Great QB/mediocre defense vs. Great defense/mediocre QB

[Tour2ma]

Well said. Both QBs had great lines, RBs/FBs and perimeter help as well as great coaching. It wasn't that I didn't like Griese but sometimes fans start judging QB greatness more on SB ring inventory than anything else. Anyone think Dan Fouts couldn't have won multiple Superbowls in Pittsburgh? Meanwhile, a lot of former League MVP QBs never get their teams to Superbowls. Elway was a betetr QB when he wasn't winning the Superbowl but he had more balanced teams when he did win the Superbowl. Doesn't Peyton Manning's last Superbowl in Denver remind us of that? The irony is Elway was the GM that brought him to Denver.

 

It's whether a QB can change his proverbial stripes, isn't it?

 

Elway did. Ben has. Manning did late, but in truth his physical limitations played a role. Could Fouts, Marino, and other gunslingers have done so? I can't be sure. The QB I see as King of the Gunslingers, Favre, barely held himself in check for a single super bowl season... and that was with Reggie White sitting on him.

 

I will say that at least there is some degree of choice involved in a gunslinger's decision. Same cannot be said for the game manager... at least not over the long haul. It should be easier for the physically gifted to dial down aggression, than for the limited to put a team on their back.