Best Four Quarterbacks Of The Last 25 Years

[Mangold's Brother]

As far as pure talent and physical ability as an NFL quarterback goes, here are the top 4, in this order:

1. Marino

2. Favre

3. Elway

4. Manning

Brady is good, not great. He has been on a machine-like Pats team with superior coaching and training.

Montana was great, but I would put him at #5. He also had a very similar situation to Brady as far as superior teams and coaching.

[LiLMiCKMANTLE]

Favre

Elway

Brady

Manning

Marino gets on love from me..

[Irish Jet]

No point in factoring in 'physical ability'. That way Michael Vick would be on the ****ing list.

In terms of production on the field and wins then it's:

Joe Montana

Tom Brady

Peyton Manning

John Elway

Brett Favre

Dan Marino

Not really sure how to seperate Manning and Elway, both were/are great QB's. Consider them both #3 LOL.

[madmike1]

Brady isn't top 50 without the cameras.

[Brian McFan]

1. Montana

2. Marino

3. Favre

4. Manning

(Sorry, just not an Elway guy)

[PETROCK]

1. Montana

2. Marino

3. Elway

4. Pennington

:rl::rl:

4. Favre

[Chadwick10]

1. Montana

2. Brady

3. Manning

4. Elway

5. Aikman

Honorable Mention in no particular order

Marino, Favre, Kelly, Moon, Young

[Mangold's Brother]

No point in factoring in 'physical ability'. That way Michael Vick would be on the ****ing list.

I'm talking about physical ability as a TRUE quarterback. I don't consider Vick to be that. He's more of just a great scrambler and runner. Even though he has a great arm, he's just not a good quarterback.

[Garb]

As far as pure talent and physical ability as an NFL quarterback goes, here are the top 4, in this order:

1. Marino

2. Favre

3. Elway

4. Manning

Brady is good, not great. He has been on a machine-like Pats team with superior coaching and training.

Seriously?

Farve - 16 years. 61,655 yards. 422 tds 288 ints. 61.4 completion percentage. 85.7 rating. 1 sb ring. 2 mvp.

Brady - 7 years, 26,370 yards. 197 tds. 86 ints. 63.0 completion percentage. rating 92.9 3 sb. 1 mvp. 2 sb mvp. 3 sb rings

[GodWearsAGrayHoodie]

Montana

Brady

Manning

Marino

[madmike1]

Seriously?

Farve - 16 years. 61,655 yards. 422 tds 288 ints. 61.4 completion percentage. 85.7 rating. 1 sb ring. 2 mvp.

Brady - 7 years, 26,370 yards. 197 tds. 86 ints. 63.0 completion percentage. rating 92.9 3 sb. 1 mvp. 2 sb mvp. 3 sb rings

Favre didn't have the cameras.

[Garb]

Favre didn't have the cameras.

Hold on tight to that Madmike. It must keep your anger warm. No worries. You'll have plenty to be pissed-off about this year, I'm sure. Your'e attitude guarantees that.

[FFan]

- I would rate No. 4 in the top 3 without a doubt ...

Someone on "Theganggreen.com", mentioned that Brady & Manning have only played after "the rules" (regarding WR and Pass-defending) were changed, Favre have played both pre and post the rule-change and still has been able to put up numbers, - because of that my pick would be:

1. Favre

2. Marino

3. Elway

4. Unitas

5. Manning/Brady (we'll see how long both of those last ...)

[CobraVerde]

As far as pure talent and physical ability as an NFL quarterback goes, here are the top 4, in this order:

1. Marino

2. Favre

3. Elway

4. Manning

Brady is good, not great. He has been on a machine-like Pats team with superior coaching and training.

dude your so bias its sad. combined those qbs have FOUR Super Bowl rings. FOUR. Super Bowl Championships is what makes you great. Brady has Four alone. ALONE. that says something. Decent qbs can get you to the big game if you have an outstanding supporting cast. But the great ones get you back and win it for you which Brady has done. MORE THAN ONCE. Montana, Aikmen, Young what about those...Hell Jim Kelly was a better qb that Marino. Your going of of stats and the fact that you hate Brady which automatically nullifies this whole thread. I'd put Namath on the list before Marino cause at least he can win the big game. Prior to Manning winning the SB EVERYONE said he wouldnt be great till he wins one. Marino doesnt deserve to be tops cause he couldnt even fo that. Play as long as he did in that system where 80% of the plays were passes and of course your going to break the record books. YOU FAIL.

[124]

1. Brett Favre

2. Tom Brady

3. Peyton Manning

4. Dan Marino

I still hold it against Marino that he never won a ring. Favre has his records now and Manning or Brady or maybe both will share some of the records, will have them in the next 5-7 years.

