Peter King's Top 12 QB's of all time list

[SoonerPatriot]

Brady checks in at a very pedestrian No. 10 on the list which sort of confirms the theory that King has never viewed Brady as a player on the same level as Manning or Favre.

Not really feeling his top two either since that era is so different than the last 40 years.


* This list is from his book coming out next month so it was probably written last off-season.


1. Otto Graham. Easy. Ten seasons, seven championships, seven passing titles.


2. Sammy Baugh. Had the best season of any player ever in 1943. Led the NFL in passing, punting and, as one of the best safeties in football, in interceptions.


3. Joe Montana. Made everyone copy Walsh's high-tech offense, and won four titles in a decade.


4. Johnny Unitas. First great modern quarterback, and great in the clutch. He'd be higher if he won more than one title in his last 14 seasons.


5. Brett Favre. Most durable, most productive quarterback of all time. Marred by only one title.


6. Peyton Manning. Could break every record if Favre ever retires. Needs another championship or two to climb the list.

Read more: Mark Sanchez, other young quarterbacks making their mark on NFL - Peter King - SI.com


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[SHOWTIME15]

Brady checks in at a very pedestrian No. 10 on the list which sort of confirms the theory that King has never viewed Brady as a player on the same level as Manning or Favre.

Not really feeling his top two either since that era is so different than the last 40 years.


1. Otto Graham. Easy. Ten seasons, seven championships, seven passing titles.


2. Sammy Baugh. Had the best season of any player ever in 1943. Led the NFL in passing, punting and, as one of the best safeties in football, in interceptions.


3. Joe Montana. Made everyone copy Walsh's high-tech offense, and won four titles in a decade.


4. Johnny Unitas. First great modern quarterback, and great in the clutch. He'd be higher if he won more than one title in his last 14 seasons.


5. Brett Favre. Most durable, most productive quarterback of all time. Marred by only one title.


6. Peyton Manning. Could break every record if Favre ever retires. Needs another championship or two to climb the list.

Read more: Mark Sanchez, other young quarterbacks making their mark on NFL - Peter King - SI.com


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and this was posted right after brady had arguably the worst game of his career. peter king is on the HOF committee and thinks based on numbers - that's how you get into the HOF, right? numbers. brady will never have peyton's numbers - just more wins and more rings.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

and this was posted right after brady had arguably the worst game of his career. peter king is on the HOF committee and thinks based on numbers - that's how you get into the HOF, right? numbers. brady will never have peyton's numbers - just more wins and more rings.

Actually, that part is from his forthcoming book (coming to a bargain bin near you) that comes out in Oct. so I'm sure it was written last off-season.

 

[reflexblue]

All one needs to do is look at #5 brett favre, king believes favre is better thatn brady. Once upon a time about 12-15 years ago favre was good, now he hold the record for most int's, hes Stunk for the last 8-9 years. So if king thinks lord favre is number 5 than he has NO credibility.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

All one needs to do is look at #5 brett favre, king believes favre is better thatn brady. Once upon a time about 12-15 years ago favre was good, now he hold the record for most int's. So if king thinks lord favre is number 5 than he has NO credibility.

I have some issues with Roger Staubach being ranked ahead of him, too. Brady has more rings, and has him in yards, touchdown passes and QB rating. The only category Staubach would lead would be rushing yards. He had about 2500 career yards and Brady has 544. That's significant but it only averages out to about 250 a year for Staubach plus Brady creams him in the other categories.

 

[jmt57]

Hasn't there been enough going on in the NFL in the last ten days for King? I thought these type of lists were usually reserved to pass time during the slow off-season.

I'm usually a proponent of both Graham and Baugh in these rankings because so many fans seem to be under the impression that anything that occured prior to the first Super Bowl doesn't count. However, I do have to ask: what does Baugh's play as a defensive back and punter have to do with how good a quarterback he was?

I didn't click on the full story yet, but my first impression is that while a consecutive game streak is noteworthy, it is hardly worth taking in to consideration of who is the best of all time. I'd also say it appears he is putting too much weight on who won how many championships.

 

[BigtimeColtsfans]

Peter King is an idiot.

The trouble with modern sports/sports writers is that there is so many of them and they have to fill up so many channels, papers, magazines, internet sites ect.

And they all seem to want to be stars. In the old days, except for Howard Cossel, these guys just reported what happened, maybe threw in a opinion or two and that was all we had to listen to.

Now, they all have blogs, books, daily columns, etc etc etc and they make lists of every damn thing. People pay too much attention to them.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but I've always thought King was an idiot. He seems like an attention whore to me.

 

[Real American Hero]

I'm 35, have been watching since I was about 5. Montana, Elway, Marino, Young, Kelly, Brady and Manning are all easily above Favre in my book. I'd be hard pressed to put Aikman underneath him and think Big Ben, Rivers and little turd Manning have a shot at being better over their careers. Considering the other greats that I have only heard about or watched NFL Film highlight reels of, I have a hard time considering Brett a top 10 all time QB. He had a long career and racked up a ton of numbers, good and bad. So did Warren Moon and you don't see him entering these debates. They had annointed Brett back in 1998 which was one of his last great years.

 

[DarrylS]

When I read this crap always have to wonder how anyone can objectively compare Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, John Elway and Brady/Manning/Favre in the same article.. football has changed dramatically, and this is all guess work.. not to take anything away form Graham et al, but develop two lists one of which is a "legacy" list and a modern day list.. we will never know how good any of these old timers would be in modern day pro football.. and we willl never know how good Brady/Manning/favre would have been 50 years ago.. it might make a good bargain basement book, but in reality means crap.

