List your greatest quarterbacks of all time!

[gopher_nation]

I guess I kinda forgot about them two. Well they move Favre off the list.

[so haaad]

Ozzie, you read my mind! Ol' number 9.

[Scott K]

Brady

Manning

Montana

Marino

Elway

Favre

I cant argue with any of these! For my era, anything before ?

Although I would add Young!

[wishing for walleyes]

I have to say my teenage hero

Fran Tarkenton

Brett favre-because he gives it his all

[Down to Earth]

 Originally Posted By: ozzie

Nobody likes Aikman or Young???..they both won Superbowls...Marino-Montana-Elway-Brady-Manning-Favre......they are all good but don't ever forget number 9-Tommy Kramer!!!!

I thought of including Aikman on my list as well, but couldn't seem to do it. I did a brief stat check on the main 8 of the current era and came up with a few observations.

Though Aikman is a a HOF'er and played for 12 years and won a Super Bowl MVP, I think he often gets overshadowed by his teammates, particularily Emmit Smith and Michael Irvin. From 92-95 he was great, but he really struggled towards the end of his season, both perfomance wise and with injuries. Because of injuries and coaching inconsistencies towards the end his career his overall career numbers are average at best. He has the least amount of TDs of the 8 mentioned and only Brady trails him in Yards.

As for Young, I think the fact that he came in after Montana plays into it some. Though he was in the league for 15 years I don't think he became a starter until year 7 or 8 and had a wealth of talent at his disposal. Injuries also come into play as well as Young had just 2 season in which he played a full season. He's a Super Bowl MVP, 2x NFL MVP, and a HOF as well. Numbers wise he only ahead of Aikman and Brady for yards and TDs.

Also, and I kind of brought it up with Aikman is, to me at least, neither of these two where the face of their franchises. In Dallas, it was Emmitt Smith and the running game with that great OL. In SF it was Montana prior, not to mention Jerry Rice. The other six mentioned are pretty much the face of their respected franchises and in some cases the NFL.

I think the other six have been greatly debated and as I said in my initial post, I think a case could be made for each of them. It just depends on who is making the argument and what their criteria is.

[Trainman]

1) Joe Montana: 3? SB's, flawless execution in the pocket

2) Brett Favre: 16 years, numbers MVP's, 4th quarter comebacks, virtually every record (no bias. I'm a Viking fan)

3) Steve Young: 3 SB's (why couldn't the Vikings tackle him in 89')

4) Tom Brady: 3 SB's soon to be 4

5) Fran Tarkenton: 17 years, 3 SB's, 3rd on most records with only 3/4 as many games per year.

6) Dan Marino: 2nd on virtually every record, 1 SB, should have been more.

7) John Elway: 4 SB's, awesome arm

8) Payton Manning: All around good QB. On pace to break every record, but will likely retire beforehand.

9) Tommy Kramer: NFL record DWI's, blood alcohol.

[Wade Joseph]

The Top three are all debateable as to what position in the top three they get as its difficult to argue with records. But Joe was good as gold in SF AND KC. Brett tops Dan because Brett owns nearly all the records. But no matter how you cut it they are undoubtedly the best three.

1) Joe Montana

2) Brett Favre

3) Dan Marino

4) John Elway

5) Payton Manning

6) Tom Brady

7) Bart Starr

8) Fran Tarkenton

9) Dan Fouts

[SledNeck]

I would not include Troy Aikman on the list. If every there was a case of a QB is as good as his offensive line and RB. He is a perfect example. Better than avg, yes. But he had a career 81 passer rating. Never threw for more than 23 TDs in a season. I would even rank Favre above Aikman.

[Schloogs]

 Originally Posted By: otto_man

Past; Starr, Montana, Bradshaw, Elway

Present; Favre, Brady, Manning, Romo

Romo???? Please tell me your joking, your joking, gotta be. Funny

[PierBridge]

 Originally Posted By: SledNeck

I would not include Troy Aikman on the list. If every there was a case of a QB is as good as his offensive line and RB. He is a perfect example. Better than avg, yes. But he had a career 81 passer rating. Never threw for more than 23 TDs in a season. I would even rank Favre above Aikman.

No doubt!

[ozzie]

Aikman did have a great cast around him but you can say that about every player on that team.....Irving was good cause Emmitt and Aikman or Emmmitt was good cause the line and Irving......Granted Aikman doesn't have the WOW numbers but he got the job done and was pretty successful doing it!!

