Is Tom Brady the best QB ever?

[MTK]

There will probably never be a consensus best ever. Why people feel the need to even debate it is beyond me.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

My personal top 10 in no particular order, and I'm basing this only on QBs that I have seen play in my lifetime:

Brady
Manning
Montana
Aikman
Elway
Kelly
Favre
Young
Marino
Moon

Hmm. If did my "football" lifetime (roughly '99-present), it would probably look something like this:

1) Manning
2) Favre
3) Brady
4) Warner
5) Gannon
6) Trent Green
7) Bulger
8) Brees
9) Romo
10) Hasselbeck

[SKINSnCANES]

steve spurrier was the greatest qb ever, do the heisman pose steve, strut your stuff!

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

There will probably never be a consensus best ever. Why people feel the need to even debate it is beyond me.

I don't think debate always has to be about coming to a consensus.

With that said, there is always a correct answer to every question. The bigger question is, will we ever find the answer.

Case in point: Though their career's mirrored each other's, either Dan Marino was better than John Elway, or Elway was better than Marino. While there is no one statistic that conclusively proves that one was better than the other, it can be conclusively said that they were not perfect equals in terms of skill.

I can make you a pretty flawless argument that Marino was the better of the two, but that would hardly end the debate.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Hmm. If did my "football" lifetime (roughly '99-present), it would probably look something like this:

1) Manning
2) Favre
3) Brady
4) Warner
5) Gannon
6) Trent Green
7) Bulger
8) Brees
9) Romo
10) Hasselbeck

Romo after a year and a half of starts? Wow.

I would toss him out and put McNabb on that list if we're only going back to '99.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I don't think debate always has to be about coming to a consensus.

With that said, there is always a correct answer to every question. The bigger question is, will we ever find the answer.

Case in point: Though their career's mirrored each other's, either Dan Marino was better than John Elway, or Elway was better than Marino. While there is no one statistic that conclusively proves that one was better than the other, it can be conclusively said that they were not perfect equals in terms of skill.

I can make you a pretty flawless argument that Marino was the better of the two, but that would hardly end the debate.

Well my basic point is people always seem to want to crown a single player as being the best ever, and as you allude to it's just not that simple. So why bother trying to figure out who was the best ever? There's a handful of guys who are always in the discussion, I just don't get the need to name one guy as the best ever.

[SKINSnCANES]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Hmm. If did my "football" lifetime (roughly '99-present), it would probably look something like this:

1) Manning
2) Favre
3) Brady
4) Warner
5) Gannon
6) Trent Green
7) Bulger
8) Brees
9) Romo
10) Hasselbeck

I agree with Matty, no Romo, McNabb would be third on my list behind manning and brady in terms of post 99 production. Id also put Carson Palmer on there. Culpepper has some great years with Moss but its hard to overllook the 'after moss years'.

Record wise big ben is near the top of the list too

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Romo after a year and a half of starts? Wow.

I would toss him out and put McNabb on that list if we're only going back to '99.

I had to ask myself, "if Tony Romo were to stop improving altoghether, would he make my list".

I thought he still would. He's certainly better now than McNabb ever was. If Romo keeps improving, he's going to rank higher on that list.

Remember, I was one of the last people on this fourm to come around on Romo. I was ultra skeptical of him because he was undrafted. I actually had him ranked in the mid 20's in current NFL QBs in that offseason list we did. Once he proved that he was no one year wonder, I gave him his props.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SKINSnCANES

I agree with Matty, no Romo, McNabb would be third on my list behind manning and brady in terms of post 99 production. Id also put Carson Palmer on there. Culpepper has some great years with Moss but its hard to overllook the 'after moss years'.

Record wise big ben is near the top of the list too

yeah I was thinking of Culpepper too, but life after Moss has been pretty ugly for him.

[SKINSnCANES]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I had to ask myself, "if Tony Romo were to stop improving altoghether, would he make my list".

I thought he still would. He's certainly better now than McNabb ever was. If Romo keeps improving, he's going to rank higher on that list.

Remember, I was one of the last people on this fourm to come around on Romo. I was ultra skeptical of him because he was undrafted. Once he proved that he was no one year wonder, I gave him his props.

I dont think id agree that Romo is better now than McNabb ever was. This is actually a great discussion because they both had TO, but McNabb has also been great with James Thrash and Todd Stinkson...

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Well my basic point is people always seem to want to crown a single player as being the best ever, and as you allude to it's just not that simple. So why bother trying to figure out who was the best ever? There's a handful of guys who are always in the discussion, I just don't get the need to name one guy as the best ever.

Once somebody comes up with a compent coefficienct for adjusting between eras, we will be able to use their stats to make strong arguments for being the best of all time. Until then, you would be right, the only cross-era comparsions we have are subjective.

I think this guy deserves more than a single look for greatest ever title:

Otto Graham Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by SKINSnCANES

I dont think id agree that Romo is better now than McNabb ever was. This is actually a great discussion because they both had TO, but McNabb has also been great with James Thrash and Todd Stinkson...

I wouldn't say "great". He had one great year in 2004 when he had Owens, but before then, he was pretty good on a great all around team.

Since 2004, he's been pretty good, but injury prone. If one great year could get you on my top 10 list, I'd go Culpepper before McNabb under those circumstances.

[QBall]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

My personal top 10 in no particular order, and I'm basing this only on QBs that I have seen play in my lifetime:

Brady
Manning
Montana
Aikman
Elway
Kelly
Favre
Young
Marino
Moon

Dude, Montana above Manning!

[MTK]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

I had to ask myself, "if Tony Romo were to stop improving altoghether, would he make my list".

I thought he still would. He's certainly better now than McNabb ever was. If Romo keeps improving, he's going to rank higher on that list.

Remember, I was one of the last people on this fourm to come around on Romo. I was ultra skeptical of him because he was undrafted. Once he proved that he was no one year wonder, I gave him his props.

I dunno, personally I would still take McNabb's best year over Romo's.

In 2004 McNabb was crazy. He threw for 3,875 yards, completed 64%, threw 31 TDs vs. only 8 INTs for a QB rating of 104.7.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by QBall

Dude, Montana above Manning!

Dude, read my post very carefully and pay attention to the "in no particular order" part.