GOAT, QB Category

Well, he does have most of the major passing records, at least until October or so. I think if Favre had stayed retired after leading Green Bay to the inprobable run in 2007, history might have been kinder to him.

 

Unabashed Niner fan here, someone who worshiped Brodie then had the good fortune of rooting for Montana then Young.

I love Montana and he was light years ahead of Young; if you watched it day to day, it was easy to see, that's just how great Montana was; and Young was a great QB, a great combination of athletic ability and the unbelievable precision.

However in saying that Montana was the GOAT seems to come from the sense that Montana was nearly flawless. To me the greatness of Montana was how spectacular he was in the SB against the Dolphins in '84, the 1988 NFC Championship against the Bears at Soldier Field; and then the last drive against the Bengals to win it in '89.

But people forget that he threw 3 or 4 picks in the 1981 NFC Championship Game (The Catch) and might have been an afterthought had Danny White not fumbled at the 50 after he was sacked (Jim Stuckey?).

My point is that as great as Montana was, his greatness was largely dependent on the greatness around him.

Its hard for me to choose between Unitas, Montana and Brady; those guys made huge plays. Manning would be right there but I've seen his playoff performances and while last year was not his fault; he was gifted the SB MVP when the best the Bears could muster was Rex Grossman.

 

After six years in Green Bay, Favre was a Super Bowl winner, a three-time MVP (Brown and Unitas were the only others at the time) and well on his way to joining the Unitas/Montana group or perhaps exceeding it. He then set out to chip away at that legacy over the next 12 years, but nobody was ever better in the early part of a career.

As for playoffs, every year they were in it they went at least one round further than they were "supposed" to, and by the end of that six-year run I mentioned, they were 9-4 with a Super Bowl title and another NFC championship.

 

There are Super Bowls where the MVP award has too many candidates, and years like the time Manning one when the voting is -- "it has to go to SOMEBODY." Since they have put fan votes into the mix, nobody but a quarterback may ever win it again.

 

This was written before Favre's final choke job with the Vikings, but since 2001:

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/complete-guide-to-favres-21st-century-disasters/6979/

The overtime interception he threw against the Eagles in the Fourth-and-26 game was one of the worst I've ever seen.

 

Well, the reigning MVP isn't a QB, but it will be interesting to see how long it is before another non-QB wins it.

It's not like Manning wasn't deserving this year.

 

General comments on a few QBs:

* Johnny Unitas: He definitely needs to be in the discussion because he's the one QB in the pre-merger era who I believe would have thrived in the modern NFL, even in today's game in which passing dominates.

* Joe Montana: Great clutch quarterback, terrific at keeping his composure and that made his teammates play well. But I think people who look to Montana underestimate the influence of Bill Walsh. Let's not forget that Walsh brought plenty of innovations to how offense was played. Plus, after his prime, Montana's teams were mostly one-and-done in the playoffs.

* John Elway: I'm a big Elway fan, but I wouldn't put him as the GOAT. He's definitely top 10, but while it's true he never had good offenses built around him until the final years of his career, he didn't always play well from behind when trailing by a fair margin. He also had to work on his "touch" with the football later in his career to truly become a more polished QB. But I do give him credit for being good in the clutch when the game was winnable for his teams.

* Dan Marino: Very underrated because everybody looks at his playoff success and thinks that defines him. But he's a far better clutch QB than he's given credit for. Have him switch roles with Montana and there's no doubt in my mind Marino would get the GOAT moniker.

* Tom Brady: I take nothing away from him but he is pretty much the right guy to run Bill Belichick's system. And his playoff track record has been not so good in recent years. He also tends to grumble too much for flags when he's leading game winning drives, something I don't ever recall Montana or Marino doing.

* Peyton Manning: In terms of dissecting defenses, nobody is better than Peyton. It's true he's had his share of playoff stinkers, but set aside the ones in which he truly played poorly and he's done better than people may think. Peyton has also never played for a truly great coach -- Montana had Walsh, Marino had Shula. Peyton has had three good but not great coaches (Dungy, Fox, Mora) and one average coach (Caldwell). With all that said, I do think Peyton's biggest problem is he is a perfectionist to a fault, to the point where he overthinks things.

* Brett Favre: Put up good numbers and has had plenty of clutch performances. His problem: For every clutch performance he has had, he's had a game in which he fell apart in the clutch.

Overall, I'd go with Unitas as the GOAT. My two cents.

 

One thing about Favre: His first season in Minnesota, 2009, goes down as one of the forgotten all-time great seasons ever. It hardly ever gets mentioned when the talk is about late-period Favre hauling his bones onto the field, but he was unreal that year. Led the league in least INTs per attempt.

 

And it's forgotten because of the interception he threw in New Orleans.

 

Just watched it. Don't know why I noticed this, but the font used for "MONTANA" on his jersey isn't the same as the traditional 49ers font. Just Montana's, though - everybody else's seemed to be the same. Wonder why that was. Can't imagine that happening in today's NFL.

 

Yep, that's why, too. You're 100 percent right.

Another thing about Favre that kind of gets lost is his consecutive games started streak. It's actually remarkable. I don't think he'd be able to do it today, because I'm sure he took the field more than once with a scrambled brain.

 

Do you have me on ignore or something?