Top Five QBs of the Past 25 Years
 

Watching the Hall of Fame inductions today has me wondering who would you guys say are the five best QBs of the past 25 years? I thought all-time would be way too difficult.

Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Joe Montana: Never thought he couldn't pull out a victory
2. Brett Favre: Has there been a better peformance in recent memory than his MNF game last year against the Raiders the day after his dad died?
3. John Elway: Where would he stand if he never got his two Super Bowls?
4. Dan Marino: Kicked ass in Tecmo Bowl!
5. Jim Kelly: Always felt he was somewhat underrated actually

This leaves off QBs such as Warren Moon, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Peyton Manning, Phil Simms, among others

Who would you guys put in your top 5?

Well, A lot of those guys are talented, but here's my list in no particular order:

Michael Vick - Never has a quarterback been such a hassel to defense. He can make the play with his arm and his legs.

Randall Cunningham - See above, the father of it all.

Favre - I hate him, but I have to put him in here. Warrior.

Elway - perhaps one of the greatest atheletes ever in the NFL, even though his career started out just like your hated Manning. I love how he refused to go to NE if they drafted him, but went to Denver and now he's a hero and no one's upset about the hold out.

McNair - does anyone else give THAT much for his team?

Danny Weurffel - Able to perfectly execute Steve Spurriers offense even though he lacked arm strength. Easy induction into the HoF.

lol...oh DaSeal....and what exactly do you mean by perfectly execute? I guess a perfect Spurrier system doesnt have to equate victory...

I wouldnt put Vick on the list, because being a great QB is more then just you ability. Vick could be great but hes got to get some seasons under his belt first. Cunningham definitly helped start that type of QB though, remember how good he was with the Vikings at the end of his career?

Phil Simms is one of those guys that its easy to argue he should be on that list. Because he had a great career without really ever having a great receiver. Montana had some of the best receivers ever. Not to take away from him, hes still probably one of the best ever, but Simms had a heck of a carrer without havign stars around him.

I like the McNair call. the guy hasnt practiced in what, 15 years? He just sits crimpled during the week playing madden, then lights it up on Sunday.

[QUOTE=Daseal]Well, A lot of those guys are talented, but here's my list in no particular order:

Michael Vick - Never has a quarterback been such a hassel to defense. He can make the play with his arm and his legs.

Randall Cunningham - See above, the father of it all.

Favre - I hate him, but I have to put him in here. Warrior.

Elway - perhaps one of the greatest atheletes ever in the NFL, even though his career started out just like your hated Manning. I love how he refused to go to NE if they drafted him, but went to Denver and now he's a hero and no one's upset about the hold out.

McNair - does anyone else give THAT much for his team?

Danny Weurffel - Able to perfectly execute Steve Spurriers offense even though he lacked arm strength. Easy induction into the HoF.[/QUOTE]


Too early to tell on Vick, at this point Daunte Culpepper has done more damage with his arm and legs.

Why do you hate Favre?

It was Baltimore for Elway and as I understand it people there are still bitter.

I love McNair and it was tough for me to keep him off the top 5. How is it that when McNair skips practice to nurse injuries yet plays, once a week mind you, he's a "warrior" yet Allen Iverson does the same, and plays nearly every day, and he's "all that's wrong with today's athlete"

Wuerffel and Jacquez Green, HOF, Class of 2008!

I forgot about Dan Fouts, he should receive some votes as well

its his look.. If McNair was covered in tattoos they would think hes a rebel and a bad role model to. Either way they both can play.

Vick has only started 21 games in 3 seasons, he can't possibly be on the list

1. Joe Montana - best ever
2.. Dan Marino - made every play with his arm, don't believe I ever saw him roll out of the Pocket
3. John Elway - very Montanalike, wish he was still playing
4. Jim Kelly - very underrated, would he be on top if he had won a superbowl?
5. Brett Favre - he'll never hang it up


Thought about putting Aikman up there, as a Redskins fan I couldn't bring myself to do it

if you did atleast its what of the few cowboys with class.

