borg

Yet how many current QBs are on the back half of 30 and still making an impact? Of the top 32 QBs in passing yards last year, only one, Hasselback, is 35+. Toss in Peyton Manning....and the odds still are against late 30's success. Expecting Tom Brady to defy odds because he is Tom Brady....???....I know God is a Pats fan, but I do believe the other 31 teams utilize modern medicine and new training methods as well. Yet father time hits their guys without mercy.

__________________
"In the end, Belichick juiced Moss like an orange, and once all the good pulp was squeezed, he tossed Moss aside. "


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Deus Irae

Collins is a recent retiree, but he went to the Pro Bowl at 36 and had his 3rd best QB rating at 38.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

Frezo

A lot of the QBs you're referring to are simply not elite. They're run of the mill guys whose careers are extended with back up roles. Why would a team extend an average QB as a starter into his mid thirties even if his health is good? I can easily see elite QBs that still posses skills and talent having their careers extended by a year or two because of the reasons mentioned.

borg

Guys like Montana, Young, Elway were are better physical specimens than Brady...better athletes....yet they didn't last. I'll brag about Brady's athleticism over Marino though. But when you compare guys like Testeverde and Collins....just big strong sturdy dudes.
Of course this topic must include a conversation about preserving star status verses maintaining a paycheck.
For Brady....I see a two year extension being the answer

__________________
"In the end, Belichick juiced Moss like an orange, and once all the good pulp was squeezed, he tossed Moss aside. "


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Armchair Quarterback

Yes.........exactly

billdog3484

we are also in a different age of the NFL. Qbs are protected to the max, so they dont get beat up as bad. i think we will start seeing guys playing till they are older because of the rule changes in favor of qBs.

Fencer

Concussions were often part of it.

Definitely in the case of Aikman. I think in the case of Young as well. It wasn't said in the case of Elway that I can recall, but it wouldn't surprise me for him too; he was pretty physical. Also, he had a teammate with terrible migraines, which we'd now just assume was head trauma related.

__________________
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

Deus Irae

The bolded is sort of the point, though, isn't it? It's mostly the elite QBs who continue as starters at a high level into their later years, after all. Favre has the longest consecutive games played streak in history, so it tells you that he could take the beating. Brady was working on a streak like that of his own (111 games) until his ACL injury, and he's played in 48 straight since his return.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

mayoclinic

I would certainly think that there's a better chance that an "elite" QB like Brady stays effective into his late 30's than that a non-elite guy does. Conditioning, physical impairments and the will to compete play a huge role. Right now Brady seems to be in good shape on all 3 fronts, so I wouldn't put it past him. The last factor is huge. Brady has already defied the odds to a huge extent. As long as he stays healthy and maintains his competitive drive, there's not much I wouldn't put past him achieving.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi

Deus Irae

Absolutely, plus the decline begins from a higher point to start with. QBs don't tend to drop off the table at the same rate as some other positions. It's not that it doesn't happen, it just doesn't seem to happen as often. Peyton seems to be a good example of this. He seems to have peaked from 2003-2007, but his decline after that hasn't made him a stiff by any stretch of the imagination, and some of that decline is likely a product of the overall decline of the Colts offensive personnel around him.

Brady, meanwhile, seems as if he's just hitting his peak since 2007 (and lost 2 years of it because of that knee injury) and is still riding that high crest.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius