Page 3 of 4
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 12:07 pm
by SeahawkFever
7DnBrnc53 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2026 7:10 am
saturdaysarebetter wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2026 11:35 am
Brady had the greatest career of any QB. That part is hard to argue with. Him having success away from Belichick helped cement his legacy and I didn't like him but after age 40, I can't help but admire how well he played and at such a high level at 40 and beyond.
Montana to me was so fantastic in the clutch. Four Super Bowls 16 quarters and zero interceptions. The best in my mind for one game.
I'm glad to see Unitas and Graham still ranked high. Recentivism is so rampant nowadays.
I'm also glad to see Marino listed where he is and to me, he's still too high. Playing well in big games to me matters. A quarterback can't win a game on his own, but he certainly can lose them on his own. Making poor decisions, throwing into double coverage, making ill-advised throws, throwing pick sixes. Marino retired as the leader in career pick sixes with 29 if I recall correctly. It's hard to beat good teams when your quarterback is a turnover machine.
You check his big game performances and he often threw two interceptions or more at every level, from high school, college and in the NFL. He threw a pretty pass but did he ever audible to a draw play? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Quarterbacks have won quite a few Super Bowls with far less running games than what Marino had. He played for two HOF Super Bowl winning coaches that both won two Super Bowls without Dan Marino. They knew how to win a big game, Marino did not.
He was good enough to beat the '85 Bears in the regular season, but he couldn't beat the '85 Patriots in the post-season, at home, outplayed by the "great" Tony Eason.
Once you get past the top 15, then to me it becomes more difficult to rank. Glad to see Bradshaw above Roethlisberger. Big game QB and great in the post-season vs. regular season QB. Big games matter.
The top 35 all HOFers or will be? Cam Newton would be my first certain no. I'm not sure I'd vote in Rivers.
Again, there is this over-emphasis by fans on winning to judge a QB.
Yes, the Dolphins didn't get it done at home in 1985. However, Marino wasn't playing Eason head to head. And, there is something else: That Dolphin team didn't get back to the playoffs for five years. They really didn't have the talent in the first place to win.
As for Montana, Terry Bradshaw also won four SB's. And he had more memorable big play throws in big games. Montana dinked and dunked a lot of the time against inferior SB competition, like the 81 Bengals, 84 Dolphins, and 89 Broncos.
Also, with Brady, CCC Productions did a video about him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_fv85_MV4s
Go to 1:52:09. He talks about seasons that deserve an asterisk, like 1982 and 87. He also said that 2020 needed a big asterisk because of COVID. Also, a lot of QB's could have won with the 2020 Bucs. They had a stacked roster. Kyle Orton would have won a SB with them. Mark Malone would have won a SB with them. Heck, Nathan Peterman may have won a SB with them. Brady just had to come in and not lose the game.
I’d say Brady was solid enough in 2020. I remember the defense of that team (D-line and pass rush) impressing me more at the time than Brady and the offense though.
I thought Brady was better in 2021 than 2020 though. He may not have won a particularly impressive ring without Bill Belichick but I think he did have a really good season without him that year.
Also, going back to Marino, you mentioned people saying “he lost to Eason”. That kind of reminds me of the time I saw the NFL Top 10 Peyton Manning games where someone said “he beat Rex Grossman in the Super Bowl”.
Not saying either of those quarterbacks are anything of note, but I’m partly surprised people say that, and not “Marino lost to the 85 Patriots defense and Manning beat the 06 Bears defense”.
Obviously the NFL markets the quarterbacks and the matchups of those quarterbacks, but the other team’s defense is who they matched up against when they played.
As for Bradshaw and Montana, their passing styles were clearly different, but they both succeeded through their respective styles. If you are more impressed by the quarterback who is asked to throw deeper, I could see that, but both succeeded regardless.
Both also were part of teams that made and lost a conference championship game in addition to their Super Bowl titles (I believe three more in Montana’s case); in Bradshaw’s case in particular he may have won five Super Bowls had his backfield not been battered in the 1976 Divisional Round against the Colts perhaps.
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 12:31 pm
by Brian wolf
Thanks Bob, but I looked at your approach in terms of weighted criteria, like draft status, high free agent salaries, expectations from coaches, fans, media, lack of injuries, career starts, minimum to maximum numbers, etc.
Blanda is a great example. Drafted in the 12th round, though the 119 player selected(similar to a lower 4th or 5th round pick now)you wouldnt have expectations of him succeeding or starting quickly, but at the same time, you dont play on a George Halas-coached team without mental and physical toughness. That, helped him develop but kicking kept him on the team.
Despite talent around him, Blanda couldnt run well enough for Halas to keep him in the starting lineup and inconsistency ended his NFL career. He then develops against inferior and less experienced talent in the AFL which helps him develop a HOF career with his added kicking, yet by the time the AFL starts upgrading the college talent, Blanda's days as a passer are numbered. With the Raiders though, he felt wanted by the owners, coaches and players, especially a young Ken Stabler and that helped his ability to be more clutch as he got older.
I truly dont believe Blanda is a HOF player, but I understand and can accept him being elected. Maybe as a QB, he is more around the 100-110 mark but definitely not on a worst list unless its around 140 QBs.
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 3:27 pm
by Bob Gill
Brian wolf wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2026 12:31 pm
I truly don't believe Blanda is a HOF player, but I understand and can accept him being elected. Maybe as a QB, he is more around the 100-110 mark but definitely not on a worst list unless its around 140 QBs.
