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Top 5 Quarterbacks All Time

tapeANaspirin2it

tapeANaspirin2it

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My list of top 5 QB

I've seen arguments for guys like Sammy Baugh etc but I never saw those old guys play and the NFL was so different back then, it's impossible to compare.

You may notice the theme in my list of what I value. Not just winning. That can sometimes be luck of the draw. There's a reason why Archie Maning would not allow Eli to play for San Diego.

I tend to look beyond what happened on the field and try to imagine how each QB would fare on various types of offense, various levels of help from skill players or a strong defense.

I value consistency as well as ability. One of my biggest factors is imagining, how would this guy do on a bad team?. That is why my list consist of guys who do not have a bunch of rings, but rather 5 guys who I am confident would make any ****** team a playoff of Super Bowl contender almost by himself.

1 Dan Marino- best I ever saw. Pathetic that the dolphins could never build a decent defense to win a SB with him. Their offense pretty much sucked without Marino too.

2 Peyton Manning - similar to Marino except Manning got a bit more help with skill players. Still , his OL was usually **** and so was his defense. The Colts game plan was pretty much, Peyton please win us this game. People got on him for choke jobs but it was because his team was usually **** but he was so good he took them further than they should have gone and they would lose to better teams. Just like Marino.

3 Brett Favre - made everyone better around him. Had good but not great skill players. Sterling Sharpe was his only great WR and he retired early. Leadership made teams rally being him. Look at the job he did with a mediocre Vikings team late in his career.

4 Dan Fouts - great passer at a time when defenses were allowed to hit people so there were no cheap yards on short crossing routes to midget receivers. His Charger offense changed the NFL as much as west coast offenses just without the credit because SD could never break through and win it all.

5 Warren Moon - he threw the best ball I've ever seen. Perfect spiral every time. Great accuracy and arm strength, mobility and made great reads. He played in a variety of offense over his years and was great in all of them. Never won a SB but how many could he win with guys like Jerry Glanville and Jack Pardee as his head coaches?. He even made Kevin Gilbride look good.


What? No Brady or Montana? Yer damn right. They were both great obviously but a huge part of their success is right place at the right time.

Montana was a perfect fit for the new west coast offense. An offense that defense didn't really know how to stop until the 90s when Lebeau's zone blitzes came about. Add in Jerry Rice and a usually good run game with RBs like Wendell Tyler, Roger Craig, and it was like stealing for a long time.

Same with Brady. He has played in an era when the NFL has almost outlawed defense. Aside from one year with Randy Moss, Brady is mostly dink and dunk to WRs who would not even be in the NFL if they didn't change the rules . And yes, he has been helped a ton by cheating.

Elway?. Hugely overrated. He had more INT than TD until late in his career. He went to Super Bowls early in his career and got blown out. He was obviously a huge talent, maybe the most physically talented QB to ever play, but he was erratic. He made big mistakes. His legacy is based on the Browns being the Browns and finding new ways to choke. Then later in his career, he became a game manager and won multiple Super Bowls by handing off to Terrell Davis, and by cheating the salary cap.
 
Montana has the highest single postseason QB completion record 89/78.3

single game highest postseason QB passer rating 146.4 - SBs total? 127.83 number 1 passer rating

going to have to agree to disagree with his lack of ranking.....
 
Change the name of this thread to "pure passers" over "quarterbacks" and ill agree.. If its the whole position then Elway and montanna jump into the list for sure
 
1. P. Manning
2. Montanna
3. Marino
4. Unitas
5. A strong argument can be made for probably 10-15 QB's for this spot.
 
madinsomniac said:
Change the name of this thread to "pure passers" over "quarterbacks" and ill agree.. If its the whole position then Elway and montanna jump into the list for sure
Click to expand...

Elway played like a chicken with his head cut off for over half his career. He only completed over 60% in 3 seasons. And he was on a good team for nearly his whole career.

Prior to Elway's last 3 years with Shanahan, nobody ever mentioned Elway as one of the best QBs ever. To that point he was closer to Mike Vick than Joe Montana.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JqXfjp4Yls8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
CoolieMan said:
Warren Moon couldn't win a big game if you spotted him 30 points
Click to expand...

