NFL All Time 100 QB List

[Giant Octopodes]

Sorry I haven't been around much, got a new job and been working what feels like 24/7. The NFL came out with their QBs for the all time 100 list, and I personally feel they made some errors in their judgements. Here's what we have:


Tom Brady
Joe Montana
Otto Graham
Peyton Manning
Sammy Baugh
Brett Favre
John Elway

Dan Marino
Roger Staubach
Johnny Unitas


Brady, Montana, Graham, and to an extent Manning I feel are no brainers that everyone would agree deserve a place on that list. The rest are debatable. Sammy Baugh I definitely agree with due to his triple threat nature, playing on QB, Defense, and Special Teams and playing well at all roles. Brett Favre is my brother's favorite QB, so I won't argue against him. Those last 4 in my eyes are mistakes, and here's who I would put instead.


Dan Marino -> Drew Brees: Dan Marino played for 17 years, piled up a ton of stats, and the best thing that can be said about him is he was a great passer of the football. He wasn't even the best passer of his era, however- his passer rating is 33rd all time, below Otto Graham, not to mention Joe Montana (now 15th all time) and Steve Young (Tied - 6th all time) who played at the same time as him.


Steve Young is a better QB in every measurable way than Marino except for career length. He won the Super Bowl, twice, with an 85.8 passer rating in the playoffs, while Marino never won, in large part due to his 56% completion rating and 77.1 passer rating in the playoffs. He was a 64% completion passer (Marino was sub 60%), he was more than 2:1 TD to INT (Marino was not), he led the league in passer rating on 6 occasions (Marino did so only one), Marino just played in 240 games to his 143 and racked up a bunch of yards while doing so.


If you want to reward racking up a bunch of yards, Marino is not on top of that list. Brady is, if you include post season. Regular season, it's Brees. He's also the most accurate passer in NFL history, he has more pro bowl selections than Marino, he's 3rd on the NFL all time passer rating list, he has won the Super Bowl while Marino has not, he's simply better in every single way than Marino is, era adjusted or otherwise. If you're trying to honor one of the best pure passers the NFL has seen, it's Brees or Young, not Marino.


Johnny Unitas -> Bart Starr: They played at the same time, other than 2 meaningless final years from Unitas. They both saw success before and after the merger. Unitas threw up bigger regular season stat numbers. Starr quietly had a better passer rating, and was more accurate. In the post season, Unitas was 6-3, with 2 NFL championship wins pre-merger, and 1 Super Bowl. Starr won 2 championships, and 3 Super Bowls, going 9-1 in the playoffs, the best win record in the playoffs of any QB ever with that amount of games or more. He has a passer rating of 104 in the playoffs stepping up when the lights shone brightest, while Unitas saw his passer rating dip to below 70. He's arguably the best playoff QB of all time, with a number of championships second only to Brady.


I'll post more later gotta run, just wanted to get the conversation started. Agree? Disagree? Who else was a mistake?

 

[Dwight Schrute]

When I first read the list I had to do a double take. And you nailed what stuck out to me.

Marino over Brees?

I’m embarrassed Bill had a hand in this.

Brees is all time in TDs, Yards, and completion percentage. And likely still going for a couple years.

How you put that perennial loser Marino ahead of him boggles my mind.

 

[Roberto71]

We're discussing this on another thread.

http://www.patriotsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=76187&page=4

Mods, can you combine?

Marino over Brees is easy, different league back then and nowhere near the QB protection from officials and the same for receivers.

Twitter is going mad for omitting Brees and Rodgers but as Kurt Warner said, who do yo leave off the list to let either in? All those 80s QB deserve in, Elway, Marino, Joe. And Unidas, Baigh, Graham and Staubach even more so.

 

[Patriots71]

When I first read the list I had to do a double take. And you nailed what stuck out to me.

Marino over Brees?

I’m embarrassed Bill had a hand in this.

Brees is all time in TDs, Yards, and completion percentage. And likely still going for a couple years.

How you put that perennial loser Marino ahead of him boggles my mind.