Favre will never hang it up but I dont know if that makes him a great QB. Hes had a good career but I dont thinkk hes done that well in recent years and that hes become overrated. He used to be able to make plays and comebacks. It seems now that hes more likely to throw a pick then anything. I watched him a bunch of times last year throw balls taht were just stupid, I thought I was watching a rookie and not a potential hall of famer. He wants his ring, and is sticking around to try and get it, but i dont think hes good enough anymore to lead that team to the superbowl

1. Montana: great leader and was always cool when the heat was on
2. Marino: best pure passer the league will probably ever see
3. Elway: gotta love the way he rode out on top with 2 straight rings
4. Favre: another ring and I would rate him above Elway, pure gunslinger
5. Aikman: yeah I know he was the enemy but I always had great respect for him

new here ...
in no order
montana
young
elway
favre
marino

1. how can you say favre is just good? he's amazing. privilege to watch him.

2. cunningham was good. that's it.

3. favre, manning, mcnair, brady, culpepper, and mcnabb are currently the top qbs. pennington is really close since he doesn't have that many seaons under is belt. also creeping in is hasselback.

4. vick cannot be metioned at all. exciting to watch? yes, but he hasn't even played two full seaons yet.

5. how can no one mention young?

6. sims, fouts, aikman and kelly round out the top 9. sorry, can't think of one more qb off the top of my head.

regulus, good to hear from you, nice first post

thanks smootsmack... been reading stuff here for quite some time, just never posted. much better than hailredskins.com, that is for sure. i thank my friend DaSeal for showing me the light.

Hey guys! Good posts so far. I can agree that all the quarterbacks mentioned above are excellent. However, I believe the greatest quarterback that I have ever seen is Joe Montana, who many refer to as "Joe Cool".

He didn't have a lot of the physical tools that a lot of other quarterbacks had, like the cannon arm, great speed, or a towering stature, but he had all the intangibles. Montana was a winner.

In his career, he had 31 fourth quarter come back victories. He won all 4 Superbowls that he went to. He won 3 Superbowl MVP's, more than any other player in NFL history.

In his Superbowl games, he completed 83-122 passes for 1,142 yards with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. His QB rating was 127.8. He was unflappable under pressure.

Sure, he had great receivers, but so do many other QB's, the difference was in Joe's demeanor. He electrified the huddle when he entered it. His coolness was always present even in the roughest of situations. During a huddle in the 1989 Superbowl vs. the Bengals, with the 49'ers down by 3 and 3:20 on the clock Joe spotted something. Not something special about the defense, but rather he pointed to the stands and said "isn't that John Candy." Afterwards, he continued to lead the 49'ers 92 yards, throwing the winning touchdown with 34 seconds remaining.

So, some quarterbakcs I have seen are very good, but only one has been great and that was Joe Cool. His ability to win under pressure has been unparalleled over the past 20 years.

Sammy Baugh
Sonny Jergensen
Joe Thiesman
Doug Williams
Mark Rypien

I cant think of anything better!

Sammy Baugh been within 25 years? =p

I feel Vick deserves the list. Name one QB that threatens defensive coordinators now days, sure he hasn't been consistant. However he has arm strength, accuracy, and moves that are simply mind boggling. Provided his career lasts 7+ years he'll be recognized as one of the greatest. I feel he does more with nothing than a lot of the other QBs mentioned.

I don't feel brady deserves to make the list. That's like putting Jake DelHomme on there.

Reg - Cunningham was more than "good" man. Dude was a beast!

Weuffel is like that bad four-letter word you never want to say, and would feel the shame if you said it in a croud.

Vick needs to get it done for a few more years before I'd put him on any 'greats' list. He also needs to improve his passing ability, right now he's still just a great runner playing QB.

Young could definitely be on a top 5 list, totally forgot about him.

Brady could get a mention in a few years, especially if he adds another SB to his already impressive resume.

1. Favre: No one has won more MVP's or made more players look great than he has, he's the best ever, IMO.
2. Joe Montana: A winner
3. John Elway: Had to have T.D. carry him to 2 Super Bowl wins, but he makes the list anyway.
4. Jim Kelly: 4 Super Bowls
5. Dan Marino: Holds almost every passing record in the book

If you asked me who I thought has the greatest potential in the past 25 years though I would definitely say Mike Vick.

What an arm! What mobility! What field vision!

The guy has it all and he is a game changer (someone who strikes fear into a defense)

1. Elway- The dude bordered on the supernatural sometimes. 2 minutes left, the Broncos down by 5, they have to drive 80 yards with no timeouts....you just knew he was going to do it. All you could do was hold your breath. And he did it (except for the final years) with no running game.

