Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Some love for Johnny Unitas

ESPN put out a list today of their top ten quarterbacks of all time, and have to give them some props: it's not a bad list.

1. Johnny Unitas
2. Joe Montana
3. Tom Brady
4. Dan Marino
5. Peyton Manning
6. John Elway
7. Terry Bradshaw
8. Brett Favre
9. Otto Graham
10. Dan Fouts

I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough about the NFL prior to the 80s to disagree with any of the old school picks, and my modern era picks are pretty close to what they have. I am ranking them based on many games I think they could win over time on a bad team with cap room, and they are exclusively guys I've seen play.

1. Tom Brady
2. Dan Marino
3. Joe Montana
4. Peyton Manning
5. Brett Favre
6. John Elway
7. Steve Young
8. Troy Aikman
9. Warren Moon
10. Donovan McNabb

Pretty bold of me to put McNabb ahead of Jim Kelly, but I view McNabb as a more complete player. My argument for Brady is simple: Marino/Favre/Manning have the stats, Montana/Bradshaw/Aikman have three or more championships, Brady has both (Elway has neither).

1 comment:

John Kinney said...

Elway had no stats or Championships? You obviously are not a fan of the NFL. Either that or you were in a coma for 16 years. Elway won back to back superbowls, the first against a guy on your list that many believe to be extremely overrated, Brett Favre. As for stats, when he retired, Elway had more victories, more TD passes, and more fourth quarter comebacks than any QB in history. And the guy at the top of your list? He only has three rings, and a much shorter resume to base an evaluation on. Personally, I believe his career is over, and that in time, he will drop off most people's list altogether. He is/was very good, don't get me wrong, but his champtionships came in an era of parity, and the first one was as much Bledsoe's as it was his.