Because they took QB's that were top 1 and 2 of each era. Marino in his era was top 1 or 2. Brees was never the top 2 QB of his era. If they took just stats to make this list, it wouldnt really be fair to guys that played many years ago. Brees is great, but he is a volume passer playing on carpet. He was never MVP, he has 1 superbowl, so he is not going to beat out Brady or Manning. They couldnt straight up compare Brees with Sammy Baugh or anyone else prior to this era. Brees stats are based on volume of throws in a dome where his QB rating drops 14 points when he goes outside. This is not bashing on him he is an all timer, but they had to spread this list over era's. For Brees to be on here he would have had to be in the top 1 or 2 of his era. He wasnt.

I am not trying to bash Brees, Im just saying what thought process of the voters. Regardless if we like it or not. Marino was a top 2 QB of his era.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Because they took QB's that were top 1 and 2 of each era. Marino in his era was top 1 or 2. Brees was never the top 2 QB of his era. If they took just stats to make this list, it wouldnt really be fair to guys that played many years ago. Brees is great, but he is a volume passer playing on carpet. He was never MVP, he has 1 superbowl, so he is not going to beat out Brady or Manning. They couldnt straight up compare Brees with Sammy Baugh or anyone else prior to this era. Brees stats are based on volume of throws in a dome where his QB rating drops 14 points when he goes outside. This is not bashing on him he is an all timer, but they had to spread this list over era's. For Brees to be on here he would have had to be in the top 1 or 2 of his era. He wasnt.

I am not trying to bash Brees, Im just saying what thought process of the voters. Regardless if we like it or not. Marino was a top 2 QB of his era.

He was not. Montana and Young were both better, as far as passer rating and post season success. Sure Brees benefited from being in a dome. And Brady benefited from being with Belichick. If Brady was on a different team, in a different environment with different coaching, he would have different results. Same with Brees. But I'm not a fan of the coulda woulda shoulda game, Brees played in the environment he played in and produced the results he produced, which were clearly superior to Marino, both on an objective level and compared to his era.



Marino posted a worse passer rating than Otto Graham, who retired 30 years before he ever started playing. He missed the playoffs 7 times, and was 1 and done 3 times when he did make it, never winning a Super Bowl. Steve Young has what is still the 6th best passer rating all time despite having retired 20 years ago, only missed the playoffs 3 times and only went 1 and done twice, winning the Super Bowl 2 times. Forget Brees for a moment, though I think he's definitely better than Steve Young, how do you justify Marino over Steve Young, who was his contemporary? How does being the 3rd best passer of your era and winning nothing of note possibly equate to being a top 10 all time QB?

 

[Patriots71]

He was not. Montana and Young were both better, as far as passer rating and post season success. Sure Brees benefited from being in a dome. And Brady benefited from being with Belichick. If Brady was on a different team, in a different environment with different coaching, he would have different results. Same with Brees. But I'm not a fan of the coulda woulda shoulda game, Brees played in the environment he played in and produced the results he produced, which were clearly superior to Marino, both on an objective level and compared to his era.



Marino posted a worse passer rating than Otto Graham, who retired 30 years before he ever started playing. He missed the playoffs 7 times, and was 1 and done 3 times when he did make it, never winning a Super Bowl. Steve Young has what is still the 6th best passer rating all time despite having retired 20 years ago, only missed the playoffs 3 times and only went 1 and done twice, winning the Super Bowl 2 times. Forget Brees for a moment, though I think he's definitely better than Steve Young, how do you justify Marino over Steve Young, who was his contemporary? How does being the 3rd best passer of your era and winning nothing of note possibly equate to being a top 10 all time QB?

