Rating the SB winning QBs

[deaddogseye]

So much was made this year as to whether Flacco is an elite QB and the issue is heavily debated about QBs in general. A big point in these debates is has he won a SB / how many? So ive gone back and taken all the SB winning QBs and rated them as Elite, Very Good, Average and Below Average.

Please note before anyone goes nuts on me that this was done very quickly and based largely on my visceral reaction. The rating is based on their careers not the SB season(s) alone. ive tried to give some consideration to era differences (lets face it, its never been easier to roll up passing stats in the NFL). So here it is -- and hopefully it will produce some interesting debate

The Elite

Unitas
Peyton Manning
Brady
Elway
Montana
Favre (although i was tempted to knock him down one -- hes a stats machine but i never felt he was really as good as his stats.

The Very Good

Starr
Dawson (one notch too high?)
Bradshaw
Stabler
Eli Manning (one SB he might be a notch lower due to his inconsistency; 2 SBs land him here
Rogers -- resume not complete yet could move up
Brees
Warner -- one of the best at his peak but the peak wasnt long enough. A great big game QB IMO, but that isnt the standard
Staubach - a fave of mine; would love to call him elite but cant do it
Aikman -- another who wasnt around long enough
Simms
Young -- see Warner comments, Started all of his teams games only 3 seasons in his career

Average

Namath -- kills me to say it about my boyhood idol but its true -- and some still may say im overrating him
Rypien
Griese -- a pretty good QB on the conssumate runnig team. Harly ever had the throw
Plunkett - another favorite
Flacco -- i just said in another threa that i think he is very good -- and i do in the here and now -- but in this classification due to his youth he still is here
Theisman -- an average QB who behind one of the greatest OLines in Nfl history looked better

Below average

Dilfer - didnt fuck things up
Wiliams
McMahin -- horribly overrated in his day IMO
Hostetler\
B Johnson -- i thought he was a pretty good underrated QB who never got his due -- but mostly a sub so he lands here

looking forward to hearing your thoughts

 

[TruthSeeker56]

Unitas never won a Super Bowl. He only played in ONE, and only played in part of that game (the 16-7 loss to the New York Jets in SB III).

 

[Mr. H.]

I'd more enjoy rating the SI swimming QT's.

 

[Oddball]

Bradshaw was average, at best.

 

[zzzz]

Rating QB's is pure speculation at its best. Some had awesome receivers that would go over or through defenders to get the ball where average receivers would let the defender bat the ball down or intercept.

The best QB in my mind is Montana. The others, even Brady do not get to his level.

 

[tyroneweaver]

jim mcmaho was a great qb. he had to deal with ditka. If you followed jim his whole carreer you'd think different.

also
Put Starr above Favre .....please

 

[Wry Catcher]

Mike Holmgren was a highly rated QB out of High School. Too bad he couldn't make it as a Pro (got little exposure and playing time at USC, OJ was the offense then). He was the coach of many of those SB QB's noted in the OP.

 

[DStar777]

Unitas never won a Super Bowl. He only played in ONE, and only played in part of that game (the 16-7 loss to the New York Jets in SB III).

Unitas was the starting QB in Super Bowl V (Baltimore 16, Dallas 13).

 

[LA RAM FAN]

jim mcmaho was a great qb. he had to deal with ditka. If you followed jim his whole carreer you'd think different.

also
Put Starr above Favre .....please

exactly.well said.yeah please put Starr above Favre.Favre couldnt carry Starrs jockstrap and yeah,like he said,Mcmahon belongs in the very good cause yeah,dealing with Ditka all those years like he did was not easy at all.I admire the guy for standing up to him humiliating him on national tv like he did for belittling and treating players of his like they werent human beings.

The Bears would have been in more superbowls had Mcmahon not been so injury prone.He inspired his teammates and had the same effect on them that Montana,Elway,and Brady do.Making players better ball players than they really were.

Oh and how the hell did you leave Dan Marino off the list? He belongs in the very good.Put up impressive stats but could not win the big game.Also Peyton Manning belongs in the very good as well.He had one superbowl victory and that was against a Bears team that had to have the defense and special teams carry them to the superbowl and came against a journeyman Quarterback Rex Grossman who is now a backup quarterback.He made enough plays during the playoffs to help them get to the superbowl but once he got to the superbowl,his true colors emerged.That it was a fluke the bears got there cause Grossman stunk up the joint and was way off target on his throws.

