Top 10 QB Of All Time

[GHook93]

(1) Tom Brady - 3 rings and counting. Let a team to 16-0 and nearly the perfect season. He is awesome.

(2) Joe Montana - Big Game Joe is probably #1 on everyone list but mine.

(3) John Elway - A childhood fav of mine. Arm strength, accuracy, amazing athlete and great speed.

(4) Peyton Manning - He is awesome

(5) Dan Marino - Everyone knocks him for his post-season records, but his awesomeness is undeniable. Most 4th quarter comebacks in NFL history

(6) Johnny Unitas - Deferring to my grandfather who always state Unitas was the best ever.

(7) Terry Bradshaw - 4 rings, nuff said

(8) Joe Namath - Great QB when not drinking

(9) Steve Young - John Elway, but just not as good

(10) Brett Farve - Too many Int, but the Iron Man is undeniably great

 

[Oddball]

The man who set most of the records those guys sought out after:

 

[Article 15]

(1) Tom Brady - 3 rings and counting. Let a team to 16-0 and nearly the perfect season. He is awesome.

(2) Joe Montana - Big Game Joe is probably #1 on everyone list but mine.

(3) John Elway - A childhood fav of mine. Arm strength, accuracy, amazing athlete and great speed.

(4) Peyton Manning - He is awesome

(5) Dan Marino - Everyone knocks him for his post-season records, but his awesomeness is undeniable. Most 4th quarter comebacks in NFL history

(6) Johnny Unitas - Deferring to my grandfather who always state Unitas was the best ever.

(7) Terry Bradshaw - 4 rings, nuff said

(8) Joe Namath - Great QB when not drinking

(9) Steve Young - John Elway, but just not as good

(10) Brett Farve - Too many Int, but the Iron Man is undeniably great

What? No Jay Cutler?

 

[JWBooth]

Real ball players from the era when you could actually lay hands on a quarterback:

Fran Tarkington
Sammy Baugh
John Unitas
Bart Starr
George Blanda

Somewhere in between:
Namath, Montana,, Staubach, Marino, Griese, Morrall, Manning

Current crop of overly protected athletes who can do what they do well:





nothing comes to mind

 

[Article 15]

Real ball players from the era when you could actually lay hands on a quarterback:

Fran Tarkington
Sammy Baugh
John Unitas
Bart Starr
George Blanda

Somewhere in between:
Namath, Montana

Current crop of overly protected athletes who can do what they do well:

Today's Detroit Lions would annihilate those old time teams/players.

 

[Oddball]

Real ball players from the era when you could actually lay hands on a quarterback:

Fran Tarkington
Sammy Baugh
John Unitas
Bart Starr
George Blanda

Somewhere in between:
Namath, Montana,, Staubach, Marino, Griese, Morrall, Manning

Current crop of overly protected athletes who can do what they do well:





nothing comes to mind

Also, most of those guys came from an era where it was believed that if you passed 40 times a game, you would lose.

 

[JWBooth]

Today's Detroit Lions would annihilate those old time teams/players.

And today's pampered pets have never faced defenses that could end a career without thinking twice about it.

 

[zzzz]

Where is Bart Starr? Won 5 NFL championships including the first 2 Super bowls!

Today's Detroit Lions would annihilate those old time teams/players.

Under the current rules they might be competative. But the rules were different back then too. The QB was a player and took hits like everybody else, they were not protected like a little baby. The recievers, there was no 5 yard rule and when they caught a ball they got hit. players played with broken arms and concussions, heck they played with hardly any pads either. The passing yards Brady gets would be halved under the old rules and he would have gotten hit every play. Those old guys were tough!

 

[Article 15]

Today's Detroit Lions would annihilate those old time teams/players.

And today's pampered pets have never faced defenses that could end a career without thinking twice about it.

Today's athletes, if given the ability to hit like the old time players were allowed to, would smash those old time teams even more so.

 

[Oddball]

The players back then didn't have off-season training programs, either.

Today's defensive players are faster, stronger and harder-hitting than ever.

 

[Article 15]

The players back then didn't have off-season training programs, either.

Today's defensive players are faster, stronger and harder-hitting than ever.

Yup.

A lot of them had jobs they reported to during the off-season.

 

[GHook93]

(1) Tom Brady - 3 rings and counting. Let a team to 16-0 and nearly the perfect season. He is awesome.

(2) Joe Montana - Big Game Joe is probably #1 on everyone list but mine.

(3) John Elway - A childhood fav of mine. Arm strength, accuracy, amazing athlete and great speed.

(4) Peyton Manning - He is awesome

(5) Dan Marino - Everyone knocks him for his post-season records, but his awesomeness is undeniable. Most 4th quarter comebacks in NFL history

(6) Johnny Unitas - Deferring to my grandfather who always state Unitas was the best ever.