I do not think Brady's stats benefited from Belichick. lol, and I am thinking Brees had an actual amazing offensive minded head coach. AS far as Brees and a dome, his Qb rating drops 14 points out of a dome, so I am thinking 14 point swing is pretty big. But again, this is not about Brady, he is on this list, the question of Brees. Brees is not a top 3 QB of this era. I'm sorry if you think he was, he wasnt. Young played in the Favre, era. Marino was a bit before Youngs playing days. AS much as we hate him when Marino retired, he was the all time TD and yards leader and won mvp's, and won all-pros. If you want to say Young should be there and stretch the era a bit over Marino, ok thats an argument, but its not about Marino compared to Brees. Brees is not on the list becuase Marino is, thats not how they did it. Brees was compared to QB's of his era. SO basically you are giving Brees the accolades of passing yards and td's but not marino for his era, and Marino has individual awards that Brees never got. So if you want to argue for Brees you are going to have to argue him over Manning and Brady, so go ahead.

 

[foobahl]

Judging by memory only I think Kelly is a better qb than Marino.

 

[Patriots71]

Judging by memory only I think Kelly is a better qb than Marino.

Based on what? Ok I get it guys, we dont like Marino, neither do I, but its not outrageous he is on this list. I am trying to make the discussion not based on my dislike of a player. I hate Peyton Way way more than Brees, and I say Peyton is over him.

 

[Pape]

I'm fine with Brees being left off the list ... we already have one dome based stats collector on the list, don't need another ...


doesn't mean he isnt good though ... the people complaining about it need to get a grip ... the whole idea was to highlight players across the full 100 years of the league ... there are more than a few modern day players left off the list in favor of some historical perspective

 

[foobahl]

Based on what? Ok I get it guys, we dont like Marino, neither do I, but its not outrageous he is on this list. I am trying to make the discussion not based on my dislike of a player. I hate Peyton Way way more than Brees, and I say Peyton is over him.

4 Straight SB appearances, the K-gun or how about head to head:

Similar to the Brady and Manning clash, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino were two quarterbacks at the top of their games who quickly developed an historic rivalry. As divisional foes from the late 80’s through the mid 90’s, Kelly and Marino faced each other in twenty-one games throughout their careers, including three playoff games. Jim Kelly won all three playoff games and held an 11-7 win advantage in their eighteen regular season meetings. As he did throughout his career, Dan Marino put up big numbers in many of their games, but he fell short in the majority of these contests. Marino was winless in the playoffs vs. the Bills when Kelly was at the helm.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

I do not think Brady's stats benefited from Belichick. lol, and I am thinking Brees had an actual amazing offensive minded head coach. AS far as Brees and a dome, his Qb rating drops 14 points out of a dome, so I am thinking 14 point swing is pretty big. But again, this is not about Brady, he is on this list, the question of Brees. Brees is not a top 3 QB of this era. I'm sorry if you think he was, he wasnt. Young played in the Favre, era. Marino was a bit before Youngs playing days. AS much as we hate him when Marino retired, he was the all time TD and yards leader and won mvp's, and won all-pros. If you want to say Young should be there and stretch the era a bit over Marino, ok thats an argument, but its not about Marino compared to Brees. Brees is not on the list becuase Marino is, thats not how they did it. Brees was compared to QB's of his era. SO basically you are giving Brees the accolades of passing yards and td's but not marino for his era, and Marino has individual awards that Brees never got. So if you want to argue for Brees you are going to have to argue him over Manning and Brady, so go ahead.

Brady has routinely credited Belichick's coaching style for his development as a QB, saying the kind of coach Belichick is coincides with the kind of coach he needs. My point is simply that we don't knock QBs for favorable environmental factors, things play out the way they play out, it is what it is and we have no way of knowing that Brees, if he practiced and played outdoors every game of his career, would not have adjusted and become a better outdoors QB.


Marino also played in the Favre era. Marino is 1983 to 1999 Young is 1985 to 1999. You really think Marino's 1983 and 1984 seasons, wherein he won nothing of note (like his entire career) justify his inclusion over Young? Sure, he was the all time leader in TDs and Yards. They passed over 35 times a game and he was rarely injured. Young was the all time leader in Passer Rating and Completion percentage when he retired. You may say Yards and TDs matter more, but Young won a higher percentage of his games and had more success in the playoffs, so I'd say clearly they don't.