Moon's head coaches
Hugh Campbell
Herry Glanville
Jack Pardee
Dennis Green
Dennis Ecickson

People always link QB with winning but then they never mention Bradshaw as one of the best. It's always a selective argument. Do i have to think Flacco and Dilfer are better than Moon?

Moon did his part to help his teams win with changing coaches and schemes. I think he would have won a lot of games if he found himself in a stable situation.
 
All the great 70's QBs get throw aside because of the rule changes neutering defenses but just look at these pass completion % rates and tell me they played the same game as they do now.

Jim Hart 51%
Billy Kilmer 53%
Terry Bradshaw 52%
Archie Manning 55%
Dan Fouts 56% (1973-1979), 60% (1980-1987)
Bert Jones 56%
Bob Griese 56%
Fran Tarkenton 56%
Roger Staubach 57%
Ken Stabler 60%

Stabler was the outlier and I'm really glad he made the HoF even though I hated the Raiders in the 70's. I could only image what a Staubach, Stabler or Fouts would be able to accomplish in this watered-down league now. I just find it funny most top QB lists see all those 80's QBs and Brady/Manning and these guys are never talked about. Glad 7 of those 11 mentioned above are in the HoF though.
 
It's pretty tough to compare QB's from different era's, the rules have been gearing toward the offense for the past 40 years now.
 
coryea said:
It's pretty tough to compare QB's from different era's, the rules have been gearing toward the offense for the past 40 years now.
Click to expand...

Yep, and why I can't call Brady the greatest of all time. Brady would probably retire if had taken a hit like when Turkey Jones dumped Bradshaw on his head.
 
tapeANaspirin2it said:
My list of top 5 QB

I've seen arguments for guys like Sammy Baugh etc but I never saw those old guys play and the NFL was so different back then, it's impossible to compare.

You may notice the theme in my list of what I value. Not just winning. That can sometimes be luck of the draw. There's a reason why Archie Maning would not allow Eli to play for San Diego.

I tend to look beyond what happened on the field and try to imagine how each QB would fare on various types of offense, various levels of help from skill players or a strong defense.

I value consistency as well as ability. One of my biggest factors is imagining, how would this guy do on a bad team?. That is why my list consist of guys who do not have a bunch of rings, but rather 5 guys who I am confident would make any ****** team a playoff of Super Bowl contender almost by himself.


What? No Brady or Montana? Yer damn right. They were both great obviously but a huge part of their success is right place at the right time.

Montana was a perfect fit for the new west coast offense. An offense that defense didn't really know how to stop until the 90s when Lebeau's zone blitzes came about. Add in Jerry Rice and a usually good run game with RBs like Wendell Tyler, Roger Craig, and it was like stealing for a long time.
Click to expand...

1) Montana played the first six years of his career and won his first TWO SuperBowls without Jerry Rice. And then look what he did with the Chiefs for two years at the end of his career after being broken and battered behind awful lines.
2) Elway was the ONLY reason Denver was even at any of those early Denver SuperBowls for them to get blown out. There was literally zero supporting cast.

Fouts and Moon are purely numbers players that benefited from the systems they were in. Air Coryell and Run and Shoot.
Marino, Manning, and Favre are all up there in the discussion, but in no way would I rank any of them as top 5 of all time.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
All the great 70's QBs get throw aside because of the rule changes neutering defenses but just look at these pass completion % rates and tell me they played the same game as they do now.

Jim Hart 51%
Billy Kilmer 53%
Terry Bradshaw 52%
Archie Manning 55%
Dan Fouts 56% (1973-1979), 60% (1980-1987)
Bert Jones 56%
Bob Griese 56%
Fran Tarkenton 56%
Roger Staubach 57%
Ken Stabler 60%

Stabler was the outlier and I'm really glad he made the HoF even though I hated the Raiders in the 70's. I could only image what a Staubach, Stabler or Fouts would be able to accomplish in this watered-down league now. I just find it funny most top QB lists see all those 80's QBs and Brady/Manning and these guys are never talked about. Glad 7 of those 11 mentioned above are in the HoF though.
Click to expand...

Bradshaw before the Mel Blount rule, from '70-'77, completed 49% of his passes and averaged 11 TD passes a season. From '78 on he completed 55% and averaged 23 TDs a season. Plus, Terry never played from the shotgun, called all his own plays and certainly never had 4 or 5 wide. Terry playing under today's rules would be un-friggen-believable. Not to mention his last year wouldn't have been just one game and he probably would have had 3 or 4 more solid seasons before needing to retire.
 