[gangreenman]

dude your so bias its sad. combined those qbs have FOUR Super Bowl rings. FOUR. Super Bowl Championships is what makes you great. Brady has Four alone. ALONE. that says something. Decent qbs can get you to the big game if you have an outstanding supporting cast. But the great ones get you back and win it for you which Brady has done. MORE THAN ONCE. Montana, Aikmen, Young what about those...Hell Jim Kelly was a better qb that Marino. Your going of of stats and the fact that you hate Brady which automatically nullifies this whole thread. I'd put Namath on the list before Marino cause at least he can win the big game. Prior to Manning winning the SB EVERYONE said he wouldnt be great till he wins one. Marino doesnt deserve to be tops cause he couldnt even fo that. Play as long as he did in that system where 80% of the plays were passes and of course your going to break the record books. YOU FAIL.

Brady has 3 actually....

[Blackout]

Manning

Montana

Favre

Elway

[FFan]

"Favre is a throwback to what great quarterbacks used to be"

I really like this SI article for some reason. The thesis: Favre plays like a QB of even before his era.

By Puddnhead:

"I know folks here don't like Peter King, but there was a greate quote this week of a Q he asked Mangini, something to the effect of "The 4th and 13 pass was smart football, but does a quarterback who gives a d@man about his passer rating (or who get paid according to meeting contract goals) even try that throw?' King wrote that Mangini just smiled and shook his head no."

Quote:

"Here's a fogeyish thing to do. It's the sporting equivalent of babbling about those days when we all had to walk five miles to school through the snow, uphill, both ways."

Still, here goes: Bob Griese wore glasses in Miami; Steve Grogan ran around like mad in New England; Richard Todd was getting booed in New York; Joe Ferguson was more Buffalo than the wings; Bert Jones had this amazing arm in Baltimore; Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw used to hold his index finger on the point of the ball when he threw; Dan Pastorini loved to throw deep in Houston; Brian Sipe was my hero in Cleveland even though his passes wobbled in the wind (even when the wind was behind him); Kenny Anderson never seemed to miss a pass in Cincinnati; Dan Fouts piloted Air Coryell in San Diego -- I loved the way he shuffled back into the pocket; Craig Morton was ancient in Denver; Jim Zorn used to duck under and spin away from defenders like Shaggy and Scooby Doo running from ghosts; Kenny Stabler was the Snake in Oakland; Steve Fuller was boring in Kansas City.

That would be a list of every starting quarterback in the AFC in 1979. I was 12 then and didn't have to look up any of them. Twenty-nine years later and their names all come back as easily as the number nine multiplication table. I could do the NFC real quick too, if you want. I'm guessing that you don't want that.*

*Ron Jaworski, Roger Staubach, Joe Theismann, Phil Simms, Jim Hart ... OK, I'll stop now.

Now, as I mentioned, there is nothing that sounds more grumpy-old-man than rambling on and on about how quarterbacks used to be better. But that's not what I'm saying -- I doubt very seriously that quarterbacks used to be better. I just think they used to be more famous, more easily remembered, more beloved, more representative of their cities. Archie Manning didn't just play in New Orleans, he WAS New Orleans to those of us who lived in faraway places, he was Mardi Gras and jazz and the Bayou. Steve Bartkowski didn't just play for Atlanta, this big guy with the Polish name like my own who grew up in Des Moines and played baseball and football at Cal inexplicably represented the American South to me. The only two things I knew about Tampa was that DisneyWorld was there and that Doug Williams was the quarterback, and only one of those two things turned out to be correct.

That has changed, I think. There are only a handful of quarterbacks these days who pierce the imagination -- and with Tom Brady going down in New England and Peyton Manning looking just a wee ancient in Indianapolis, it's more like a carpool. You have Eli Manning in New York, of course, though you get the sense that some Giants fans are waiting impatiently for the statute of limitations on the Super Bowl miracle to end so they can start booing again.* You have Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia, though he has not started every game in a season since 2003.

*In New York, the booing statute of limitations usually expires after nine months or consecutive ugly interceptions. This is a little bit different from Philadelphia, where by law booing can commence immediately upon the first incomplete pass.

You have Tony Romo in Dallas, though he might want to win a playoff game at some point. You have Drew, Matt, Carson, Jay, Rivers, Roethlisberger -- good quarterbacks all, but they're probably not sweeping the nation.