Oh and for the Peyton Manning apologists who use the argument that he beat a great bears defense,that holds no water because since grossmans true colors emerged,that he was a lousy quarterback,the bears had many 3 and outs that day so the bears defense was on the field all day long and got tired as a result so it wasnt that difficult for Manning to pick apart their defense.They couldnt hold The Colts off forever being on the field all day long like they were you know. When Manning "Peyton" had to face a really GOOD quarterback in the superbowl,he couldnt get it done.

Also how can you leave Jim Kelly and Rothleseberger off that list,especially Kelly.I put both of them in the very good catagory as well.

 

[DStar777]

Dawson (one notch too high?)

I wanted to comment on Dawson first. I think he might be underrated. Looking at his records, I see he was the best all around QB in AFL history and enjoyed a few years of high level play at an advanced age after the merger which indicates he wasn't just feasting on allegedly inferior AFL talent. He led the AFL in comp% 6 times, yards per pass 3 times and TD passes 4 times and lastly, passer rating 6 times. He finished his career with a single season rating of 90.0 on 1975 which is impressive for that time (good enough for 3rd in the NFL had he thrown enough passes). His 239-183 td/int ratio rivals the best passers of his era, including the likes of Sonny Jurgensen (255-189), Bart Starr (152-138) and Johnny Unitas (290-253). I think you should consider elevating Dawson to elite status although it is debatable if he belongs. Maybe he's a fence sitter??

 

[rightwinger]

I can't really argue the list

I am not a big Favre fan and would drop him a rank. Namath is one of the most overrated QBs of all time. Peyton is a great all time QB, not a great SB QB though.

 

[tyroneweaver]

If you rate Namath on his carreer maybe a little above average.But what he did to one of the great defenses of the day in SB3 was marvelous.

 

[rightwinger]

If you rate Namath on his carreer maybe a little above average.But what he did to one of the great defenses of the day in SB3 was marvelous.

The Jets defense won that game. Namath led his team to one TD mostly through the run

 

[TruthSeeker56]

jim mcmaho was a great qb. he had to deal with ditka. If you followed jim his whole carreer you'd think different.

also
Put Starr above Favre .....please

exactly.well said.yeah please put Starr above Favre.Favre couldnt carry Starrs jockstrap and yeah,like he said,Mcmahon belongs in the very good cause yeah,dealing with Ditka all those years like he did was not easy at all.I admire the guy for standing up to him humiliating him on national tv like he did for belittling and treating players of his like they werent human beings.

The Bears would have been in more superbowls had Mcmahon not been so injury prone.He inspired his teammates and had the same effect on them that Montana,Elway,and Brady do.Making players better ball players than they really were.

Oh and how the hell did you leave Dan Marino off the list? He belongs in the very good.Put up impressive stats but could not win the big game.Also Peyton Manning belongs in the very good as well.He had one superbowl victory and that was against a Bears team that had to have the defense and special teams carry them to the superbowl and came against a journeyman Quarterback Rex Grossman who is now a backup quarterback.He made enough plays during the playoffs to help them get to the superbowl but once he got to the superbowl,his true colors emerged.That it was a fluke the bears got there cause Grossman stunk up the joint and was way off target on his throws.

Oh and for the Peyton Manning apologists who use the argument that he beat a great bears defense,that holds no water because since grossmans true colors emerged,that he was a lousy quarterback,the bears had many 3 and outs that day so the bears defense was on the field all day long and got tired as a result so it wasnt that difficult for Manning to pick apart their defense.They couldnt hold The Colts off forever being on the field all day long like they were you know. When Manning "Peyton" had to face a really GOOD quarterback in the superbowl,he couldnt get it done.

Also how can you leave Jim Kelly and Rothleseberger off that list,especially Kelly.I put both of them in the very good catagory as well.

The topic is rating Super Bowl WINNING quarterbacks. That list would EXCLUDE Marino and Kelly, even though they are two of the all-time great quarterbacks.

As for Unitas, I was wrong about Johnny U. not winning a Super Bowl, although he didn't play much in the 1970 Super Bowl that the Colts won.

Roethlisberger should be somewhere on the list, since he has won two Super Bowls, but I believe that "Big Ben" is one of the most OVERRATED quartebacks in NFL history.

 

[deaddogseye]

Several of you have advocated dropping Favre down -- its funny but i really struggled with that one because Ive never liked him and felt he was overrated but thought that objectively i had to put him where i did. youve convinced me -- consider him dropped a notch!!

