FanPost

The Best QB Ever {?}



I've never had much interest in these type of articles. They're impossible to defend without reflecting the biases and philosophies of those arguing the point to the degree that the entire exercise is pointless.after a while. None the less this question has entered my thoughts of late . I'm guessing the move to Tampa Bay for Tom Brady might be the seed which sprouted this consideration. but its a good time as any to look at this. No effort will be made to persuade anyone of anything. This is just one guy's opinion.

Who is the best Quarterback to ever play the game?

Those in New England have an answer in waiting, as do those in Indianapolis, Denver, San Francisco and Miami. Folks in Dallas and Green Bay have a multiple choice menu to choose from and Im sure some idiot in Kansas City will tell me that he just won the last Super Bowl.

The problem in answering this question, the reason it can never be correctly answered is that there are too many variables to consider. Is it championships? Is it longevity? MVPs? Statistical Excellence" Athletic ability?

Ill contend it is a piece of each.. Championships cant be denied. It is, after all the point of the whole thing but no one views Otto Graham or Bart Starr or Troy Aikman as the greatest ever despite their achievements. Ditto Bradshaw/

Super Bowl wins seems to be the deciding factor for most but Ive never believesd that to be true. Ill always believe that simply getting to a Super Bowl is more of a testament to the quality of a QB than simply winning one. Super Bowls are won by teams, not QBs despite the large # of MVPs from that position. There haven't been all that many Super Bowls where the QB was the single greatest determining factor. A few but not many.

I decided to frame this question in a different context to see what I came up with. I asked five different questions and the answers were surprisingly easy to arrive at.

The questions were:

If I could have any QB for one play, who would it be?

If I could have any QB for one drive who would it be?

If I could have any QB for one game who would it be?

If I could have any QB for one season who would it be?

If I could have any QB for his career who would it be?

While this approach might not work for others I found it worked for me. What follows are the answers I arrived at with several thoughts and opinions. Some instances will have ranked contenders while others will show other possible considerations. Feel free to disagree.

If I could have any QB for one play it would be : Aaron Rodgers.

Roger the Dodger has the original Hail Mary. Marino has the fake spike play and Elway has the helicopter but no QB can compare to Aaron Rogers for one play magic. They can be found in the regular season as well as the post season including two fourth down plays vs the Cardinals with seconds left in a playoff game.

The play which really cements Rogers for me came vs the Cowboys in 2017. With the score tied at 31 the Packers needed at least twenty five yards to get into field goal range. With seconds left Rogers moved to his left away from the rush and gestured to Cook, his TE. At the last possible second Rogers threw against his body thirty yards down field to. Cook,. With his toes on the sideline he leaned a full yard out of bounds to make the catch which set up the game winning FG with seconds remaining. It is the greatest pass I ever saw. .

Honorable Mention John Elway, Fran Tarkenton, Brett Favre, Randall Cunningham

If I could have any QB for one drive it would be: John Elway

When you author something known in NFL lore as "The Drive" you shoot to the head of the class in this category. The Drive was more of a harbinger of things to come than any kind of fluke. Elway was in his element at that moment and it would prove to be a career defining moment of his unique combination of athleticism, desire,, ability and competitiveness. There is a lot of competition in this category but Elway did it so many different ways with so many different players that he easily gets my vote.. If there needs to be a tie-breaker I'll throw John's hard count into the mix. At times it was a deadly little tool.

2 Dan Marino

Were it not for Elway, Marino would top this list for me. He was a one trick pony, a pure passer, but he was ruthless with that gun. Absolutely fearless with any pass you can imagine...and he could make them all.

3 Joe Montana

There was always a touch of magic with this guy when the game was on the line. While he benefitted from Walsh's scheme he none-the-less delivered in the clutch. The Joe Cool moniker was earned.

4 Tom Brady

When the Pats got the ball back with 90 seconds left in Brady's first Super Bowl, John Madden predicted Brady would take a knee and go to overtime. Instead Brady led the first of many last gasp drives to win the game. Brady is clutch in crunch time and has repeated it too often to be left off this list..

5 John Unitas

Johnny was a stud. While I was never a Colt's fan Unitas' leadership was undeniable during a time when the QB not some OC called the plays.

If I could have any QB for one game it would be: Tom Brady

Throw out the Super Bowls or the playoff wins here because this applies to the regular season as well. While all QBs take pregame film work and defensive tendencies into account prior to a game I always have felt that Brady takes what he learns in quarter 1-3 and applies those in the fourth quarter better than anyone else. Peyton is famous for this type of in game analysis but there have been times when hes been guilty of overthinking things ( my humble opinion) We'll never know how many calls Brady checks out of, preferring to save those plays for later, but his consistent success late in games is based largely on what he sees earlier in the game, matchups he holds onto until he needs them..

Brady has been so consistent in big time games that "scheme" or "coaching" or "gameplan" shouldn't be relied upon as qualifiers. In fact I'm hard pressed to think of many big games where Brady wasn't good. The 2013 AFC Championship in Denver comes to mind. Despite facing a depleted Denver Defense , Brady never seemed to find his groove. He seemed slightly off the entire game.. This isn't meant to take anything away from the Broncos, they won that one fair and square, but Brady was notably average.