Finally, there's Brett Favre. He is the last quarterback standing, the one guy out there who inspires some of the feelings of those old-time quarterbacks. This is in part because he IS an old-time quarterback; the guy was flinging passes in the NFL before the Soviet Union collapsed. But there's something else here too, something about the way Favre still plays the game, something in the way he flings footballs into double coverage, the way he seems indestructible, the way he throws TERRIBLE interceptions but then comes back and throws absurd touchdown passes.

That's the way it used to be. It's stunning to go back 30 and 40 years and look at the statistics of the quarterback heroes. In 1979, Terry Bradshaw threw 25 interceptions, and he didn't even lead the NFL in that category (that would be my hero Brian Sipe with 26). The only guy to throw 25 or more interceptions in the last seven years ... yeah, that would be Brett Favre in 2005 when he threw 29 of them.

In 1979 Grogan led the NFL in touchdown passes, but he completed only 48.7 percent of his passes. You know how unthinkable it would be now to have an every week starting quarterback who completed fewer than half his passes? And he wasn't the only one. Williams completed 41.8 percent of his passes that year (a quarterback should be able to hit that many passes at night with the lights out) and took Tampa Bay to the NFC Championship Game.

In 1979 quarterbacks threw deep. The yards per completion numbers were significantly higher then (12.7 yards) than now (11.3). That meant quarterback dropped back deeper, got sacked more, and they turned the ball over like crazy. That's probably why America loves Favre so much, he's the last of the throw-hicans, he's up at the top of nearly every quarterback category, good and bad, most touchdowns, most interceptions, third most fumbles, seventh-most sacked, he's been thrilling fans and driving them crazy for 17 years now.

That's what it used to mean to be a quarterback. That changed. Coaches took over the game. Geniuses started calling plays. Everyone started demanding more prudent football. Defenses got more sophisticated and specialized. Sackers got bigger and stronger and faster and more dangerous. Quarterbacks were told to "manage" the game rather than "win" the game. Passer rating became the in statistic.* Fantasy football became the rage so that now every David Garrard interception in Jacksonville infuriates some doctor in Ann Arbor, some insurance person in Toledo and some farmer in Kansas and some home builder in Orange County.

*Is there any statistic in any other sport quite like passer rating? Nobody even knows what's in it, much less how to figure it out, and yet that's the way so many judge quarterbacks. It's one of those revolutionary statistics that not only measures quarterbacks, it has actually changed the way people play quarterback. Passer rating demands safe play. It incorporates completion percentage, yards per attempt (not per completion), touchdowns passes per attempt and interceptions. So the rating rewards quarterbacks who complete a lot of their passes and have receivers who can run after the catch. It's no wonder Steve Young has the highest passer rating ever.

And with all that, the quarterback persona has been stripped bare. I have little doubt that quarterbacks are not so different now, that Drew Brees is better than Archie Manning, that Aaron Rodgers can win more games than Lynn Dickey and that Kyle Orton hears the same Chicago boos that Bob Avellini and Vince Evans once heard. But there's still something about the older guys.

"You know what's beautiful about the being an old quarterback?" Roman Gabriel once asked. Gabriel's a wonderful guy, he was the NFL MVP in 1969 and the comeback player of the year in 1973. He threw 200 touchdown passes, 150 interceptions, completed about 53 percent of his passes and fumbled 105 times in his career. Those were great numbers long ago.

"What's the beautiful thing about being an old quarterback?" I asked back.

"You get better every year," he said.

__________________

I think this pretty much sums up alot ... For most people the NFL is all about "statistic and stuff", but people seem to forget what makes them watch the games ...

Edit: Oh by the way ... didn't Favre get MVP honours 3 times (as the only one ever to this date?)

[Larz]

as pure passers, you have to include George and Cunningham in the discussion

[StillerPaul]

John Elway is prolly tops on my list. Nobody could bring a team from behind like him IMO. Plus those crazy across his body throws that were still deadly accurate. It hurt like hell to lose in the playoffs to that guy but lemme tell ya, he was fun to watch otherwise!

Not a bad list, either.

[Larz]

"Favre is a throwback to what great quarterbacks used to be"

I really like this SI article for some reason. The thesis: Favre plays like a QB of even before his era.

snip

__________________

I think this pretty much sums up alot ... For most people the NFL is all about "statistic and stuff", but people seem to forget what makes them watch the games ...

Edit: Oh by the way ... didn't Favre get MVP honours 3 times (as the only one ever to this date?)

if you dig this article, go get mark kriegel's biography of Joe Namath

today

[Blackout]

Manning

Montana

Favre

Elway

5-marino

6-young

7-brady

8-mcnabb

9-moon

10-kelly

BEST QB AT THEIR PEAK: kurt warner (1999-2001)

[serphnx]

Man it's hard to pick just 4. Looking at total career though, you've gotta go:

Montana

Elway

Favre

Kelly/Marino

I dunno if Kelly beats out Marino or not, since neither won SBs. Kelly made it to 4 SBs though.

