OT-Overrated past football players

[A man named Brady]

In this thread we're going to name retired players from the past you always felt were overrated and why.

I'll start off

John Elway- i watched his entire prime and I always thought he was overrated. He was a classic case of a guy whose massive college hype overrated his actual playing career.

1.) He was never at any point in his career the best qb in the league, and for the most part it wasn't close. Don't give me that joke MVP I'm 1987. He was always a tier below the truly great Qbs of his time. In the 80's behind marino/Montana and the 90's favre and young. He was closer to guys like him Kelly,Aikman, Moon TBH.

2.) He rarely led the league in any type of significant passing category aside from yards once. He was more of a guy who was a complier than a truly dominant player.

3.) I know the Broncos went to the Super Bowl 3 times in the 80's but that was more of a product of the AFC being terrible than johns greatness. I mean the 1989 AFC might be the worst conference in sports history. He sucked in those games anyway and got blown out

4.) when he finally won the Super Bowl it was on a stacked Broncos team where he was simply along for the ride. Anyone could've handed the ball off to TD who was unstoppable in the playoffs in 97/98.

The Elway thing bothers me because a lot of casual fans put him in their top 5 of all time and he flat out is nowhere close. He's a guy who's in that 15-20 range for Qbs if we're being honest

 

[billdog3484]

john elway overrated? i dont think so homie

 

[gitgronked82]

jerome bettis

 

[fightingirish595]

His teams never belonged on the same field as the NFC teams. Those bronco teams weren't even the best in the afc. John carried them there. And the system he played in never really allowed him to show off his stats. He's not top 5 all time that I agree with. I do agree Marino was better. But I just think your selling john way short. I can't really think of anybody right now

 

[primetime]

Elway, no way. He was always underrated because of the ~no rings~ bullcrap until the end of his career.

Bettis, yes. Fan favorite, fun to watch play. But not an all time great by any means.

 

[jah]

Well, neither of my parents were alive for Super Bowl III but Joe Namath threw more picks than TDs.

 

[Tony2046]

I disagree. Elway may be the best QB to ever play for the Broncos. Give Elway the defenses Manning had and he has a ring or two more.

 

[farn]

Luck

 

[Joey007]

Eddie George. Guy couldn't run over 4 yards per carry for most of his career.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

In this thread we're going to name retired players from the past you always felt were overrated and why.

I'll start off

John Elway- i watched his entire prime and I always thought he was overrated. He was a classic case of a guy whose massive college hype overrated his actual playing career.

1.) He was never at any point in his career the best qb in the league, and for the most part it wasn't close. Don't give me that joke MVP I'm 1987. He was always a tier below the truly great Qbs of his time. In the 80's behind marino/Montana and the 90's favre and young. He was closer to guys like him Kelly,Aikman, Moon TBH.

2.) He rarely led the league in any type of significant passing category aside from yards once. He was more of a guy who was a complier than a truly dominant player.

3.) I know the Broncos went to the Super Bowl 3 times in the 80's but that was more of a product of the AFC being terrible than johns greatness. I mean the 1989 AFC might be the worst conference in sports history. He sucked in those games anyway and got blown out

4.) when he finally won the Super Bowl it was on a stacked Broncos team where he was simply along for the ride. Anyone could've handed the ball off to TD who was unstoppable in the playoffs in 97/98.

The Elway thing bothers me because a lot of casual fans put him in their top 5 of all time and he flat out is nowhere close. He's a guy who's in that 15-20 range for Qbs if we're being honest

Elway was always a baby who was coddled and told he's the best all the time, and he utilized his ability very effectively on a team with an historically, consistently good defense and an offense built around him. I can think of two dozen other QB's who would have performed better than him in the same context. But I think he belongs in the top fifty all time QB's...maybe #50.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

It's not his fault and he's clearly a hugely likable guy, but Drew Bledsoe is at the very top of overrated athletes who played in New England. He's a big kid with a good arm, but Robert Kraft must be anointed the real Pied Piper for his ability to get local fans to flock in his worship of this player(called him the G.O.A.T.), along with his acceptance and selection of the "flying elvis" from amongst the feces NFL Properties hastily cooked up at James Orthwein's request after murdering our identity.

 

[Pats1989]

Elway brought mediocer Bronco teams to the SB. No easy task.

Namath is absolutely the first name to pop in my head. I believe he got in for the "Guarantee" & where he played. It's not just Jets hate.

