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What team has had the best QBs?


The Gipper

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This subject came up on the radio this morning: In the history of Pro Football in America, which team has had the best collection of Quarterbacks play for them?

The discussion was prompted by the fact that the Packers now have the "Hot" QB in the NFL in Aaron Rodgers, and looking back in the Packers history they have had of course now Rodgers, and Favre, and Bart Starr etc.

So, what team do you think has had the best QBs in history? I will do some of my own research on the subject, but anyon chime in.

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For purposes of this, I am basically ignoring QBs that may have had a "cup of coffee" with a team, e.g. Montana with the Chiefs or Johnny U. with the Chargers, that sort of thing. Here is a list of the NFL teams and some of the quality QBs they have had. (HOF highligted):

 

Cardinals: Charley Johnson, Jim Hart, Neil Lomax, Jake Plummer, Kurt Warner

 

Bills: Jack Kemp, Joe Ferguson, Jim Kelly

 

Bears: George Blanda, Sid Luckman, Jim McMahon, Bill Wade

 

Browns: Otto Graham, Frank Ryan, Bill Nelsen, Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar, Tim Couch

 

Cowboys: Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Danny White, Troy Aikman, Tony Romo

 

Broncos: Craig Morton, John Elway, Jake Plummer

 

Lions: Bobby Layne

 

Packers: Arnie Herber, Tobin Rote, Bart Starr, Lynn Dickey, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers

 

Colts: Johnny Unitas, Bert Jones, Peyton Manning

 

Chiefs: Len Dawson, Bill Kenney, Trent Green

 

Dolphins: Bob Griese, Dan Marino

 

Vikings: Fran Tarkenton, Joe Kapp, Daunte Culpepper

 

Patriots: Babe Parilli, Steve Grogan, Drew Bledsoe, Tom Brady

 

Giants: George Conerly, Benny Friedman, Y.A. Tittle, Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, Fran Tarkenton, Eli Manning

 

Jets: Joe Namath, Richard Todd, Ken O'Brien, Chad Pennington

 

Raiders: Darryl Lamonica, Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett, Marc Wilson, Rich Gannon

 

Eagles: Norm Van Brocklin, Norm Snead, Sonny Jurgenson, Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb

 

Steelers: Terry Bradshaw, Neil O'Donnel, Ben Roethlisberger

 

Chargers: John Hadl, Dan Fouts, Stan Humphries, Philip Rivers

 

49ers: Y.A. Tittle, John Brodie, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jeff Garcia

 

Rams: Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Roman Gabriel, Vince Ferragamo, Jim Everett, Kurt Warner

 

Oilers/Titan: George Blanda, Dan Pastorini, Warren Moon, Steve McNair

 

Redskins: Sammy Baugh, Sonny Jurgenson, Joe Theismann

 

Falcons: Steve Bartkowski, Chris Chandler, Mike Vick, Ryan

 

Bengals: Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason, Carson Palmer

 

Saints: Archie Manning, Bobby Hebert, Drew Brees

 

Buccaneers: Doug Williams, Vinny Testaverde, Brad Johnson

 

Seahawks: Jim Zorn, Dave Kreig, Matt Hasselback

 

Jaguars: Mark Brunell, Byron Leftwich, David Garrard

 

Texans: David Carr, Matt Schaub

 

Panthers: Kerry Collins, Jake Delhomme

 

Ravens: Kyle Boller, Joe Flacco

 

 

So, how would you rate the best group, give say Top 5. And how about the worst?

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I think the teams with the top QB class is probably The Packers. Two are in: Herber, Starr, plus Favre a shoe in, plus the current hottest QB going.

 

Next I think is the Giants, 3 HOFs withe Tittle, Friedman and Tarkenton (though Tark played 5-6 years with Giants he made his name with the Vikings). It remains to be seen if Eli Manning will become a HOF caliber QB. Not yet.

 

Third is the 49ers with Montana and Young, and Tittle (again though, Tittle, despite playing about 7-8 years with the 49ers, is best known as a Giant).

 

Honestly, the worst I think is The Lions. Since Bobby Layne in the 50s they have not had a consistent QB play for that team. I mean the only guys that have QBd that team for like 4-5 years have been names like Eric Hipple, Joey Harrington and Scott Mitchell. NOT stellar at all. For their sake, maybe Matt Stafford will become something decent.

Other teams that have not had much QB success have not been around nearly as long, like the Panthers.

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I was a at Rotary lunch that Y.A. Tittle was speaking at. He was about 75 years old at the time. He talked about playing for the niners and getting traded during a pre-season game to NY. The thing that I thought was the funniest and most admirable thing was that he had nothing good to say about Otto Graham and Paul Brown. To see a guy who still had that much competitiveness and fire at that age after accomplishing what he had was inspiring. It also reinforced the theory that PB was a football genius.

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I was a at Rotary lunch that Y.A. Tittle was speaking at. He was about 75 years old at the time. He talked about playing for the niners and getting traded during a pre-season game to NY. The thing that I thought was the funniest and most admirable thing was that he had nothing good to say about Otto Graham and Paul Brown. To see a guy who still had that much competitiveness and fire at that age after accomplishing what he had was inspiring. It also reinforced the theory that PB was a football genius.

 

 

I assume by that you mean that he wasn't being personal, just that he was essentially bitter over getting his ass beat by OG and PB time and again, right?

