Will Vikings Force Favre’s Hand? It’s Time for Legend Deja Vu

It might be time for another teary press conference... or not.

All right all of you Ted Thompson haters, listen up, I’ve got some bad news… all of the “logic” you’ve used for the past two years to disparage the Packers General Manager and cling to the “He ran our Brett out of town!” cry is about to about to take a beating.

Two years ago, right about now, the Packers were coming off a crushing overtime loss in the NFC Championship Game after their legendary quarterback threw a devastating interception that led to their demise.   However, like most teams who get that deep into January, the silver lining was they were built to win for years to come, in fact, their playoff-caliber team was the youngest in the league. 

The only potential problem, of course, was they didn’t know what was going on in the head of Brett Favre.  They gave him some time, “figure it out and let us know,” they told him.  And he waited.  And waited.  And then he finally said, “Yep, that’s it, I’m done.”

So the Packers turned the keys over to their young quarterback-in-waiting in Aaron Rodgers and began prepping him to run the high-powered offense surrounding him.  And then Brett changed his mind.  And all hell broke loose.  You know the rest, of course.

And the result was a schism in Packer Nation.  A great number of fans, some of whom I know, inexplicably took Favre’s side and threw their green-and-gold in the trash.  They claimed the Packers had callously cast aside their living legend, that Favre deserved better.  These people became “Favre fans” and cheered for him in New York and then, amazingly, cheered for him when he joined the Packers archrival (sorry Bears fans), some even going so far as to cheer for the Vikings against the Packers.

“They ran him out of town!”

“He deserved better!”

“He WAS the Green Bay Packers!”

Well pay attention folks.  Because history is about to repeat itself.  And the Vikings, like the Packers two years ago, have every right to do what they’re about to do.

You see, this time it’s the Vikings coming off a devastating NFC Championship loss after Favre threw fan-soul-crushing interception late in the game.  And like the Packers two years ago, the Vikings are built to win.  Great skill players, good defense, play-makers on special teams.  And here’s Favre, once again, holding the keys to the off-season process.  

I suppose it’s possible Favre will go home, talk to Deanna and family and quickly announce his retirement.  Or perhaps he’ll say “I’m coming back for one more shot!”

But what if he doesn’t?  Because, for the Vikings, it’s even more imperative that they know sooner than later.  If Favre comes back, great, full speed ahead.  But if he retires, they need to execute plan B, because let’s face it, Tavaris Jackson and/or Sage Rosenfels isn’t the answer.  With Favre, the Vikings are Super Bowl contenders.  With T-Jack or Sage, they’ll be lucky to make the post-season.

Of course, with Donovan McNabb, the Vikings would be contenders too.  And there are plenty of whispers that the Eagles would be willing to listen to trade offers for their long-time signal caller.  But the Vikings can’t do that until they know what’s happening with Brett.  And right now?  Yeah, they don’t know. 

So what should the Vikings do?  Well, they need an answer from Brett.   There can’t be a “I’m not sure… “  And there sure as hell can’t be a “I retire… oh wait, now that it’s July I kind of want to play again…”

So the Vikings will do exactly what the Packers did two years ago.  They’ll ask for an answer.  And rightfully so.  The NFL doesn’t wait for anyone… no, not even Brett Favre. 

Personally, I hope Brett hems and haws and forces the Vikings hand.  I hope he makes them make the same painful decision Ted Thompson had to make two years ago.  Because then maybe, finally, two years removed from their emotions, “Favre Fans” will see what they should’ve seen all along.  The Packers were doing what’s best for the Packers.  Just as the Vikings will do the same.

ESPN Holds TV Poker’s Popularity in its Hand

As a poker player, I enjoy watching the World Series of Poker episodes on ESPN each year.  I’m obviously not alone as some 2.1 million people watched Joe Cada win the Main Event this past November. 

What’s always bothered me is that poker seems to be missing an opportunity here to expand it’s audience… or maybe more accurately establish a consistent audience.  The coverage of the WSOP and the Main Event is spotty at best.  Poker coverage for the rest of the year is hit-and-miss at best.  There are dozens of tournaments monthly and even those who are paying attention to a degree have no idea who’s playing, what they’re playing for, etc…

That all got me thinking:  Is there a void here that ESPN and poker could fill?  Suppose ESPN decided to do a year-long poker “season.”  Essentially they’d cover some major tournaments, giving poker some much-needed exposure outside the early-summer WSOP, and improve on a brand that, while niche and not huge, certainly has a loyal fan base. 