As far as MVPs and All Pros, he had 9 Pro Bowls and 3 All Pros to Young's 7 Pro Bowls and 3 All Pros, that's a minor nod in his favor, but I reject the idea of MVP awards mattering significantly because they're voted on by the media. I really don't care who the media chose to fawn over.



The reason I'm focusing in Young is because you're indicating there's a limited number of slots per era, that's why Brees didn't get in. That's fine. My point is more that Marino is a mistake than that Brees deserves Marino's spot, I can roll with your limitations, and if we must have era based decisions Young deserves Marino's spot.



As far as Brees, there are arguments for him over Manning. He has more yards, more TDs, a higher passer rating, a higher completion percentage, a better playoff win percentage, as far as him as a passer he's pretty inarguably superior. Manning has other points in his favor, the main ones being the extra Super Bowl win, the way he ran his offense from a cereberal standpoint, and the respect he commanded. I'm just saying, it's not an inarguable spot.


Finally, as far as your premise of the 1-2 per 10-20 year span, let's see how that plays out:


Brady: 00s-10s
Manning: 00s-10s
Favre: 90s-10s
Marino: 80s-90s

Montana: 80s-90s
Elway: 80s-90s

Staubach: 70s

Unitas: 50s-60s
Graham: 40s-50s
Baugh: 30s-40s


6 of the 10 are from the 80s+. I don't think it's at all inarguable that Marino over Brees is Exactly how it is, because they already have Elway and Montana from Marino's era, and there is no reason they couldn't have just 2 80s-90s QBs and 3 00s-10s QBs instead of the inverse. Just saying. For 1-2 QBs per era, they have 3 QBs who played in the first 50 years of the NFL, and 4 QBs who were playing in 1991.

 

[Patriots71]

Brady has routinely credited Belichick's coaching style for his development as a QB, saying the kind of coach Belichick is coincides with the kind of coach he needs. My point is simply that we don't knock QBs for favorable environmental factors, things play out the way they play out, it is what it is and we have no way of knowing that Brees, if he practiced and played outdoors every game of his career, would not have adjusted and become a better outdoors QB.


Marino also played in the Favre era. Marino is 1983 to 1999 Young is 1985 to 1999. You really think Marino's 1983 and 1984 seasons, wherein he won nothing of note (like his entire career) justify his inclusion over Young? Sure, he was the all time leader in TDs and Yards. They passed over 35 times a game and he was rarely injured. Young was the all time leader in Passer Rating and Completion percentage when he retired. You may say Yards and TDs matter more, but Young won a higher percentage of his games and had more success in the playoffs, so I'd say clearly they don't.



As far as MVPs and All Pros, he had 9 Pro Bowls and 3 All Pros to Young's 7 Pro Bowls and 3 All Pros, that's a minor nod in his favor, but I reject the idea of MVP awards mattering significantly because they're voted on by the media. I really don't care who the media chose to fawn over.



The reason I'm focusing in Young is because you're indicating there's a limited number of slots per era, that's why Brees didn't get in. That's fine. My point is more that Marino is a mistake than that Brees deserves Marino's spot, I can roll with your limitations, and if we must have era based decisions Young deserves Marino's spot.



As far as Brees, there are arguments for him over Manning. He has more yards, more TDs, a higher passer rating, a higher completion percentage, a better playoff win percentage, as far as him as a passer he's pretty inarguably superior. Manning has other points in his favor, the main ones being the extra Super Bowl win, the way he ran his offense from a cereberal standpoint, and the respect he commanded. I'm just saying, it's not an inarguable spot.


Finally, as far as your premise of the 1-2 per 10-20 year span, let's see how that plays out:


Brady: 00s-10s
Manning: 00s-10s
Favre: 90s-10s
Marino: 80s-90s

Montana: 80s-90s
Elway: 80s-90s

Staubach: 70s

Unitas: 50s-60s
Graham: 40s-50s
Baugh: 30s-40s


6 of the 10 are from the 80s+. I don't think it's at all inarguable that Marino over Brees is Exactly how it is, because they already have Elway and Montana from Marino's era, and there is no reason they couldn't have just 2 80s-90s QBs and 3 00s-10s QBs instead of the inverse. Just saying. For 1-2 QBs per era, they have 3 QBs who played in the first 50 years of the NFL, and 4 QBs who were playing in 1991.