Sure, I think that's a fair assessment. I don't mind him being in the Hall of Fame at all, because he did have some historical significance -- winning the first two AFL titles, playing for so long, and retiring with the career scoring record. I just don't think he belongs on any list of "greatest quarterbacks."
Just to pick two names from pretty far back, I don't believe I saw Tommy Thompson or Tobin Rote on the list, and I think both of them were easily better quarterbacks than Blanda.
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 4:38 pm
by Brian wolf
Despite his running ability, Michael Vick is listed too high. Lost a number of years from a criminal felony. The Falcons never had a back to back winning season till Matt Ryan came along.*
*Whew ... Thanks Jay, must of had been thinking about some of the worst QBs and Ryan Leaf popped into my mind?
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 11:17 pm
by SeahawkFever
Brian wolf wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2026 4:38 pm
Despite his running ability, Michael Vick is listed too high. Lost a number of years from a criminal felony. The Falcons never had a back to back winning season till Ryan Leaf came along.
That’s true. I think Vick may belong more in the 70’s or 80’s of the list personally.
To be fair to Vick though, had he not gotten injured in 2003, outside chance they could’ve been at least .500 in 03 perhaps. What do you think?
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2026 1:09 am
by Brian wolf
I know I am being picky, SeahawkFever, but I was actually bothered by Michael Vick's attitude in 2003. He had been medically cleared to return from injury, but similar to Lamar Jackson in 2022, decided that he was too hurt to resume playing and helping out his teammates. HC Dan Reeves, who drafted him after trading for the Chargers top pick in the first place, ended up losing his job. I didnt feel Vick supported him enough and sat out more games than he should have.
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2026 10:53 am
by Brian wolf
Getting back to the more frail, 187 pound "dink-and-dunk" passer QB that was Joe Montana--who helped his team win eight championship games--were the three championship games that the 49ers and Chiefs lost.
In his first loss, he led the 49ers back against the Redskins from a 21 point deficit in RFK stadium, including a beautiful bomb to Solomon that had his teammates exploding on the sidelines. All three TD passes in the 4th quarter. Penalties on the defense, and Bill Walsh's abysmal use of time-outs, a recurring problem for "The Genius", enabled the Redskins to pull out the game.
Montana had to go against a very disciplined, and well coached Belichick defense in the 1990/91 NFC Championship game against the Giants--basically the same defense that he beat in 1988, with a beautiful bomb pass to Jerry Rice in the Meadowlands, coming off the bench--but still played poised, while building a 13-9 lead for his team. He gets knocked out of the game, but despite the 49er lead, a fumble by Roger Craig allows the Giants to win.
In his only championship game loss, where he and his team got thoroughly beaten, was with the Chiefs against the Bills in Rich Stadium. The Chiefs had a miserable day, where Joe gets knocked out of the game again. He also had a TD pass earlier in the game go off his running backs hands into an interception. The kind of game it was ...
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2026 2:54 pm
by Gary Najman
For the record, there is the list of the quarterbacks who have started at least 20 games and have a winning percentage of 20% or less:
Brady Quinn 4 16 0 20,00% 20
MIke Glennon 6 25 0 19,35% 31
Ryan Leaf 4 17 0 19,05% 21
Chuck Long 4 17 0 19,05% 21
Jack Thompson 4 17 0 19,05% 21
David Klingler 4 20 0 16,67% 24
Chris Weinke 2 18 0 10,00% 20
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2026 4:11 pm
by Brian wolf
Thanks Gary ... a lot of 1st round busts in that group ... I am looking through my Quarterback Abstract book written by John Maxymuk. Amazing how many dud QBs he collected for his book from 2009. Imagine had Jack Thompson taken the job from Ken Anderson? Would Fouts and the Chargers had won it all in 1981?
For me, Fouts was a better thrower than many of the QBs ahead of him on the Top 100 list.
Re: NFL Throwback List of 100 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time
Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2026 12:01 pm
by SeahawkFever
Brian wolf wrote: ↑Fri Sep 18, 2026 4:11 pm
Thanks Gary ... a lot of 1st round busts in that group ... I am looking through my Quarterback Abstract book written by John Maxymuk. Amazing how many dud QBs he collected for his book from 2009. Imagine had Jack Thompson taken the job from Ken Anderson? Would Fouts and the Chargers had won it all in 1981?
For me, Fouts was a better thrower than many of the QBs ahead of him on the Top 100 list.
This might be a bit of a hot take, but to me, the number of top five offenses a player was the focal point of is something that should be factored in when talking about their career, almost as much as the success of the teams they were a part of, and Dan Fouts is the quarterback who illustrates this the most.
He had two conference championship game appearances and that’s it.
But he also quarterbacked a top five offense by total points five times in his career (1979-1982, and 1985).
1981 is cited by some when talking about the greatest offenses of all time, and 1985 in particular he deserves lot of credit for because he was the quarterback of the number one offense by points, yards, and first downs while being on a team that ranked 20th by rushing yards and 21st by yards per carry (4th in rushing touchdowns but still).
Aside from maybe the 1970 49ers with John Brodie I can’t think of another number one offense that had a worse run game than that.
Either way, Fouts was the quarterback for those offenses in his prime and I’m sure some ranked above him couldn’t say that for as many seasons in their careers.