(7) Terry Bradshaw - 4 rings, nuff said

(8) Joe Namath - Great QB when not drinking

(9) Steve Young - John Elway, but just not as good

(10) Brett Farve - Too many Int, but the Iron Man is undeniably great

What? No Jay Cutler?

After the Bears win the superbowl this year he cracks the top 5!

 

[GHook93]

I can only listen to my Dad and Grandpa (RIP) on some of those guys. However, players are bigger, faster, stronger and hit 10 times harder nowadays!

Any you can still hit the QB! Didn't you see Anthony Adams end Farve's career?

Real ball players from the era when you could actually lay hands on a quarterback:

Fran Tarkington
Sammy Baugh
John Unitas
Bart Starr
George Blanda

Somewhere in between:
Namath, Montana,, Staubach, Marino, Griese, Morrall, Manning

Current crop of overly protected athletes who can do what they do well:





nothing comes to mind

 

[GHook93]

Two things:
(1) You have to realize that I was born in '78 so its hard for a youngin like me to rate guys like Starr (and even Unitas and Namath)!
(2) I am going to be naturally biased to the guys I actually saw play
(3) Its undeniable that players of today are bigger, stronger and faster! Dick Butkus was the most feared LB of his time, yet at 6'2 245lb he would be a med-sized LB and med-sized in strength and speed. Bring some players back in the day to todays standards and they mught not look as good. In Chicago when I tell people without a doubt I rather have the 6'5 260 lb stronger, faster and 10x more athletic Urlacher over Butkus in his prime, I get called crazy, but in reality the era matters!

Answers.com - What is the average height and weight of an NFL linebacker

Where is Bart Starr? Won 5 NFL championships including the first 2 Super bowls!

Today's Detroit Lions would annihilate those old time teams/players.

Under the current rules they might be competative. But the rules were different back then too. The QB was a player and took hits like everybody else, they were not protected like a little baby. The recievers, there was no 5 yard rule and when they caught a ball they got hit.[SIZE="1"][/SIZE] players played with broken arms and concussions, heck they played with hardly any pads either. The passing yards Brady gets would be halved under the old rules and he would have gotten hit every play. Those old guys were tough!

 

[Oddball]

You weren't born when Terry Bradshaw (a truly middle-of-the-road QB) played, yet put him on your list.

 

[GHook93]

You weren't born when Terry Bradshaw (a truly middle-of-the-road QB) played, yet put him on your list.

True, he was part of that dominate Pit team and I guess the exposure to him (as an analyst might do something also).

 

[zzzz]

Yet Bart Starr won 5 NFL championships. How else do you evaluate QB's? By records? Then Marino has to be numero uno because he was the most prolific passer. Yet without recievers it does not matter who the QB is if they cannot catch the ball.

 

[GHook93]

Yet Bart Starr won 5 NFL championships. How else do you evaluate QB's? By records? Then Marino has to be numero uno because he was the most prolific passer. Yet without recievers it does not matter who the QB is if they cannot catch the ball.

Why not make a top ten of your own and I will make comparisons!

 

[zzzz]

Yet Bart Starr won 5 NFL championships. How else do you evaluate QB's? By records? Then Marino has to be numero uno because he was the most prolific passer. Yet without recievers it does not matter who the QB is if they cannot catch the ball.

Why not make a top ten of your own and I will make comparisons!

I am unable to rate them because of the discrepancies of the age, rules and football is a team game. To know which one is better than another is an impossible task. Yet it does provide us with a chance to aurgue about it, doesn't it. In this case, what makes a great QB? Is it personal passing records or is it championships? Or a combination of both. Marino was great yet he never had a defense that could stop other teams so does that make him just good? Brady has defensive genius as a coach and a system that has never produced a bad QB. Drew Bledsoe, Matt Cassel (never started in college), and Brady.

 

[Sheldon]

That's a pretty good list. It's got most of the names that are expected. Bradshaw was a surprise though. I think the benefit from his team-mates is disproportionate to what the others on the list received.

The hardest thing about these goat lists in football is that the game has hyper evolved over the past half century. Not just the way the rules are enforced, but also the athleticism at all positions has been a rising tide.

I think some of the great qbs from the fifties and sixties would get eaten alive by the secondaries and linebackers in today's game. And some of the medicore quarterbacks in today's game could have significant success in the game back then, if you transplanted them in a time machine right now.

It's the context of the time. Maybe Tarkenton, Unitas, and Starr should be on a separate list from Montana, Brady, and Elway. I think it's better justice to all involved if the players are measured against their peers.

Of all the mainstream pro team sports in the country, I think baseball withstands the test of time the best. Koufax's curve would still make today's players look goofy with the bat, and The Kid would still be an elite hitter against today's pitchers.

All speculation, but it sounds about right.