Manning and Brady will probably wind up there, but right now, those guys just achieved more, so you can't bump them off. Plus they played in older eras, where pass stats weren't as inflated as they are now. It is extremely doubtful that if Manning and Brady were playing back at the beginning of Favre's career that they'd put up better numbers than he did.

[Gainzo]

Man it's hard to pick just 4. Looking at total career though, you've gotta go:

Montana

Elway

Favre

Kelly/Marino

I dunno if Kelly beats out Marino or not, since neither won SBs. Kelly made it to 4 SBs though.

Manning and Brady will probably wind up there, but right now, those guys just achieved more, so you can't bump them off. Plus they played in older eras, where pass stats weren't as inflated as they are now. It is extremely doubtful that if Manning and Brady were playing back at the beginning of Favre's career that they'd put up better numbers than he did.

Manning and Brady would be just fine back in those days. Kelly was in the K-Gun offense and Moon (I know you didn't mention him) played in the run and shoot. There was plenty of passing going on back in those days.

Its not like the guys you mentioned played in the 50's!

[Blackout]

Man it's hard to pick just 4. Looking at total career though, you've gotta go:

Montana

Elway

Favre

Kelly/Marino

I dunno if Kelly beats out Marino or not, since neither won SBs. Kelly made it to 4 SBs though.

Manning and Brady will probably wind up there, but right now, those guys just achieved more, so you can't bump them off. Plus they played in older eras, where pass stats weren't as inflated as they are now. It is extremely doubtful that if Manning and Brady were playing back at the beginning of Favre's career that they'd put up better numbers than he did.

Manning has accomplished just as much as Jim Kelly

10 years

[JonEJet]

IMO it is way to early to know if Brady is acually in this conversation

If somehow Cassel plays well, and leads the Pats to the playoffs, you know it;s the system, not the QB

[Blackout]

IMO it is way to early to know if Brady is acually in this conversation

If somehow Cassel plays well, and leads the Pats to the playoffs, you know it;s the system, not the QB

cassel didn't have to play without Moss and Welker 5 years

[serphnx]

Manning and Brady would be just fine back in those days. Kelly was in the K-Gun offense and Moon (I know you didn't mention him) played in the run and shoot. There was plenty of passing going on back in those days.

Its not like the guys you mentioned played in the 50's!

[quote name='Blackout

[Blackout]

hey serphnx

does the defense not get radio signals anymore???

i'm 14 now?? go **** yourself

[Gainzo]

Wrong, the both of you. The 5 yard rule, especially its enforcement, is relatively recent. So are the radios in the QB helmets. There are plenty of changes, that if you were actually a football fan and knew what you were seeing back then and how things have changed now, you'd understand why numbers are better now than back then.

I know Gainzo never watched a football game until just a few years ago, so I can understand why he'd be this ignorant. And Blackout is 14 I've heard, so that explains that too. But for everyone else, everyone knows a QB in the 90s played in a different environment than a QB the past 6 years. The first half of Favre's career was in that environment, not so for Brady or Manning.

The 5 yard rule was actively enforced in the 2004 season after Bill Polian bitched and moaned about the Pats DB's being too physical in the 2003 AFC Championship game.

How do explain Manning throwing 49 TD passes in 2004 and Brady throwing 50 last season?

According to your logic Drew Bledsoe should be an all time great is he put up great numbers in the '90's.

You're right. I only started watching football a couple of years ago

[MagicBizkit87]

Montana

Favre

Marino

Elway

[RSJ]

[quote name='Blackout

[Blackout]

The 5 yard rule was actively enforced in the 2004 season after Bill Polian bitched and moaned about the Pats DB's being too physical in the 2003 AFC Championship game.

How do explain Manning throwing 49 TD passes in 2004 and Brady throwing 50 last season?

According to your logic Drew Bledsoe should be an all time great is he put up great numbers in the '90's.

You're right. I only started watching football a couple of years ago

apparently he has realized QB's use radio signals but not that defensive leaders have them as well

steve young was able to put up great QB #'s in the 90's, #1 QB rating ever

[Blackout]

And it showed by the stats he put up. Phil Simms won 2 Super Bowls the same way Brady won his 3 and he is not in the HOF. Because both are abobe average QB's and not at all great.

Simms played in 1 SB though

[serphnx]

[quote name='Blackout