Elway gets a lot of the same grief ben gets because he didnt play the game the way some high school coach taught the typical fan back in the day... With the game on the line and behind by a score there were few qbs youd rather have. Montanna was a system qb, but was great at everything within it. Marino wasa great passer but he didnthave a full team until later in his career, by then thezone blitz ruined his game. Manning is themost technicality proficient but overthinking killed him in big games. Moon threw a nice ball but couldnt win for crap. Favre was just a latter day Elway.
 
tapeANaspirin2it said:
My list of top 5 QB

I've seen arguments for guys like Sammy Baugh etc but I never saw those old guys play and the NFL was so different back then, it's impossible to compare.

You may notice the theme in my list of what I value. Not just winning. That can sometimes be luck of the draw. There's a reason why Archie Maning would not allow Eli to play for San Diego.

I tend to look beyond what happened on the field and try to imagine how each QB would fare on various types of offense, various levels of help from skill players or a strong defense.

I value consistency as well as ability. One of my biggest factors is imagining, how would this guy do on a bad team?. That is why my list consist of guys who do not have a bunch of rings, but rather 5 guys who I am confident would make any ****** team a playoff of Super Bowl contender almost by himself.

1 Dan Marino- best I ever saw. Pathetic that the dolphins could never build a decent defense to win a SB with him. Their offense pretty much sucked without Marino too.

2 Peyton Manning - similar to Marino except Manning got a bit more help with skill players. Still , his OL was usually **** and so was his defense. The Colts game plan was pretty much, Peyton please win us this game. People got on him for choke jobs but it was because his team was usually **** but he was so good he took them further than they should have gone and they would lose to better teams. Just like Marino.

3 Brett Favre - made everyone better around him. Had good but not great skill players. Sterling Sharpe was his only great WR and he retired early. Leadership made teams rally being him. Look at the job he did with a mediocre Vikings team late in his career.

4 Dan Fouts - great passer at a time when defenses were allowed to hit people so there were no cheap yards on short crossing routes to midget receivers. His Charger offense changed the NFL as much as west coast offenses just without the credit because SD could never break through and win it all.

5 Warren Moon - he threw the best ball I've ever seen. Perfect spiral every time. Great accuracy and arm strength, mobility and made great reads. He played in a variety of offense over his years and was great in all of them. Never won a SB but how many could he win with guys like Jerry Glanville and Jack Pardee as his head coaches?. He even made Kevin Gilbride look good.


What? No Brady or Montana? Yer damn right. They were both great obviously but a huge part of their success is right place at the right time.

Montana was a perfect fit for the new west coast offense. An offense that defense didn't really know how to stop until the 90s when Lebeau's zone blitzes came about. Add in Jerry Rice and a usually good run game with RBs like Wendell Tyler, Roger Craig, and it was like stealing for a long time.

Same with Brady. He has played in an era when the NFL has almost outlawed defense. Aside from one year with Randy Moss, Brady is mostly dink and dunk to WRs who would not even be in the NFL if they didn't change the rules . And yes, he has been helped a ton by cheating.

Elway?. Hugely overrated. He had more INT than TD until late in his career. He went to Super Bowls early in his career and got blown out. He was obviously a huge talent, maybe the most physically talented QB to ever play, but he was erratic. He made big mistakes. His legacy is based on the Browns being the Browns and finding new ways to choke. Then later in his career, he became a game manager and won multiple Super Bowls by handing off to Terrell Davis, and by cheating the salary cap.
Click to expand...

No Brady or Montana in the top 5. 90% of the pople will have one or both in theirs.

I would say

Montana
Brady
Marino
Elway
Rodgers


Honorable mention: Brees, P Manning, Farve, Unitas, Young, Graham, Staubach, and Reothlisberger
 
Shane Falco said:
1. Hulk Hogan
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
3. Macho Man Randy Savage
4. The Rock
5. Ric Flair

Dammit, did I post in the wrong list again?
Click to expand...