Starr is tough too. He played on a super dominant team that for most of his time was heavily run oriented and it was a ruhn oriented era -- and an era that was tough on passing in fairness to him. for that reason he has always seemed to me to be very much a "system" QB but ive always also felt maybe im too harsh on him

 

[rightwinger]

jim mcmaho was a great qb. he had to deal with ditka. If you followed jim his whole carreer you'd think different.

also
Put Starr above Favre .....please

exactly.well said.yeah please put Starr above Favre.Favre couldnt carry Starrs jockstrap and yeah,like he said,Mcmahon belongs in the very good cause yeah,dealing with Ditka all those years like he did was not easy at all.I admire the guy for standing up to him humiliating him on national tv like he did for belittling and treating players of his like they werent human beings.

The Bears would have been in more superbowls had Mcmahon not been so injury prone.He inspired his teammates and had the same effect on them that Montana,Elway,and Brady do.Making players better ball players than they really were.

Oh and how the hell did you leave Dan Marino off the list? He belongs in the very good.Put up impressive stats but could not win the big game.Also Peyton Manning belongs in the very good as well.He had one superbowl victory and that was against a Bears team that had to have the defense and special teams carry them to the superbowl and came against a journeyman Quarterback Rex Grossman who is now a backup quarterback.He made enough plays during the playoffs to help them get to the superbowl but once he got to the superbowl,his true colors emerged.That it was a fluke the bears got there cause Grossman stunk up the joint and was way off target on his throws.

Oh and for the Peyton Manning apologists who use the argument that he beat a great bears defense,that holds no water because since grossmans true colors emerged,that he was a lousy quarterback,the bears had many 3 and outs that day so the bears defense was on the field all day long and got tired as a result so it wasnt that difficult for Manning to pick apart their defense.They couldnt hold The Colts off forever being on the field all day long like they were you know. When Manning "Peyton" had to face a really GOOD quarterback in the superbowl,he couldnt get it done.

Also how can you leave Jim Kelly and Rothleseberger off that list,especially Kelly.I put both of them in the very good catagory as well.

The topic is rating Super Bowl WINNING quarterbacks. That list would EXCLUDE Marino and Kelly, even though they are two of the all-time great quarterbacks.

As for Unitas, I was wrong about Johnny U. not winning a Super Bowl, although he didn't play much in the 1970 Super Bowl that the Colts won.

Roethlisberger should be somewhere on the list, since he has won two Super Bowls, but I believe that "Big Ben" is one of the most OVERRATED quartebacks in NFL history.

Big Ben is a future Hall of Famer. I would put him in the very good rank

 

[deaddogseye]

exactly.well said.yeah please put Starr above Favre.Favre couldnt carry Starrs jockstrap and yeah,like he said,Mcmahon belongs in the very good cause yeah,dealing with Ditka all those years like he did was not easy at all.I admire the guy for standing up to him humiliating him on national tv like he did for belittling and treating players of his like they werent human beings.

The Bears would have been in more superbowls had Mcmahon not been so injury prone.He inspired his teammates and had the same effect on them that Montana,Elway,and Brady do.Making players better ball players than they really were.

Oh and how the hell did you leave Dan Marino off the list? He belongs in the very good.Put up impressive stats but could not win the big game.Also Peyton Manning belongs in the very good as well.He had one superbowl victory and that was against a Bears team that had to have the defense and special teams carry them to the superbowl and came against a journeyman Quarterback Rex Grossman who is now a backup quarterback.He made enough plays during the playoffs to help them get to the superbowl but once he got to the superbowl,his true colors emerged.That it was a fluke the bears got there cause Grossman stunk up the joint and was way off target on his throws.

Oh and for the Peyton Manning apologists who use the argument that he beat a great bears defense,that holds no water because since grossmans true colors emerged,that he was a lousy quarterback,the bears had many 3 and outs that day so the bears defense was on the field all day long and got tired as a result so it wasnt that difficult for Manning to pick apart their defense.They couldnt hold The Colts off forever being on the field all day long like they were you know. When Manning "Peyton" had to face a really GOOD quarterback in the superbowl,he couldnt get it done.

Also how can you leave Jim Kelly and Rothleseberger off that list,especially Kelly.I put both of them in the very good catagory as well.

The topic is rating Super Bowl WINNING quarterbacks. That list would EXCLUDE Marino and Kelly, even though they are two of the all-time great quarterbacks.

