tell me: Is he the best?

And if for some reason you say no, it's a biased opinion and I understand. It's hard to watch any game without seeing his face thrown at you. But there's a reason for that.

Peyton Manning Records

1) NFL MVP (2003 (shared with Steve McNair), 2004, 2008, 2009)

2) Best NFL Player ESPY Award (2004, 2005)

3) 9x Pro Bowl Selection (1999–2000, 2002–2009)

4) 5x First-team All-Pro (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009)

5) 3x Second-team All-Pro (1999, 2000, 2006)

6) 2x Bert Bell Award (2003, 2004)

7) 6x AFC Offensive Player of the Year (1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009)

8) 1998 NFL All-Rookie First Team

9) 2004 AFC Offensive Player of the Year

10) 2004 Fed-Ex Express Player of the Year

11) 2005 Best Record-Breaking Performance ESPY Award

12) 2005 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

13) 2005 Byron “Whizzer” White Humanitarian Award

14) 2005 Pro Bowl MVP

15) 2007 Super Bowl MVP

16) 2007 Best Championship Performance ESPY Award

Additionally, Manning has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month four times (9/2003, 11/2004, 10/2006, 9/2009) and Offensive Player of the Week on 20 occasions (19 AFC, 1 NFL/playoff).

• Highest passer rating, season: 121.1 (2004)
• Most seasons with at least 4,000 passing yards: 10 (1999–2004, 2006–2009)
• Most consecutive seasons with at least 4,000 passing yards: six (1999–2004)
• Most consecutive seasons with at least 20 touchdown passes: 12 (1998–2009; current, tied with Brett Favre)
• Most consecutive seasons with at least 25 touchdown passes: 12 (1998–2009; current)
• Most games with a perfect passer rating, career: four (includes one playoff game)
• Most consecutive games started to open a career by a quarterback (current): 192
• Most consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes: 13 (games 1–13, 2004)
• Most consecutive games with at least four touchdown passes: five (games 7–11, 2004)
• Most games with at least four touchdown passes, season: six (2004; tied with 1984 Marino)
• Most games with at least five touchdown passes, career: seven (includes one playoff game)
• One of only seven QBs with at least six touchdown passes in two games (tied with Sammy Baugh, Y.A. Tittle, Daryle Lamonica, Tom Brady, Charley Johnson and George Blanda)
• Most career touchdown passes in Thursday games: 23
• Most touchdown passes on a Thursday game: six (tied with Bob Griese)
• Largest career TD-INT differential: 185
• Highest career passing TDs/game average (min. 150 TD passes): 1.91 TDs/game
• Highest career passing yards/game average: 261.1
• Highest career completions/game average (min. 100 games played): 22.0
• Most consecutive games with a passer rating over 100: nine (games 5–13 of 2004 season; record tied by Carson Palmer, 2004–05 and Tom Brady, 2006–07)
• Highest completion percentage by a QB in one month in NFL history (min. 75 attempts): 81.8 percent (December 2008)
• Most career games with a completion percentage of 70 percent or higher (min. 10 attempts): 59
• Most consecutive regular season wins as a starter: 23 (2008–2009)
• Most seasons with 10+ wins as a starter (regular season only): 10 (1999–2000, 2002–2009)
• Most seasons with 12+ wins as a starter (regular season only): eight (1999, 2003–2009)
• Only QB with at least 12 wins as a starter in seven consecutive seasons (2003–2009)
• Only QB with eight straight seasons of 10+ wins as a starter (2002–2009)
• Only QB to lead five consecutive 4th quarter comeback wins (games 7–11, 2009)
• Most fourth quarter comeback wins in one season: seven (2009)
  
• First QB to defeat the other 31 teams in the regular season (Tom Brady did this later the same day, and Brett Favre did it the following week)
• Most wins as a starting QB in a decade, regular season only: 115 (2000s)
• Most wins as a starting QB in a decade, regular & postseason: 124 (2000s)
• Most AP NFL MVP Awards: 4 (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009)

Playoff records

• Most 300+ yard passing games: eight
• Most 400+ yard passing games: two (tied with Dan Marino)
• Most yards passing, 1st half of game: 360 vs. Denver Broncos, 1/9/05
• Led the biggest comeback in conference championship game history (18 pts), 1/21/07 vs. New England
• One of only four QBs to post a perfect 158.3 rating in a game (Don Meredith, Terry Bradshaw, Dave Krieg)
• Most games with 20+ completions: 14
• Most games with 30+ completions: four
• Most games with 30+ attempts: 17
• Most games with 40+ attempts: eight
• Most completions and attempts in a single postseason: 97/153 (2006)
• One of only two quarterbacks to complete 80 percent of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Kurt Warner)

Rookie records

• Most passing attempts: 575
• Most completions: 326
• Most passing yards: 3,739
• Most touchdown passes: 26
• Most consecutive games with a touchdown pass (games 4–16): 13
  
• Most games with at least one touchdown pass: 15
  
• Most games with 300+ yards passing:four

With Marvin Harrison

Manning and Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison hold a number of QB-WR tandem records:

• Most completions/receptions (career): 953
  
• Most passing/receiving yards (career): 12,756
  
• Most passing/receiving touchdowns (career): 112
  
• Most completions/receptions in a season, QB-to-WR duo: 143 (2002)
  
• Most passing/receiving yards in a season, QB-to-WR duo: 1,722 (2002)

Pro Bowl Records

• Most passing attempts (career): 150
  
• Most passing attempts (game): 41 (2004)
  
• Most completions (career): 92
  
• Most completions (game): 22 (2004)
  
• Most passing yards (career): 1,278
  
• Most passing yards (game): 342 (2004)
  
• Most passing touchdowns (career): 13

Tom Brady Records

NFL records

• Highest total passing touchdowns in a regular season: 50 (2007)
• Highest total passing touchdowns in a season: 56 (2007)
  
• Highest total passing touchdowns in a single quarter: five (2009)
• Highest completion percentage in a single game: 92.9 percent (2007)
• Largest touchdown to interception difference: +42 (2007)
  
• NFL record for most consecutive wins in post season: 10 (2001, 2003, 2004)
  
• Tied for most completions in a Super Bowl: 32 (XXXVIII)
  
• Most career Super Bowl completions: 100 (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII)
  
• Most games with three or more touchdown passes: 12 (2007)
  
• Most touchdown passes in a month: 20 (October 2007)
  
• Only quarterback to start and win three Super Bowls before his 28th birthday.
  
• Most career overtime wins without a defeat: 7-0
  
• Most consecutive playoff wins by a quarterback: 10 (2001, 2003, 2004)
  
• Most consecutive completions to start a career without an interception: 162

Steve Young Records

• Highest Passer Rating, Career - 96.8
  
• Most Rushing Touchdowns by a QB, Career - 43
  
• Most Passing Titles, Career - six (tied w/Sammy Baugh)
  
• Most Consecutive Passing Titles - four (1991-94) [5]
  
• Most Seasons With a Passer Rating Over 100, Career - six (1991-94, 1997-98)
  
• Most Consecutive Games w/300+ Yards Passing - six (Young was the first QB to do this in 1998; Kurt Warner (2000) and Rich Gannon (2002) have since tied the mark)
  
• One of only four QB's to lead the league in touchdown passes four times (tied w/Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, and Len Dawson)
  
• Most Passes Attempted, Playoff Game - 65 vs. Green Bay, 1995
• Most TD Passes, Playoff Game - six (tied w/Daryle Lamonica)
  
• Most TD Passes in one Super Bowl - six