alll this qb talk made me think

if you take the qb position and only that position, leave out the team and championships. who is the best? anyone who can remember the 70's and 80's has to admit that those qb's had a disadvantage compared to the ones today.

I mean wrs got mugged on every play and fought to get open. now they get to run free. if you take the position and look at it objectively, look at the qbs today and ask yourself honestly who could have played in those days. I can only come up with a few.

I have now doubt that if you were good then you could play now. I didn't look at team awards or even records. I looked at how they played the position and some of the things that make a great quarterback. I came up with a top five that I know is gonna look strange but if you really think and look objectively, I wonder how many would disagree.

look at accuracy, arm strength, leadership, and how they played under pressure.

1. johnny unitas. I never seen him play. my dad and grandfather did. I have seen footage and years of commentary. there is no doubt he could play in todays nfl.

2. dan marino. I have never seen a quicker release and not sure he didn't have one of the best arms too. he had size and from everything I have heard he was a tremendous leader. he never won a championship but that is because he played on some of the worst defensive teams I can remember. he would absolutely torch these defenses today because of the rules.

3. jon Elway. never cared for him but he was a clutch performer and had a rocket arm.

4. joe montana. he never had the big arm but I don't know if anyone was ever more accurate. he played his best in the big games. he could thow the deep ball when needed but nobody threw the slant better in any era.

5. brett farve. with his mentality he should have played in the 70's.lol


I have left a lot of guys off for different reasons. most obvious is peyton and brady. I honestly don't know that the game they have would have made it in those days. look at last night. bradys short passing game would have been not existent because of the press coverage they use to play.
I have watched peyton since his freshman year at tenn. I have seen him struggle in big situations. he has the talent to be on list. I have just seen him fall short so many times

 

I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 on "Elway to Marino" and got mad all over again that the Steelers didn't draft Marino in 83. We'd probably be up to 8-9 Super Bowls easily if we'd done that.

 

yeah. he is always left out of the discussion cause of the fact he didn't win a championship. I loved watching him play. I remember going to a function at Tennessee when I was a teenager. reggie white was there and we all looked up to him. listen to every word he said. he told my buddy who was a qb at the time to study dan marino. he is the best there is

 

I've thought about this a lot and I would say the best qb of the 70s and 80s was....uhh.... Tom Brady. LOL! No, but I did see a thing a few years ago that actually named Dan Fouts the best overall qb of the 80s. Elway led three teams to the SB that weren't really that good. He's one of my all time favorite players and I have a soft spot for him. Montana is still my favorite though. I couldn't stand Marino then and I can't stand him now. I absolutely despise the fins. Like bad. I think it was because I liked Montana so much that it made me not like Marino. I've just always had a predisposition to go with the guys that win championships over the guys that look good on paper. In the 90s though, it's not even close for me. My favorite of that era is Favre by a landslide. I also really liked Steve McNair during that time because he was tough like Favre.

 

exactly, that is why I get so sick of hearing about how great brady, manning, and brees are. I really think that Rodgers is one of the few who could have played back then. everyone says that some are products of a system. I think these guys are products of the rules

 

The rules are bent so much in the QB's favor that in today's game Mark Malone would have been hoisting a Lombardi trophy or 2.

 

Fixed!

 

My top 10 (in my lifetime), in alphabetical order.

Bradshaw
Brady
Elway
Kelly
Manning
Marino
Montana
Staubach
Tarkenton
Young

 

With the receivers and TE that Fouts had, if the chokers had had a defense, they MIGHT have made it to the SB and Coryell would be in the HOF.
If you wanted a QB that would throw an interception in the end zone at the worst possible moment, Fouts was your guy!

 

Fouts gave the Steel Curtain fits. His team beat Pittsburgh 35-7 during the 1979 season and knocked us out of the playoffs in 1984.

 

I get how Super Bowl wins are how some people grade QB's but it is a team game. If not for Duane Thomas fumbling at the 1 yard line in Super Bowl V and Jackie Smith dropping an easy TD in Super Bowl XIII Roger Staubach could possible have won 4 rings.

 

I say that even if Jackie Smith had caught that the Steelers would have still won the game.

 

Blind squirrels.............acorns. At one time or another, the Chargers beat everybody but, just like now, they've had really good players but not a complete team.