Just my opinion. Also, I am not talking about coaching, I am talking about throwing 700 times a year with no wind, no rain, no mud 10 times a year. All Teams have coaches, Brees has a coach, in fact Brees has a coach that is way more contributed to his stats. I have just never been a volume stats person. If you throw enough for long enough you are going to have a lot of stats especially in that environment. Montana is on this list and his stats were low. If you are doing your job for 3 quarters, you will not need to always throw 50 times in the 4th quarter against prevent defense in losses. Yards especially is the most overrated stat ever. Now, with Marino that was the case as well, but. Marino has MVP's and as much as you dismiss it, its a pretty good part along with other things. He had all-pros. He was the best at his position in years, but again, this is not about Brees vs Marino on this list, it was about Brees vs Brady vs Manning. There is only 4 active players on this entire list...I cannot say Brees is one of the 4 best active players ever.

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 PM ----------

4 Straight SB appearances, the K-gun or how about head to head:

Similar to the Brady and Manning clash, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino were two quarterbacks at the top of their games who quickly developed an historic rivalry. As divisional foes from the late 80’s through the mid 90’s, Kelly and Marino faced each other in twenty-one games throughout their careers, including three playoff games. Jim Kelly won all three playoff games and held an 11-7 win advantage in their eighteen regular season meetings. As he did throughout his career, Dan Marino put up big numbers in many of their games, but he fell short in the majority of these contests. Marino was winless in the playoffs vs. the Bills when Kelly was at the helm.

You think People are crying about Brees. Put Jim Kelly over Marino on this list. lol

---------- Post added at 02:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:04 PM ----------

I'm fine with Brees being left off the list ... we already have one dome based stats collector on the list, don't need another ...


doesn't mean he isnt good though ... the people complaining about it need to get a grip ... the whole idea was to highlight players across the full 100 years of the league ... there are more than a few modern day players left off the list in favor of some historical perspective

This. In order for Brees to have made this list. He would have had to have multiple superbowls, Multiple MVP's, Multiple legendary playoff games. He would have to bump off Manning or Brady, who had his stats but so much more. If its about winning, which is what we say, then Hell Ben has more than Brees.

---------- Post added at 02:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:06 PM ----------

At the end of the day, this list was to put on the best of the best over 100 years of football. Guys that changed the game, guys that went beyond stats for their time. They tried to have a rep for every era on these lists and did not have guys that are active for the most part. Only 4 total for the whole list. With that in mind, putting Brees on here would be way overrating him. You are saying that he is so legendary he surpasses us only having 4 active players. You want to argue Marino vs Young or Marino vs whatever, thats fine. But the argument is not Brees vs marino.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

At the end of the day, this list was to put on the best of the best over 100 years of football. Guys that changed the game, guys that went beyond stats for their time. They tried to have a rep for every era on these lists and did not have guys that are active for the most part. Only 4 total for the whole list. With that in mind, putting Brees on here would be way overrating him. You are saying that he is so legendary he surpasses us only having 4 active players. You want to argue Marino vs Young or Marino vs whatever, thats fine. But the argument is not Brees vs marino.

My initial argument was that 4 players are on this list who don't deserve to be: Marino, Elway, Unitas, Staubach. Brees was simply who I would put on there over him, and my rationale is simple:


Who is Marino? Great passer for his era, put up huge volume stats, didn't win much.


Who is Brees? Great passer for his era (better compared to his era than Marino was, and a better passer than Marino was head to head), put up huge volume stats (more than Marino did, most in NFL history), didn't win much (But won more than Marino did, at least won a Super Bowl). So if that "profile" of great volume stat guy, great passer, regardless of wins is what you want to represent, Brees is your guy, not Marino.