As for Unitas, I was wrong about Johnny U. not winning a Super Bowl, although he didn't play much in the 1970 Super Bowl that the Colts won.

Roethlisberger should be somewhere on the list, since he has won two Super Bowls, but I believe that "Big Ben" is one of the most OVERRATED quartebacks in NFL history.

Big Ben is a future Hall of Famer. I would put him in the very good rank

an error on my part omitting Roethlisberger -- and you are exactly right IMO -- id put him in the very good category.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

jim mcmaho was a great qb. he had to deal with ditka. If you followed jim his whole carreer you'd think different.

also
Put Starr above Favre .....please

exactly.well said.yeah please put Starr above Favre.Favre couldnt carry Starrs jockstrap and yeah,like he said,Mcmahon belongs in the very good cause yeah,dealing with Ditka all those years like he did was not easy at all.I admire the guy for standing up to him humiliating him on national tv like he did for belittling and treating players of his like they werent human beings.

The Bears would have been in more superbowls had Mcmahon not been so injury prone.He inspired his teammates and had the same effect on them that Montana,Elway,and Brady do.Making players better ball players than they really were.

Oh and how the hell did you leave Dan Marino off the list? He belongs in the very good.Put up impressive stats but could not win the big game.Also Peyton Manning belongs in the very good as well.He had one superbowl victory and that was against a Bears team that had to have the defense and special teams carry them to the superbowl and came against a journeyman Quarterback Rex Grossman who is now a backup quarterback.He made enough plays during the playoffs to help them get to the superbowl but once he got to the superbowl,his true colors emerged.That it was a fluke the bears got there cause Grossman stunk up the joint and was way off target on his throws.

Oh and for the Peyton Manning apologists who use the argument that he beat a great bears defense,that holds no water because since grossmans true colors emerged,that he was a lousy quarterback,the bears had many 3 and outs that day so the bears defense was on the field all day long and got tired as a result so it wasnt that difficult for Manning to pick apart their defense.They couldnt hold The Colts off forever being on the field all day long like they were you know. When Manning "Peyton" had to face a really GOOD quarterback in the superbowl,he couldnt get it done.

Also how can you leave Jim Kelly and Rothleseberger off that list,especially Kelly.I put both of them in the very good catagory as well.

The topic is rating Super Bowl WINNING quarterbacks. That list would EXCLUDE Marino and Kelly, even though they are two of the all-time great quarterbacks.

As for Unitas, I was wrong about Johnny U. not winning a Super Bowl, although he didn't play much in the 1970 Super Bowl that the Colts won.

Roethlisberger should be somewhere on the list, since he has won two Super Bowls, but I believe that "Big Ben" is one of the most OVERRATED quartebacks in NFL history.

He only went and resurrected the steelers franchise taking them to three superbowls winning two of them,yep overrated alright. Not surprising coming from a Belecheck apologist.

Dan Marino is someone i would say is one of the most overated quarterbacks in NFL history.as a few others pointd out on another thread,the guy was afraid to take a hit and would panic during big games in the playoffs making inaccurate throws.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

The topic is rating Super Bowl WINNING quarterbacks. That list would EXCLUDE Marino and Kelly, even though they are two of the all-time great quarterbacks.

As for Unitas, I was wrong about Johnny U. not winning a Super Bowl, although he didn't play much in the 1970 Super Bowl that the Colts won.

Roethlisberger should be somewhere on the list, since he has won two Super Bowls, but I believe that "Big Ben" is one of the most OVERRATED quartebacks in NFL history.

Big Ben is a future Hall of Famer. I would put him in the very good rank

an error on my part omitting Roethlisberger -- and you are exactly right IMO -- id put him in the very good category.

NOW all you have left to do is apologize for disgracing Bart Starr putting him in very good and Favre in excellent when like someone else said,they need to be switched around.Favre couldnt carry Starrs jock strap.Starr didnt panic and make idiotic decisions in big games like Favre did.

Favre's irractic play in the playoffs cost the packers many other chances to go to the superbowl besides the two times he did take them there.

That idiotic decision to throw the ball and get it intercepted instead of running for the first down agains the saints when it cost them the game a couple years ago in the playoffs wasnt the first time in the playoffs that he made a boneheaded decision that cost the packers playof victories in the playoffs either.

Starr seldom ever made idioic decisions like that in big games that cost the packers a big game in the playoffs.