[SledNeck]

Who did Aikman play with...hmmm lets see....

TE Jay Novacek- 5 time ALL PRO

RB Emmitt Smith- 8 probowls 6 times all pro. Future first ballot HOF.

FB Moose Johnston-2 time probowler.

Michael Irvin HOFer

Offensive line anchored by (possibly the best in history)....

Nate Newton 6 time probowler

Larry Allen 9 time PB. one of the best ever.

C Ray Donaldson 6 time probowler.

Mark Tunei 2 time probowler.

I would say that Troy Aikman had the best supporting cast in NFL history, am I wrong?

Lets not even get into their defense either.

[ozzie]

But can't the same thing be said about those players? They are all on the same team and without each other they might not have been so great individually.......Emmitt/Moose/Irivn/Allen/newton played with the same guys that Aikman did....

[mechanictim]

Could and should throw Roger Staubach into the mix. Played in 4 superbowls winning two. Won the heisman while leading the Navy acadamy to a No.2 finish in the polls. Served a stint in Vietnam with the Navy before starting his NFL career.

[lookincalifornia]

how about jim kelly? 4 straight superbowls. that's pretty good even with out winning one

marino

elway

montana

my top three.

as for romo, if you are talking strictly present day guys, why not. he still has some more proving to do, but i think he has tons of potential.

[caseymcq]

 Originally Posted By: Trainman

1) Joe Montana: 3? SB's, flawless execution in the pocket

Montana won four Super Bowls and had three Super Bowl MVP's.

I would have to agree with the others who have said that Aikman isn't in the same league as Favre, Montana, Marion, Elway, Brady, Manning. Under slightly different circumstances it may have been Steve Walsh winning all those SB's with the cast that supported Aikman.

[lawdog]

I'd pretty much copy gopher-nation's list. However, there's some great QB's who were never on the best teams though too. Warren Moon for instance threw for by far the most yards of any pro QB when you combine his CFL and NFL numbers. He was the entire offense on more than a few years worth of teams.

Brady I'm still not 100% sure on his place in history either, he's great no doubt, but he's NEVER had to do it with anything but the very best team around him and he isn't the driving force in making it that way like I'd say an Elway was or a Montana was... He's definitely awesome, but honestly I think I'd rather have Peyton Manning to build a team around. Remember, the Colts were 3-13 when he started, he didn't inherit a Super Bowl team liek Brady did.

[PierBridge]

Thats just CRAZY Lawdog Brady has done it with almost nil talent on offense until this year.

You take Brady out of the Pats line up you would be lucky to have 1 Ring.

[SledNeck]

Brady is genuine. He won three superbowls with people who played well as a team but with modest individual talent.

[ozzie]

 Originally Posted By: SledNeck

Brady is genuine. He won three superbowls with people who played well as a team but with modest individual talent.

I totaly agree with this statement.....when he stepped in for Bledsoe weren't they losing and he turned the season around to win the Super Bowl?

Moon and Kelly were also great QB's as was Staubach......but who said Romo? What has he done besides drop a snap to put his team out of the playoffs???

[Hammer Handle]

Romo got a hot (but ditsy) girlfriend....

[zamboni]

Talent- Montana

Arm Strength- Favre-Flutie

Accuracy- Montana

Most Fun To Watch (on field and off)- McMahon

[MidCoast]

Greatest Qb of all time... This is soo easy!!! TOm Brady no doubt... He has the td record, plus soooooooooooooo many superbowl rings!!! Can any other qb contest???

Brady never really had any superstar wr until this season. However, Brady was still able to finish with good stats with his Te's as the main receiver before lol...

Anyways, Brady led a perfect season team, has many superbowl ring, and now has the td record. He also led a team that broke the record for most points scored in a season.. Thus BRADY is the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.. Until another Qb breaks all of these records, Brady is the BEST.

[fishwithteeth]

OK fellas. I can tell most of you guys are under 30. All the guys you mentioned are deserving, but how about:

Roger Staubach

Joe Namath

George Blanda

Bob Griese

Len Dawson

All proven, all Hall of Famers.

[DinkADunk]

Nice hearing Len Dawson's name. I liked Broadway Joe a bunch but a truely superior quarterback needs to be a great leader and play caller, not just a passer. So my top five list would include;

Bart Starr

Bob Griese

Fran Tarkenton

Terry Bradshaw

Johnny Unitas

With a few others (Elway, Marino, Montana, etc) that could easily fit in.