If alternately the "profile" of "one of the best QBs of the 80s and 90s" is what you're looking for, I'd argue it's already overrepresented, but even if you put that aside, Young is a better representation of that than Marino is. Regardless of who your pick is, my argument is more about Marino being a mistake than it is Brees being a top 10 all time QB.


You talk about "guys that changed the game", "guys that went beyond just stats", "multiple Super Bowl wins", "multiple legendary playoff games", none of that is Marino. He put up huge stats for his era over a long time because he threw enough for long enough. That's it.

 

[Patriots71]

My initial argument was that 4 players are on this list who don't deserve to be: Marino, Elway, Unitas, Staubach. Brees was simply who I would put on there over him, and my rationale is simple:


Who is Marino? Great passer for his era, put up huge volume stats, didn't win much.


Who is Brees? Great passer for his era (better compared to his era than Marino was, and a better passer than Marino was head to head), put up huge volume stats (more than Marino did, most in NFL history), didn't win much (But won more than Marino did, at least won a Super Bowl). So if that "profile" of great volume stat guy, great passer, regardless of wins is what you want to represent, Brees is your guy, not Marino.


If alternately the "profile" of "one of the best QBs of the 80s and 90s" is what you're looking for, I'd argue it's already overrepresented, but even if you put that aside, Young is a better representation of that than Marino is. Regardless of who your pick is, my argument is more about Marino being a mistake than it is Brees being a top 10 all time QB.


You talk about "guys that changed the game", "guys that went beyond just stats", "multiple Super Bowl wins", "multiple legendary playoff games", none of that is Marino. He put up huge stats for his era over a long time because he threw enough for long enough. That's it.

Again, you cannot compare Brees throwing 5 thousand more times in a dome to guys in the 80's. You just can't. Nobody....and I mean nobody threw as much as Drew Brees, and about 50 percent of it was in garbage time. There was a write up of how many passes he had in games where they were down 20 and abandoned the run game. He has 200 more pass attempts than Brady and Brady played 2 years longer. Brees Qb rating drops almost 14 points outside of a dome. His QB rating outside is 90. Again, I am not trying to trash him, just giving you reasons why he was not on this list. He is not up in the tier of Brady and Manning, so you should not put him there. I'm not even saying you are wrong, or your opinion is shit, it isnt. COuld he be on the list? Yes, but I can see why he isnt. This list should be about no argument guys. 4 QB's were unanimous, so there were questions about the other 6, so its not some slam dunk. I could make cases for a ton of players, but they picked 100. Someone is getting left off.

We cannot even say this list is bias. If you look at the 26 who voted. There are a few on there that would set Brady on fire and piss on his ashes. These lists spawn arguments and discussions, but I just cannot be so appalled that Brees was not on this list as others.

I am going to back out of this argument though, because I feel the masses are coming with pitchforks to take me down at any point, so lets just say, great discussion, and I see your point on what you said..

 

[Roberto71]

Wait....you're actually saying Johnny Unidas doesn't deserve to be on the list?! ROFL

 

[Patriots71]

Wait....you're actually saying Johnny Unidas doesn't deserve to be on the list?! ROFL

I think its hard for people to really argue for guys they never seen play. It was just so different back then, so you have to compare them to others that were in the same era to really see what they were.

 

[OSUBuckeye]

Sorry I haven't been around much, got a new job and been working what feels like 24/7. The NFL came out with their QBs for the all time 100 list, and I personally feel they made some errors in their judgements. Here's what we have:


Tom Brady
Joe Montana
Otto Graham
Peyton Manning
Sammy Baugh
Brett Favre
John Elway

Dan Marino
Roger Staubach
Johnny Unitas


Brady, Montana, Graham, and to an extent Manning I feel are no brainers that everyone would agree deserve a place on that list. The rest are debatable. Sammy Baugh I definitely agree with due to his triple threat nature, playing on QB, Defense, and Special Teams and playing well at all roles. Brett Favre is my brother's favorite QB, so I won't argue against him. Those last 4 in my eyes are mistakes, and here's who I would put instead.