 

[reflexblue]

When I read this crap always have to wonder how anyone can objectively compare Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, John Elway and Brady/Manning/Favre in the same article.. football has changed dramatically, and this is all guess work.. not to take anything away form Graham et al, but develop two lists one of which is a "legacy" list and a modern day list.. we will never know how good any of these old timers would be in modern day pro football.. and we willl never know how good Brady/Manning/favre would have been 50 years ago.. it might make a good bargain basement book, but in reality means crap.

I don't think guess work is involved, i think its all done with darts and a board.

 

[Ghost of Ben Dreith]

Why would any of you really care what an arsehat like King writes? He is an entertainer....no more. He is a bandwagon writer of the lowest order. He may be a nice guy to hang around with.....seems like he would be, but that doesn't mean his opinion is any more valid than anybody's on this board. Actually, the fact he has Lord Favre so high on the list is proof that he really doesn't know much at all.

This is similar to people caring what actors have to say about politics.....morons the large majority of them. King and Clayton are their sportswriting counterparts.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

All one needs to do is look at #5 brett favre, king believes favre is better thatn brady. Once upon a time about 12-15 years ago favre was good, now he hold the record for most int's, hes Stunk for the last 8-9 years. So if king thinks lord favre is number 5 than he has NO credibility.

In the last four full years Favre has 88 Tds and 83 INTs.. nearly 1-1 while the elites like Brady and Manning are nearly 2.2-1 or 2.5-1.....

 

[reflexblue]

In the last four full years Favre has 88 Tds and 83 INTs.. nearly 1-1 while the elites like Brady and Manning are nearly 2.2-1 or 2.5-1.....

On top of that the bigger the game the worse he plays, just the opposite of what you want in a QB just the opposite of Brady.
I'm not even sure he would have won the SB, if it wasn't for the run back for a TD.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Farve and Manning over Brady is absurd....

 

[PatsfanGlo]

May be Brady should carry his teammates on his shoulder and run around like an idiot or give up easy sack so some DE will get sack record. I never got this media infatuation with Farve.

 

[BradyManny]

Farve and Manning over Brady is absurd....

No doubt. I have a lot of respect for Manning, but its hard to argue with his postseason failures. Any quarterback who flat-out sucks in the postseason does not belong in a top 10 list of all-time QB's.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Brady checks in at a very pedestrian No. 10 on the list which sort of confirms the theory that King has never viewed Brady as a player on the same level as Manning or Favre.

King's view is clear: he believes that stats trump rings, except for his PC top three. So, one is left to argue that championships and leadership is most important, which I surely would, but there's really no point in engaging him on this since he's not going to change his mind.

As you read the list, remember that he has TB as #10 "all time," which puts him ahead of nearly all HOF QB's, including Terry Bradshaw (imagine the consternation in Steeltown with Bradshaw at the bottom and Big Ben nowhere near the list).

Take the list for what it is and then forget about it is my opinion.

 

[apple strudel]

Favre has been embarrassing for over half his career. A guy who throws careless interceptions and thinks he's great? A guy with more career Td to interception rate of 1.5:1? Wow. I guess this speaks to the power of myth-making and the influence those myths exert over the uncritical.

 

[upstater1]

I'm 35, have been watching since I was about 5. Montana, Elway, Marino, Young, Kelly, Brady and Manning are all easily above Favre in my book. I'd be hard pressed to put Aikman underneath him and think Big Ben, Rivers and little turd Manning have a shot at being better over their careers. Considering the other greats that I have only heard about or watched NFL Film highlight reels of, I have a hard time considering Brett a top 10 all time QB. He had a long career and racked up a ton of numbers, good and bad. So did Warren Moon and you don't see him entering these debates. They had annointed Brett back in 1998 which was one of his last great years.

Ben and Eli have not shot at surpassing Favre, and with Rivers' 10cent brain, I doubt he does either. Aikman and Favre should be tied perhaps. Montana, Marino, Brady and Manning with a sprinkle of Dan Fouts are the best of the modern era. Unitas is the bridge. Elway is a step down, then Kelly a few rungs below that. Favre is in Elway's bracket with Aikman. Kelly has Bradshaw for company. Drew Brees is this generation's Dan Fouts.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

In the last four full years Favre has 88 Tds and 83 INTs.. nearly 1-1 while the elites like Brady and Manning are nearly 2.2-1 or 2.5-1.....

I have no time for Lord Favregaard and can't believe I'm defending him, but he's a gunslinger and has been for his entire career (though the numbers you cite are skewed by the 2005 season, where he threw 29 INT's against 20 TD's). So, his TD/INT ratio is going to reflect his style of play. The bottom line is that he's thrown for 467 TD's, well above the average of 245.9 for SB-Era QB's who are in the HOF.

His career TD/INT ratio is 1.55, higher than Aikman, Bradshaw, Elway and several others. Of course, those stats are a little murky because these guys played in different eras, but when you consider Favre's style of play, the numbers aren't that silly. Elway's career overlapped with Favre's for eight years and Favre's 1.5 or so compares favorably with Elway's 1.33.

The main argument against putting Favre that high up the list is that he only has one ring (and we all remember that day), but, as I said in my earlier post, King's criteria for placement on the list put stats above championships. I happen to disagree with that and would place Tommy (and even Bradshaw) above him and Manning and Marino, but we're wasting our breath if we think we're going to change King's mind on this.