2. Marino. This guy could would pick opposing defenses apart in his sleep. And his quick release meant he rarely got sacked.

3. Farve. This guy's a throwback. Put him back in the 50's and 60's and watch the fireworks between him and Unitas. Best pure quarterback in the game today, despite his age.

4. Montana. Yeah, he won so many superbowls, and did so much...Crap. I might be alone in thinking this, but I think Montana was maybe the most overated QB ever. He played on an unbeatable squad, had an awesome rushing attack to back him up, and threw the ball to THE best WR to ever play in Rice. I have heard some go so far as to say that Montana "made" Jerry Rice a star. I think it's the opposite.

And here's a name we haven't heard yet....
5. Bernie Kosar. Tough as beaten leather. Would play with dislocated fingers and broken ribs.

Had a hard time keeping Cunningham off this list. He set the stage for a new generation of QBs like McNabb, Vick, and McNair.

You know, just for fun, why not throw out Bradshaw and Staubach. The game changed with the rule changes in the late 70's and the expanded schedule. These guys,especially Staubach broke many hearts...consistently. Thse two may not have been built for the 80's but they were deadly in the 70's. I had much more fear of Staubach than Aikman.

DG

Montana
Marino
elway
aikman
Favre

I have to be unbiased here, 3 super bowl's to 1, Aikman get's the nod, I know he's a hated cowboy, but he alway's conducted himself with class, Farve on the other hand gave up that dilebrate sack to Strahan, which damned him to football hell IMO. :smashfrea

A little bit surprised that no one has said Kurt Warner. Granted, I think he's done. But for a couple of years he was pretty much as good as anyone has ever been...or was it the system?

Here are a few other QBs that I would consider for "also receving votes":

Mark Brunell
Boomer Esiason
Jim Everett
Jeff Garcia

Nice call on Kosar, he was tough as nails. I always sort of liked him because I too throw the football side-armed. Another QB I always felt was somewhat underrated was Neil Lomax. Remember when the Cardinals were sort of good, with Lomax, Roy Green, Ottis Anderson, Stump Mitchell? Now that I think about they were pretty bad even then, except for that one year when the Skins had to beat them in the season finale, winner won the division, and the Skins won it on a Mark Moseley field goal I believe, but I digress...

My bad. I thought twenty five years ago was longer... Montana, Marino, Elway, Farve, and Kelly are the easy ones. However, if you're looking a QB who worked well with what they had and played within himself, I agree with the Simms suggestion. I hated seeing the Giants pull out games out of their... Hearing his commentary is much more distracting than Aikman's. But he was effective. Young should be in the HOF, next year.

Yeah I had a hard time keeping Simms out of the top 5, he's probably no. 6 for me. I'm anxious to see how his son does in the pros. I think Chris might have the better arm but not the smarts

[QUOTE=DG: Brewer & Redskins fan]My bad. I thought twenty five years ago was longer... Montana, Marino, Elway, Farve, and Kelly are the easy ones. However, if you're looking a QB who worked well with what they had and played within himself, I agree with the Simms suggestion. I hated seeing the Giants pull out games out of their... Hearing his commentary is much more distracting than Aikman's. But he was effective. Young should be in the HOF, next year.[/QUOTE]

If Art monk isn't getting in as of now, there's no way Young deserves to be there.

[QUOTE=Daseal]I don't feel brady deserves to make the list. That's like putting Jake DelHomme on there.[/QUOTE]

how can anyone even compare what brady has done to jake delhomme?!?! I guess 2 sb mvp's in 3 years doesn't account for what they used too, lol.

My list goes as follows:

Marino: never been a better arm than his in the history of the league and he did everything in his career without a solid running game.
Montana: His accomplishments speak volumes about his leadership and skill no matter how saturated the 49ers were with offensive talent.
Aikman: Hated how well he played but there have been very few qbs to have been as accurate of a passer as he was and winning 3 SBs(mother @%!#*$) is huge on his resume.
Here's a curveball for ya, Fran Tarkenton: Made more defensive players go bald from ripping out their hair than anyone in league history except for Barry Sanders. He was a 9 time pro-bowler and was in the top ten in passing completions and yardage 17 seasons of his 18 year career and in the top 10 passing tds in 16 of those years. in all-time nfl history he's 4th in pass attempts, 5th in completions, 4th in yards, and 3rd in TD's. yes he didn't have much postseason success or attempts but his statistics warrant him being considered in this conversation.
and finally elway: while I still don't get how he's in the conversation as a lot of people's choice for the best all time qb, he was a hell of a field general especially during crunch time. But if Terrel Davis hadn't come along I think he'd be around 8 or 9.