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It all depends on how many QB's you want to list. If it's a 2 man list per team then I go with 49ers. If it's a 3 man list I go with GB. and Any more then 3 I would say Dallas

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I assume by that you mean that he wasn't being personal, just that he was essentially bitter over getting his ass beat by OG and PB time and again, right?

 

No it wasn't personal. It came up while talking about how he called all his own plays on the field. Yes bitter about loosing to OG ad the Browns. He said he did'nt like what at the time was thought to be a gimmicky passing offense that PB and Otto ran and that PB called the plays and had them shuttled in to OG.

 

YA also talked about how he spent a brief time as a scout for the niners and after a visit to LA Tech and seeing Bradshaw told the niners that "oh yah, he can throw the ball a mile but boy is he dumb, he cant remember the plays"he recommended that the niners not look to draft him in '70.

 

Turned out he went 1st as we all know just imagine if he YA worked for the Steelers and made that reco to them. They may have passed on Bradshaw taken Phips at 1 leaving Bradshaw to the Browns at 3.

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Raiders: Darryl Lamonica, Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett, Marc Wilson, Rich Gannon

 

Kenny Stabler was the mans QB. The guy use to drink Jack Daniels during practice and kick ass on Sundays, he's worth three Tom Brady's.

 

 

Agreed i always liked Kenny Stabler he was something else

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Kenny Stabler was the mans QB. The guy use to drink Jack Daniels during practice and kick ass on Sundays, he's worth three Tom Brady's. NW220

*****************************************************

Joe Namath is one of the greatest qb's I ever watched. He stayed up all night on Sat nights, talking with three ladies at one time,

and still kicked ass on Sundays ! ;)

 

 

 

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It all depends on how many QB's you want to list. If it's a 2 man list per team then I go with 49ers. If it's a 3 man list I go with GB. and Any more then 3 I would say Dallas

 

 

If you are just going with 2, I think the Colts with Unitas and Manning have the best duo, combined, those two outshine the combo of Montana and Young by a wide margin in my opinion.

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Kenny Stabler was the mans QB. The guy use to drink Jack Daniels during practice and kick ass on Sundays, he's worth three Tom Brady's. NW220

*****************************************************

Joe Namath is one of the greatest qb's I ever watched. He stayed up all night on Sat nights, talking with three ladies at one time,

and still kicked ass on Sundays ! ;)

 

 

Just talking?

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OK, well, let's take this thread in a slightly different direction: Who would you rate as the Top 5 or 10 QBs of all time.

Here is a list I have put together in alphabetical order that I think the primary candidates would probably come from, but certainly you are free to add to the list:

 

Troy Aikman

Sammy Baugh

Terry Bradshaw

Tom Brady

Len Dawson

John Elway

Brett Favre

Dan Fouts

Benny Friedman

Otto Graham

Arner Herber

Sonny Jurgenson

Jim Kelly

Sid Luckman

Peyton Manning

Dan Marino

Joe Montana

Warren Moon

Joe Namath

Bart Starr

Roger Staubach

Fran Tarkenton

John Unitas

Steve Young

 

So, who is your Top 5?

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I dono about Manning and Unitas over Montana and Young...Id take the rings but the 49ers had better teams as opposed to say the Colts may had the better Talent at the QB position, it'd be a good agrument

 

 

I don't know how old you are, but I saw all of them play. For me, Unitas and Montana are an even match, so it would come down to who I thought was better, Young or Manning, and my vote is for Manning for a fairly wide margin.

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My top 5 all-time would be

 

1. Montana

2. Elway

3. Unitas

4. Manning

5. Marino

 

And if Dan Marino had won atleast 1 title he would be #2. And by the end of his career Manning will be #1 on my list.

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Wow surpirzed Manning is getting so much love hes great but he hasnt put up the great Post Season numbers yet,we will see

 

Id go top 5

1.Montana

2.Graham

3.Unitas

4.Brady

5.Manning

 

Also do think Marnio does deserve some love and had he won a SB would be ranked higher

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Most great QB's had GREAT teams to lead...

 

How would you like a QB who throws an interception for every TD???

 

Has a 51.9% completion percentage???

 

Has a QB rating of 70.9???

 

Most of us would be bitching pretty loudly, yelling for the backup QB...

 

In reality, those are the career numbers of Terry Bradshaw who has 4 super bowl rings and is in the hall of fame...Hmmmmm

 

Peace

 

T.Dawg

 

 

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Most great QB's had GREAT teams to lead...

 

How would you like a QB who throws an interception for every TD???

 

Has a 51.9% completion percentage???

 

Has a QB rating of 70.9???

 

Most of us would be bitching pretty loudly, yelling for the backup QB...

 

In reality, those are the career numbers of Terry Bradshaw who has 4 super bowl rings and is in the hall of fame...Hmmmmm

 

Peace

 

T.Dawg

 

 

This just goes to show you how we measure QBs so much differently than they used to. Those numbers you cite were probably among the best numbers of the QBs that played contemporaneously with Bradshaw.

If you look at the list of the current Top 20 in career "Passer Rating", you would that over half of the career leaders are currently active QBs.

Yes, today's QBs have better completion percentages and better ratings, but the old guard generally have far greater yards per pass or completion averages. They threw the ball further and took more risks, but also got intercepted more.

It is almost impossible to judge QBs from even the 70s by today's standards.

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