Honorable mention:

John Elway (athleticism), Unitas (leadership) , Staubach (guts) , Marino(arm) Montana (clutch gene) Eli ( SB XLII)

If I could have any QB for a season it would be: Peyton Manning

Brady in Tampa might cause a return to this category but I can't think of any comps which could match up with what Peyton did in Denver in 2012. The season started out 2-3 with an awful lot of mis-fires and mistakes but in the second half of the game in San Diego during week six the pieces fell into place and the Denver Broncos didn't look back for four years... I believe if Peyton had gone to SF or Houston or Tennessee the results would have been similar.

Kurt Warner had success in Arizona following his glory days in St,. Louis and Montana made the Chiefs a legitimate contender in KC but neither guy redefined those franchises for any length of time. Montana missed a boatload of time to injuries and Warner was a bust in New York. Neither singularly tilted the balance of power the way Manning did.

Would Elway, Jim Kelley, Marino or Brady redefine a franchise in one season like Peyton did?

Its possible of course. I'd welcome any one of those guys for one season but the fact remains that Peyton actually did it and no one else, to date has.

Honorable mention:

Too many good ones to rank, honestly ,but another name I'd consider is:

Russell Wilson ( the guy has done more with less than a lot of others)

If I could have one QB for a career it would be: Peyton Manning

This answer was surprisingly easy for me and answers, to me anyway, the Who's the Greatest ? debate. I realize the two questions aren't the same but one question can be answered while the other has no correct answer. It is just a considered opinion.

Peyton Manning isn't my favorite QB of all time although he won a Super Bowl for the same franchise but he's done things which no other Qb has done. In some instances there isn't a legitimate second place.

Five MVPs is unequalled. While this award is based on regular season performance the level of excellence required to win it even once is noteworthy. More importantly to me is that these were awarded throughout his career with a full decade between the first and last ones. Sustained excellence.

Super Bowl wins with different franchises. There are a select few players who've won Conference Championships with two different teams, the Broncos feature two such players The list of QBs to win Super Bowls with two different teams is singular. There is Peyton Manning and no one else. For those who like to deride Manning as a regular season hero/playoff flop this little fact seems to counter the argument. What is even more telling is that Manning went to four Super Bowls under four different head coaches . There is no comp.

There is no doubt in my mind that Tom Brady is aware of the unique distinction Peyton holds in this regard. It is something Peyton has done that Tom hasn't and Brady has heard of the "system QB" definition of his career. Its unwarranted to my eyes. Brady deserves all the credit in the world for his unmatched success but he now has a chance to silence his critics. Thus far Peyton has done it. Brady hasn't. It will be fascinating to watch this storyline develop.. The Tampa experiment might define Brady in a way he doesn't expect.

There are those, even among the Bronco faithful, who contend that Manning's final season and his second SuperBowl should carry an asterisk like the Roger Maris home run record once did (* rode coattails of historic defense to title). For some reason no one faults Tom Brady or Terry Bradshaw for what their respective defenses did for them yet there are many who contend that Peyton needs to apologize for SB50. I don't buy it. I never will

Peyton Manning's physical skills had diminished noticeably in his last year. The leg injury suffered the previous year vs San Diego was something he was never able to fully overcome and the plantar faciaitis was another blow.. Without his legs his now marginal arm was rendered less effective and lazer rocket spirals were a thing of the past. His greatest tool however, that incredible mind, never faltered.

Coming off the bench in week 17 to secure a first round seeding was a good example of what the old warrior still had to offer. His presence and demeanor caused the entire offense to regain their focus. The run audibles to Hillman and CJ Anderson turned the tide of the game. The following week in the divisional round vs the Steelers the game turned on a Robey forced fumble. Given the opportunity, Manning led the Broncos on a back breaking seven minute long touchdown drive which gutted the clock in the fourth quarter. To watch that drive and the play by play chess match between Manning and the excellent Pitt DC Butler was a thing of beauty. Play after play each man would make counter move on top of counter move in order to win the down. Peyton won the chess match and, ultimately, the game.

The following week Belichick came to town with a magnificent defensive game plan. It was almost perfect but on two plays BB made mistakes and both times Manning recognized those mismatches and exploited them on TD strikes to Owen Daniels. It wasn't much but it turned out to be enough. Manning's final game left something to be desired but were it not for some forgotten guy having the absolute best game of his entire career Manning might have looked better. The statistics and the eye test won't support me much but that 2015 post season might have been Peyton Mannings finest hour. There was nothing left in the tool box but his experience and his heart. It was enough.

Peyton will never be my favorite quarterback. With all due respect John Elway was always more fun to watch although it could often be a rodeo ride. I feel incredibly blessed to have watched both of these men wear the Orange and Blue but if I had to choose one over the other to have for a career, it would be Peyton.

John was the superior talent.

Peyton was the better quarterback.

I welcome any thoughts or lists you might want to offer.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.