I've heard talk of Brett Favre, who announced his retirement yesterday, being the greatest quarterback of all time. And he's got a pretty strong case. He owns the following NFL records:
- 253 straight starts at quarterback (every game since Dec. 20, 1992!)
- 5,377 completions
- 61,655 passing yards
- 442 passing touchdowns
- 160 wins as a starting quarterback
- 3 MVP awards.
But just for fun, here's my list of the 10 greatest quarterbacks of all time:
1. Joe Montana: He was a career 63.2% passer, won four Super Bowls for the 49ers, and was once the all-time leader in quarterback rating. Incidentally, he's now sixth on that list, and Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger are among the names ahead of his. Warner was sensational for a while, but only for a pretty short time, and Roethlisberger has only played four years.
2. Otto Graham: I'll grant you that I might be looking at this through orange-and-brown-colored glasses, but Graham led the Browns to championship games every one of the 10 years he played, and they won seven of those games. Four of those titles were in the AAFC, but they still went to the NFL championship game six straight years and won three NFL titles. In Graham's day, quarterbacks simply didn't put up the numbers they do now because the running game was still paramount. But Graham led his league in passing yards five times, touchdowns three times, and passer rating four times. When he retired, he was the all-time leader in passer rating, passing yards, passing touchdowns and probably a lot of other categories.
3. John Elway: I don't want to talk about John Elway. But we Browns fans know how great he was.
4. Johnny Unitas: The man with a crew-cut you could set your watch to (according to Grandpa Simpson) won three NFL titles and one Super Bowl, and when he retired in 1973, he was the all-time leader in pass completions, passing yards and touchdown passes.
5. Brett Favre: See above. I might point out that he only won one Super Bowl, losing another to Elway's Broncos. But in fairness, there were 30 to 32 teams for most of his career, which makes it a lot tougher to win titles.
6. Dan Marino: The greatest QB who never won a championship. Most of the records Favre broke were Marino's. His Dolphins lost the only Super Bowl he played in to Montana's 49ers, in just Marino's second season. He's still second on the all-time passing yards list, just 294 yards (which was about three quarters' worth for him) behind Favre, and almost 10,000 ahead of Elway, who's third.
7. Fran Tarkenton: The second-greatest quarterback who never won a Super Bowl. Tarkenton's Vikings got there three times (they played in four during his career, but Tark was with the Giants for one of them), but they lost every one of them. He passed for more than 47,000 career yards, and is still fourth on the all-time list of rushing yards by a quarterback. And he was one of the hosts of "That's Incredible!" You've got to give him that.
8. Steve Young: He'd probably be higher on this list if he hadn't been Montana's backup for so many years. When he finally became the starter in 1991, he started putting up some eye-popping numbers. His completion percentages from '91 through '97: 66.7, 68.0, 70.3, 66.9, 67.7 and 67.7. He led the league in that category all those years but '92. He's just 21st on the career passing yards list, but No. 1 in passer rating. And he's No. 2 in the career rushing-yards-by-quarterback list. (Randall Cunningham's first, if you're wondering. No. 3 is some dog abuser from Atlanta.)
9. Peyton Manning: He's only 31, so he'll move up this list, but he's already ninth all-time in passing yards, fourth in passing touchdowns, second in passer rating, and eighth in wins by a starting quarterback. And he's first all-time in passing yards per game (260.1). Ironically, in 10 years, we might not even think of him as the greatest quarterback in his family.
10. Warren Moon: Despite not coming to the NFL until he was 28, after starting his career in the Canadian Football League, Moon is fourth on the all-time passing yards list, sixth in passing touchdowns and ninth in wins by a starting quarterback. His Houston Oilers never reached the Super Bowl, but his Edmonton Eskimos won five consecutive Grey Cups, and that sure counts for something.
Many of you will disagree with me, I'm sure, and I hope some of you will post comments to that effect. I also hope we can disagree respectfully; I didn't exclude your favorite quarterback for personal reasons or because I'm stupid. I know how these things can incite passions in people.
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