Are we leaving the Golden era of QBs?

Five years ago, the Brady vs Manning rivalry was still hot. Also had Rodgers, Brees, Big Ben. Lately, just don't see that many good emerging elite QBs.

Are we about to say these were the good old days of QBs?

Brady and Manning play the game at the line of scrimmage, the new QB coming out of college now line up and then look to the sidelines for the play to be changed.

the same goes for offensive lineman, they play so much spread in college that it takes them a while to learn the Pro system. I think it is going to take a while for any of the spread QBs to pick up the Pro system.

The Golden era was the 80s to early 90s.

BobDigital said:

The Golden era was the 80s to early 90s.

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I disagree. I'll take Brady, Manning, Ben, and Rodgers over Montana, Young, Elway, Marino and Kelly.

ViperGTS said:

I disagree. I'll take Brady, Manning, Ben, and Rodgers over Montana, Young, Elway, Marino and Kelly.

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Okay fair enough. I'll agree to disagree.

The QBs from the 2000s to now were pretty good too but i'll take that group in the 80s and early 90s.

Luck, Wilson, Newton, Goff and Wentz?

rookBoston said:

Luck, Wilson, Newton, Goff and Wentz?

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Damaged goods, overrated, can't handle pressure, unproven, unproven

ViperGTS said:

I disagree. I'll take Brady, Manning, Ben, and Rodgers over Montana, Young, Elway, Marino and Kelly.

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I'm glad you're so confident because that's a tough call for me. I think I would also give a slight edge to the former in your post simply because I'd probably take Brady alone vs the whole pack. LOL

Watching the great QB play of the 2000's, especially the giants in Brady and Manning, has been a great privilege as a fan. I don't know if we can understand how lucky we are in Pats Nation until #12 walks away for good. I wanted to believe Luck, RG, Wilson and the like were bringing in a new era. So far, however, the list has been wildly uninspiring sans Wilson's success. Even that we'll have to keep an eye on now that Lynch is done. It's the 'ole Big Ben/Jerome Bettis thing, I suppose. Who knows. Every guy on the new list is young and can turn things around with some help from their respective front offices. Newton looks poised to hold on to a spot in the discussion and Rodgers is older in age, but he has less tread. He'll remain part of it. He's kind of old and new school.

ViperGTS said:

I disagree. I'll take Brady, Manning, Ben, and Rodgers over Montana, Young, Elway, Marino and Kelly.

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Each era has its own flavor.

Staubach, Bradshaw, Stabler etc...

Staubach reminds me of Brady in that he was cerebral and clutch.

Elway, Young, Montana, Marino and Kelly were every bit as good as Brady, Manning, Ben and Rodgers.

Brady getting to 6 SB's and winning his first in 2001 and his latest in 2015 sets him apart from the rest among other things IMO.

With that aside, I think the concussion issue will limit how long current players will stay in the league. I don't think we will see too many more 15- 20 year QB's. So although we will still see great QB matchups, we probably won't see the same career achievements such as 6 SB appearances.

ViperGTS said:

I disagree. I'll take Brady, Manning, Ben, and Rodgers over Montana, Young, Elway, Marino and Kelly.

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Brady > Montana
Manning > Elway
Marino > Rogers
Kelly > Ben

So I'd call that a draw, but I think one of the key reasons why I agree with @BobDigital here is that after you get through the cream of the crop there's a much bigger drop off in the 2000s than there was in the 80s and 90s. There's a lot of people not listed who are heads and shoulders above everyone currently playing and not in your list other than probably Rivers and Cam.

Moon, Favre, Cunningham, Young, hell even Testaverde and Everett.

fnordcircle said:

Brady > Montana
Manning > Elway
Marino > Rogers
Kelly > Ben

So I'd call that a draw, but I think one of the key reasons why I agree with @BobDigital here is that after you get through the cream of the crop there's a much bigger drop off in the 2000s than there was in the 80s and 90s. There's a lot of people not listed who are heads and shoulders above everyone currently playing and not in your list other than probably Rivers and Cam.

Moon, Favre, Cunningham, Young, hell even Testaverde and Everett.

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I have a hard time ranking Manning above Elway.

Tony2046 said:

I have a hard time ranking Manning above Elway.