Brett Favre is another. No doubt a great QB. Just never felt "It" with him. Maybe it's because of the boneheaded interceptions.

 

[jah]

Elway was always a baby who was coddled and told he's the best all the time, and he utilized his ability very effectively on a team with an historically, consistently good defense and an offense built around him. I can think of two dozen other QB's who would have performed better than him in the same context. But I think he belongs in the top fifty all time QB's...maybe #50.

Sounds familiar...

 

[RobertWeathers]

There are a couple of different categories here.

There are players that were good but by some are considered great. Drew Bledsoe was good. Not great.

There are also players who were great that are considered immortal. Those are Peyton Manning and Dan Marino

Elway....you look at those Denver teams of the 80s and early 90s and they were always outmatched in the big game. With that said if Elway wasn't on those teams they'd be 5-11 or 6-10. Fortunately once Elway's physical skills started to decline he had at the time the best running back on the planet to carry the load

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Elway brought mediocer Bronco teams to the SB. No easy task.

Namath is absolutely the first name to pop in my head. I believe he got in for the "Guarantee" & where he played. It's not just Jets hate.

Brett Favre is another. No doubt a great QB. Just never felt "It" with him. Maybe it's because of the boneheaded interceptions.

Nothing at all mediocre about Joe Collier's defenses...they were always right at the top of the league.

Impossible to overstate the importance of Super Bowl III. Namath was a terrific runner at Alabama, and after a severe knee injury had to change his game in the AFL, and QB's at that time were absolutely destroyed. Every person and fan associated with the AFL was a Jets fan that day, and otherwise there has not been nor will there ever be proper exposure and acknowledgement of the NFL's dirty, racist, oppressive campaign against the AFL. The vestiges of it thrive today in its denigration of the Patriots franchise, which took off just as the merger was implemented.

Lots of QB's, including the best - Montana, Brady, Unitas - had boneheaded playoff INT's...Favre was so stupidly talented in his ability to lift an otherwise ordinary team to championship contention, that it's hard to blame his coaches for putting it all on his shoulders, when handing it off would have been wiser.

 

[TomPatriot]

LaDamian Tomlinson, Joe Namath, Keyshawn Johnson and every other Jet who ever stepped on the field.

 

[Wordsmyth]

In this thread we're going to name retired players from the past you always felt were overrated and why.

I'll start off

John Elway- i watched his entire prime and I always thought he was overrated. He was a classic case of a guy whose massive college hype overrated his actual playing career.

1.) He was never at any point in his career the best qb in the league, and for the most part it wasn't close. Don't give me that joke MVP I'm 1987. He was always a tier below the truly great Qbs of his time. In the 80's behind marino/Montana and the 90's favre and young. He was closer to guys like him Kelly,Aikman, Moon TBH.

2.) He rarely led the league in any type of significant passing category aside from yards once. He was more of a guy who was a complier than a truly dominant player.

3.) I know the Broncos went to the Super Bowl 3 times in the 80's but that was more of a product of the AFC being terrible than johns greatness. I mean the 1989 AFC might be the worst conference in sports history. He sucked in those games anyway and got blown out

4.) when he finally won the Super Bowl it was on a stacked Broncos team where he was simply along for the ride. Anyone could've handed the ball off to TD who was unstoppable in the playoffs in 97/98.

The Elway thing bothers me because a lot of casual fans put him in their top 5 of all time and he flat out is nowhere close. He's a guy who's in that 15-20 range for Qbs if we're being honest

And when they finally DID win it all*, it was because they'd violated the salary cap during those two seasons.

 

[cupofjoe1962]

Marvin Harrison in the playoffs - 2 career touchdowns

Compare that to.....

David Givens has 7 career touchdowns in a lot less games .

 

[Brick27]

Troy Polamalu: Certainly no slouch, but his "instincts" people always raved about often included being very reckless at times and having it lead to missed tackles, over pursuits, etc. at critical times.

There was the argument for years between who was better between him and Ed Reed, and obviously they played different safety positions, but I always thought Ed was clearly superior.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Troy Polamalu: Certainly no slouch, but his "instincts" people always raved about often included being very reckless at times and having it lead to missed tackles, over pursuits, etc. at critical times.

There was the argument for years between who was better between him and Ed Reed, and obviously they played different safety positions, but I always thought Ed was clearly superior.

.