I think it is way too early to consider Vick as a great. He has good skills but Caulpepper has done more for his team with similar skills and being a QB is more than physical skills it is being able to lift a team which is down like Elway or Montana. With them back there the game was never over.

Of the current players who could be considered as great include Trent Green, not only for his Chiefs carrear which he has Priest Holmes to hand the ball off to but when he turned the Skins 0-7 season (6-10) round with Skip Hicks to hand off to and the likes of Brad Badger in the decimated O-Line.

Others include Payton Manning of course andMatt Hastelbeck, Dante Culpepper and Steve McNair.

Players like Brady and McNabb i think benifit from having an overwhelming defence and just and overall team effort. Farve shoild have hung it up long ago he is like Santa in a green bay uniform he threw away the playoff game against the Eagles last year and everytime the ball goes up it is 50-50 pick or compleation. I think it is a shame because it is tarnishing his reputation.

It is stil way to early to make any kind of decision on Ramsey, Carr, Harrington, Boller, Eli Manning etc but they could be the better QB of the next ten years.

1. Montana
2. Elway
3. Favre
4. Kelly
5. Tom Brady

I know I'll probably get ripped for this but I always consider intangibles over stats when evaluating QBs, that's why I didn't include Marino. Bottom line is Marino wasn't a winner, nor was he a leader. I always have this argument with a Dolphins friend of mine. Marino always had great stats, but he took his team to one Super Bowl, never really put his team on his back as a leader and said 'follow me and I'll show you the right way'. I always felt he was selfish and a prick to his teammates and that's why they never want anywhere.. Making the playoffs all the time is nice, but you have to do something when you get there.

1. Elway
2. Montana

I had a long paragraph arguing this, but Elway took a team with Ricky Nattiel and Vance Johnson to the Super Bowl. Twice. Back to back years.

3. Marino
4. Favre
5. Aikman

These 5 guys all pass the "uh-oh" test. When you saw that we were playing them that week, you went "Uh oh, here comes trouble." The top four guys are pretty much set in stone, and I think Aikman's 3 SBs make him a better candidate than Kelly. Manning, McNair, and Vick seem like the 3 most positioned to join the elite qbs.

1. Montana
2. Elway
3. Marino
4. Favre
5. Aikman - I hate to admit it, but at least Lavar ended his career.

[QUOTE=Paintrain]1. Montana
2. Elway
3. Favre
4. Kelly
5. Tom Brady

I know I'll probably get ripped for this but I always consider intangibles over stats when evaluating QBs, that's why I didn't include Marino. Bottom line is Marino wasn't a winner, nor was he a leader. I always have this argument with a Dolphins friend of mine. Marino always had great stats, but he took his team to one Super Bowl, never really put his team on his back as a leader and said 'follow me and I'll show you the right way'. I always felt he was selfish and a prick to his teammates and that's why they never want anywhere.. Making the playoffs all the time is nice, but you have to do something when you get there.[/QUOTE]

I have to disagree on Marino, the problem he had was that he alway's carried his team on his back, Shula was past his prime when Marino arrived, if you put Marino in the 80's on either the 9er's or the skin's he would have more ring's than any QB in history, could you imagine what Gibb's would have done with a QB like Marino, it would have been scary.

1. Montana
2. Elway
3. Kelly
4. Marino
5. Aikman

[QUOTE=offiss]I have to disagree on Marino, the problem he had was that he alway's carried his team on his back, Shula was past his prime when Marino arrived, if you put Marino in the 80's on either the 9er's or the skin's he would have more ring's than any QB in history, could you imagine what Gibb's would have done with a QB like Marino, it would have been scary.[/QUOTE]
I'm with you.

Marino was the ultimate put a team on his back kind of player. Sad thing was they never got him the help they needed in the backfield. Look at how much better of a QB Elway was with Terrell Davis behind him. If Marino in his prime had a top notch RB behind him like Davis or Emmitt Smith I guarantee he would have himself a few rings.