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I get it, it's close. Elway wins jack **** without Terrell Davis. Say what you want about Manning being lucky enough to play the Bears (shoulda been us damnit) but I do believe he was the primary reason they won that year.

I'm also old enough to hate Elway more than Manning because at least we beat Manning a lot. ****ing Elway being undefeated against us will always get my goat. GODDAMNIT HUGH MILLEN

fnordcircle said:

I get it, it's close. Elway wins jack **** without Terrell Davis. Say what you want about Manning being lucky enough to play the Bears (shoulda been us damnit) but I do believe he was the primary reason they won that year.

I'm also old enough to hate Elway more than Manning because at least we beat Manning a lot. ****ing Elway being undefeated against us will always get my goat. GODDAMNIT HUGH MILLEN

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Elway would have been garbage if he had been paid under the salary cap. The science proves it. 0 SBs while not cheating, 2 SBs while cheating.

Great idea for a thread. I need to do some research before I make up my mind.

Upon further review...

I ruled out the 60's-70's because they had less top QB's. I can't say if that's related to the change in philosophy that had teams running more, but this is all they had;
Bradshaw
Dawson
Fouts (crossover to the 80's)
Griese
Starr
Tarkenton
Unitas
and 2 questionable hall of famers (Namath, Jurgensen).

The next up is the 80's-90's and this group is a little stronger. Once again the passing changes might have something to do with the increase of top QBs. They are;
Aikman
Elway
Favre (crossover into the 00's)
Fouts (80's only)
Marino
Montana
Staubach
Young
and a questionable hall of famer (Warren Moon).
You could also throw in Randall Cunningham if you want a running QB on the list.

That leaves the 00's-10's, the age of the most critical changes in the passing rules;
Brady
Brees
Favre (00's only)
Luck
Eli (maybe)
PEDton
Rivers
Romo (maybe)
Big Ben
Rogers
Wilson
And Cam Newton if you want to add a running QB.

Difficult choice but I'd have to give the edge to the 00's-10's for Tom Brady and the deeper list of top QBs.

fnordcircle said:

Brady > Montana
Manning > Elway
Marino < Rogers
Kelly > Ben

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Tony2046 said:

Each era has its own flavor.

Staubach, Bradshaw, Stabler etc...

Staubach reminds me of Brady in that he was cerebral and clutch.

Elway, Young, Montana, Marino and Kelly were every bit as good as Brady, Manning, Ben and Rodgers.

Brady getting to 6 SB's and winning his first in 2001 and his latest in 2015 sets him apart from the rest among other things IMO.

With that aside, I think the concussion issue will limit how long current players will stay in the league. I don't think we will see too many more 15- 20 year QB's. So although we will still see great QB matchups, we probably won't see the same career achievements such as 6 SB appearances.

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I've never really seen comparisons of Brady to Staubach (usually Brady is compared to Montana), but it is an apt comparison. I would add toughness and character as ways that Staubach and Brady are similar.

zydecochris said:

I've never really seen comparisons of Brady to Staubach (usually Brady is compared to Montana), but it is an apt comparison. I would add toughness and character as ways that Staubach and Brady are similar.

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Staubach has been and will be for at least a while my #3 QB behind Brady and Montana. the dude was great.

He is a lot closer to Montana in style than Brady. Staubach had the bad break of being in the same era as some very powerhouse teams otherwise he would have done better than 2 championships and 4 appearances in the big show.

I'd take Drew in his prime easily over a lot of today's QBs.

BobDigital said:

Staubach has been and will be for at least a while my #3 QB behind Brady and Montana. the dude was great.

He is a lot closer to Montana in style than Brady. Staubach had the bad break of being in the same era as some very powerhouse teams otherwise he would have done better than 2 championships and 4 appearances in the big show.

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Agreed that Staubach was closer in style to Montana than Brady. Despite the similarities mentioned, one big difference is that Stauback was known as "Roger the Dodger" for his scrambling ability. I don't think I've ever heard of Brady characterized that way.

zydecochris said:

Agreed that Staubach was closer in style to Montana than Brady. Despite the similarities mentioned, one big difference is that Stauback was known as "Roger the Dodger" for his scrambling ability. I don't think I've ever heard of Brady characterized that way.

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Urlacher begs to differ