Dan Marino -> Drew Brees: Dan Marino played for 17 years, piled up a ton of stats, and the best thing that can be said about him is he was a great passer of the football. He wasn't even the best passer of his era, however- his passer rating is 33rd all time, below Otto Graham, not to mention Joe Montana (now 15th all time) and Steve Young (Tied - 6th all time) who played at the same time as him.


Steve Young is a better QB in every measurable way than Marino except for career length. He won the Super Bowl, twice, with an 85.8 passer rating in the playoffs, while Marino never won, in large part due to his 56% completion rating and 77.1 passer rating in the playoffs. He was a 64% completion passer (Marino was sub 60%), he was more than 2:1 TD to INT (Marino was not), he led the league in passer rating on 6 occasions (Marino did so only one), Marino just played in 240 games to his 143 and racked up a bunch of yards while doing so.


If you want to reward racking up a bunch of yards, Marino is not on top of that list. Brady is, if you include post season. Regular season, it's Brees. He's also the most accurate passer in NFL history, he has more pro bowl selections than Marino, he's 3rd on the NFL all time passer rating list, he has won the Super Bowl while Marino has not, he's simply better in every single way than Marino is, era adjusted or otherwise. If you're trying to honor one of the best pure passers the NFL has seen, it's Brees or Young, not Marino.


Johnny Unitas -> Bart Starr: They played at the same time, other than 2 meaningless final years from Unitas. They both saw success before and after the merger. Unitas threw up bigger regular season stat numbers. Starr quietly had a better passer rating, and was more accurate. In the post season, Unitas was 6-3, with 2 NFL championship wins pre-merger, and 1 Super Bowl. Starr won 2 championships, and 3 Super Bowls, going 9-1 in the playoffs, the best win record in the playoffs of any QB ever with that amount of games or more. He has a passer rating of 104 in the playoffs stepping up when the lights shone brightest, while Unitas saw his passer rating dip to below 70. He's arguably the best playoff QB of all time, with a number of championships second only to Brady.


I'll post more later gotta run, just wanted to get the conversation started. Agree? Disagree? Who else was a mistake?

Pretty sure Steve Young has 3 rings but was the starter for only one.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Pretty sure Steve Young has 3 rings but was the starter for only one.

He threw passes in '89 so I give him credit for that one too


That being said, being the starting QB for and winning 1 SB is more than can be said for Marino.


And Roberto yes, I'd definitely argue against Unitas, I already gave my rationale below. He was very good, great even, not saying he wasn't, and he was a media darling. But he was no Bart Starr imho. Inferior passer rating and accuracy, fewer championships, worse playoff record. I'd take Unitas over Elway, that's for sure, but I'd take Starr over Unitas any day of the week and twice in the post season. What part of my rationale do you disagree with, if any?

 

[Steve1]

I saw the show and the list. I have no problem with it. Rodgers, Brees, Tarkenton....they were great qb's too.

But, you're certainly not going to leave out Elway, Manning, Montana, Unitas, or Brady. If you respect the other eras of football, Sammy Baugh and Otto Graham cannot be left out. Personally, I would never leave out Marino. Staubach was a great quarterback. Brett Favre was one of the most exciting qb's and players, in general.

I think some people give a bad rap to prolific quarterbacks, who had few or zero rings. I used to hold that opinion, too. But I matured in that sense, more than a few years ago.

Before Elway had any rings, he was phenomenal. Some would say, 'yeah, but look at his interceptions vs. touchdowns'. Okay, but you Never wanted to play against Elway.

Same with Marino. You Never wanted to play against Marino. And you've got to remember, he never had a truly reliable running back or running game.

Steve Young and Ben Roethlisburger. Two more greats. And if you saw Sonny Jurgenson, he was another great. And I definitely put Fran Tarkenton in that 'honorable mention' category.

I never watched Bart Starr-but he piloted his team to 5 NFL championships. I did see Bob Griese, and he was pretty good. Of course, the Packers, and the Dolphins, in their respective 'days', had Great running games.

 

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I would leave out Elway ... Built his record in the most favorable home field in the league ... Was sub .500 on the road... He and Favre are the only two on the list with losing road records...