1. Laverne Defazio
2. Vinny Barbarino
3. Lucile Ball
4. The Big Ragoo
5. Mr. C.

95c12c6bfb4c88f524b56a2e1fd5e087.jpg
 
Turd Ferguson said:
All the great 70's QBs get throw aside because of the rule changes neutering defenses but just look at these pass completion % rates and tell me they played the same game as they do now.

Jim Hart 51%
Billy Kilmer 53%
Terry Bradshaw 52%
Archie Manning 55%
Dan Fouts 56% (1973-1979), 60% (1980-1987)
Bert Jones 56%
Bob Griese 56%
Fran Tarkenton 56%
Roger Staubach 57%
Ken Stabler 60%

Stabler was the outlier and I'm really glad he made the HoF even though I hated the Raiders in the 70's. I could only image what a Staubach, Stabler or Fouts would be able to accomplish in this watered-down league now. I just find it funny most top QB lists see all those 80's QBs and Brady/Manning and these guys are never talked about. Glad 7 of those 11 mentioned above are in the HoF though.
Click to expand...

Not only that but 3rd and 2 used to be a running down!. The short / easy spread offensie like passing was seldom seen in the NFL in the 1970's, and those are the easiet type of passes to complete. It was a run first type of time, passing most often happened on 3rd and long, with the DB's being allowed to mug receivers. Few QB's convert more than 50% of their passes on 3rd and long today.

The pas blocking was different back then too. Tackles lined up on the line, not a 1/2 step back. If any of those guys were around today, I'd add 5-10% to their accuracy.

If we are talking long passing with the ball in the air 15+ yards or more Staubach, and Fouts could match the best today. Archie was on such a bad team, he has a double whammy. Tough era to pass. Lousy team.
 
tapeANaspirin2it said:
Elway played like a chicken with his head cut off for over half his career. He only completed over 60% in 3 seasons. And he was on a good team for nearly his whole career.

Prior to Elway's last 3 years with Shanahan, nobody ever mentioned Elway as one of the best QBs ever. To that point he was closer to Mike Vick than Joe Montana.
Click to expand...

The reason Elway "was on a good team for nearly his whole career" was because he was so damn good, not his teammates. To me, the situation you describe with Shanahan and Elway is how I feel about Holmgren and Favre...Holmgren was the only guy who managed to keep Favre playing within the structure of an offense. When Holmgren left, Favre threw far too many soul-crushing interceptions.
 
Can't stand Brady but outside of the cheating you can't keep him out. He will often play with one good skill guy on offense and still win.
 
I hated Joe Montana when he played, but to me he was the best qb I have ever seen. In the super bowl against the Bengals, when Montana got the ball at the end of the game, you just knew they were going to score.
He and Brady both were(are) incredibly accurate, but Montana did it when the defense could still play as well.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
All the great 70's QBs get throw aside because of the rule changes neutering defenses but just look at these pass completion % rates and tell me they played the same game as they do now.

Jim Hart 51%
Billy Kilmer 53%
Terry Bradshaw 52%
Archie Manning 55%
Dan Fouts 56% (1973-1979), 60% (1980-1987)
Bert Jones 56%
Bob Griese 56%
Fran Tarkenton 56%
Roger Staubach 57%
Ken Stabler 60%

Stabler was the outlier and I'm really glad he made the HoF even though I hated the Raiders in the 70's. I could only image what a Staubach, Stabler or Fouts would be able to accomplish in this watered-down league now. I just find it funny most top QB lists see all those 80's QBs and Brady/Manning and these guys are never talked about. Glad 7 of those 11 mentioned above are in the HoF though.
Click to expand...


That's why i give Fouts more credit than Elway. Fouts played 1973-1987. There are only 3 QBs in the top 30 career yards who played a significant portion of their careers prior to the 80s when passing started to loosen up. They are Tarkenton, Fouts, and Unitas. Tarkenton is an outlier with the way he played. Unitas is often called the best ever by old school football writers, but i never saw him play so i can't really say.

Football has never been a stats sport. That's because it is the ultimate team sport. Anybody who knows anything about football knows that stats are not just based on ability. In baseball, you can put a .300 hitter on any team and he will probably hit .300 or close to it. Getting protection in the lineup helps a bit but for the most part it's batter vs pitcher.

In football if you put a great player on a bad team, it will often crush his stats. If Emmitt Smith got drafted by Tampa, he might have been average.
 
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