Let's look at those 10
Tom Brady-Generally considered the greatest quarterback of all time. He's won
6 Super Bowls, he played great in most of those games, he has the individiual
numbers. He's the winngest quarterback in league history, in both the regular
season and playoffs. He took his team to 9 Super Bowls. Brady was a no brainer.
Joe Montana-Was the consensus greatest quarterbac of all time before Tom Brady.
Won 4 Super Bowls, and was one of the most efficient quarterbacks ever. Was
also one of the greatest big game players. In 4 Super Bowls he was 83 for
122 for 1128 yards with 11 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Another no brainer
John Elway-Elway didn't have any single season that is one of the greatest in
NFL history. He only threw for 4000 yards once, and that season, 1993, he barely
passed that mark. The most touchdowns passes he threw in a season was 27. Elway
just stuck around for a long time, and had a lot of really good seasons. Still
his numbers by themselves aren't good enough to get him selected, but there are
other things to consider. Elway didn't have very good wide receivers for most
of his career. Then Denver got him some better talent at wide receiver, and
Shannon Sharpe emerged as a great tight end. Elway put together a great six season run when he was 33-38 years old. He took his team to 5 Super Bowls, and won the last two.
Peyton Manning-Another no brainer, and my choice for the greatest of all time.
Skip Bayless called him the greatest regular season quarterback of all time, and
while that was backhanded compliment, no quarterback has been more dominant, on
a season by season basis, than Manning. He won a record 5 MVPs. One of the
biggest criticims of him is that he choked it the big games, but his career
playoff passer rating isn't that far behind Tom Brady. He also won two Super
Bowls.
Dan Marino-Was the all time leader in pass completions, attemps, yards, and
touchdowns when he retired. His 1984 season is still one of the greatest seasons
for a player in league history. He never won a Super Bowl, and that hurts his
legacy, but also didn't have a good running game, or a dominant defense to help him out.
Sammy Baugh-His numbers don't look that good by today's standards, but they were
astronomical for the time period. Part of Baugh's legacy is what he did as a
punter, and defensive back. He played at a time before the specialist era, when
players usually played both offense, and defense. That overall dominance had to
help make him a shoo-in for the team.
Otto Graham-Had incredible efficiency for his era. He led the league in passer rating 5 times,
and also led the league in passing 5 times(correction. he led the AAFC 3 times, and the NFL twice). What stands out the most about him is that he led his team to the championship game in every season he played in, and won 5 of them (4 of those championship games, and titles were in the AAFC, not the NFL). It was obvious he would be selected.
Johnny Unitas-Was the consensus greatest quarterback of all time before
Joe Montana. Was significantly more efficient than the league average, while
throwing the ball a lot for the era. Led the Colts the 1958, and 1959 NFL
championships, and won Super Bowl V, with the Colts, though he didn't finish that
game. Another no brainer.
Roger Stauback-The best quarterback of the 1970s. Pro Football reference doesn't
show career Rate+, but if they did Staubach would have to be either at or near
the top all time. He served in the Navy before starting his pro football career,
so he didn't have the longevity, playing just 11 seasons. Won two Super Bowls.
Was the #1 quarterback for 4 of the Cowboys' 5 teams that made the Super Bowl
in the 70's.
Brett Favre-Retired as the all time leader in completions, attempts, yards,
touchdowns, and interceptions. Favre won one Super Bowl, and got to another one.
He played 303 consecutive games, which is the most in NFL history for a non kicker.
Favre won three consecutive league MVPs for the 1995-97 seasons. He led the
league in passing yards twice, passing touchdowns 4 times, and on the negative
side led the league in interceptions 3 times. Favre actually wasn't that bad
in terms of interceptions, when you factor in how much he passed the ball.
The 12 finalists who weren't selected for the team were Bart Starr, Drew Brees, Aaron Rogers,
Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Sid Luckman,
Bobby Layne, Norm Van Brocklin, and Fran Tarkenton.
was trending was because Marino was the last member of the team to be revealed there was some debate on whether he should've been picked ahead of Drew Brees. It's tough to compare
quarterback from different eras, and one of the reasons is the increasing effectiveness of passers, and the way that teams pass the ball more often than in prior eras. Both quarterbacks dominated in the eras in which they played in, and both played in pass happy offenses. Brees has the career records for completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns, and completion percentage. When Marino retired he held all of those records except completion percentage. While Brees didn't have any year in which he stood out from the pack like Marino did in 1984, he had a steady run of great seasons. Marino had
several other great seasons, but 1984 was clearly his best. Marino's Rate+ was 141 that season. His next two best seasons were abbreviated. In his rookie year he started just 9 games, and only threw 296 passes. In 1993 Marino got injured in his team's 5th game, and only threw 150 passes. His 4th best season in the category was 1986 with a Rate+ of 124. Drew Brees has 5 seasons over 130,
and that is counting this season which finishes tomorrow. The voting for the team was done following last season, and he had 4 of those seasons at the time. Brees has led the league in passing yards 7 times, and passing touchdowns 3 times. Marino led the league in passing yards 5 times, and touchdown 3 times. Brees does have one Super Bowl to none for Marino. Both guys have really low
sack percentages for their career with Marino at 3.1, and Brees 3.9. If you judge by how they were viewed relative to their contemporaries then the edge would go to Marino. Marino was considered by many to be the greatest pure passer in league history when he played. It's a tough choice, but if I had to pick between the two of them I would pick Brees, but that's really splitting hairs. I would put both in my top 10 quarterback of all time.
Another standout among those not selected was Steve Young. Young didn't have the
longevity for several reasons. He started his career in the USFL, and didn't play in the NFL during the 1984 season. He played on bad Tampa Bay teams to start his NFL career, and only played 19 games in two seasons with them. He then went to San Francisco and was Joe Montana's backup for 4 seasons. The majority of Young's stats came from 1991-98, and he was amazing in the 8 season run. He led the league in passer rating 6 times, and threw for 195 touchdowns with just 76 interceptions in that period. He was also a really good running QB. His career was cut short in next season when he suffered one of numerous concussions. He didn't get the chance pile up numbers over a large amount of games, or passing attempts, and that along with some playoff struggles is why he probably wasn't close to being selected.
My own selections wouldn't be fair to quarterback from long ago. They were before my time, and honestly they weren't as good as modern players.