Each show could be a two-hour broadcast, the first 30 minutes of which would be a form of pre-game show in which studio folks breakdown what’s going on in the world of poker, do interviews with poker personalities, etc… and the back 1.5 hours would be the tournament’s final table (how we got to that point would be covered in the 30-minute pre-game).

Now I can already people saying:  “Hello, World Poker Tour???”

True.  Except I have no idea when that show airs or where.  I actually had to look it up.  Did you know it’s on Fox Sports Net now?  Bleh.   Everyone knows where ESPN is.   It’s target audience is tuned in consistently and therefore reachable via advertising, etc… Simply put, ESPN would be a stable home poker and draw a consistently larger audience.

The one very real question is the cost of doing this for ESPN.  A couple of years ago they broadcasted a number of WSOP Circuit Event main events (coverage I really enjoyed) but didn’t continue the following year, making me wonder if maybe the revenue generated wasn’t worth the cost associated.  But the hope would be advertising revenue throughout the entire “season” would make it worth their while.

So what would be the big benefits?  For starts, it would provide poker fans a consistent “season” to follow.  ESPN should (as WPT and others do) provide player rankings, standings, player of the year awards, etc… based on how players do in these tournaments.  In fact, ESPN could create it’s own ESPN Poker Championship for the end of the season. 

For ESPN, it would hopefully gain a consistent franchise year-round and also expand the profile of poker for their audience.   They would be introducing new players/stories each month… but also would presumably give more air-time to some of poker’s more popular personalities in tournament settings (remember, these other tournaments don’t have nearly the field sizes that the WSOP does… we’d see a lot more “stacked” final tables.)

And for poker, it would give them some coverage consistency, which can only help it’s overall profile.  There would be advertising opportunities for big guns like Full Tilt and PokerStars, as well as other poker-friendly companies.  Last but not least, anything that pushes poker into the mainstream can only help the on-going fight to legalize/regulate online poker in the U.S.

Perhaps I’m overestimating the desire for poker on TV… or even on a larger scale the potential growth for poker’s popularity.  But maybe I’m not.

The BEST QB of All-Time* is…

And then there were two!

If you’ve been following this list, it probably comes as little-to-no surprise that the final two are Peyton Manning and Joe Montana.  Let’s take a look at the numbers first and then dive into the arguments.

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning’s Career:   187 Games * 128-59 Record * 64.8 Comp. Pct. (4,137 – 6,383) * 49,043 yards * 357 TDs (5.6%) * 176 INTs (2.8%) * 7.7 Yds/Att * 95.3 Rating * 7-8 Post-Season Record * 1 Super Bowl title * 3 MVPs * 9 Pro Bowls

Joe Montana’s Career:   192 Games * 117-47 Record * 63.2 Comp. Pct. (3,409 – 5,391) * 40,551 yards * 273 TDs (5.1%) * 139 INTs (2.6%) * 7.5 Yds/Att * 92.3 Rating * 17-7 Post-Season Record * 4 Super Bowl titles * 2 MVPs * 8 Pro Bowls

Joe Montana

First, a couple of statistical things.  While Joe Montana played a few more games, at this point, than Peyton Manning, their records are based on starts and therefore, Manning who has started from the beginning has a few more wins and a few more losses (his winning percentage is a little behind Montana’s)  As you can also see, despite playing a few less games, Manning has thrown more than 700 more passes than Montana did.

And one final note before we get to it, my desire to do this list was born out of a debate I had with several friends regarding who I’d rather have if I had to win one big game, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.  I argued fairly vociferously for Tom Brady.  So of course, after delving into this further, I have Peyton Manning ahead of Brady on this list.   Let’s get it on!

Barring catastrophe, Peyton Manning is going to shatter all of Brett Favre’s career NFL marks and he’ll do it significantly quicker than Favre and Manning did.  He’s stunningly efficient and the players around him seem almost irrelevant.  He rotates through receivers, running backs without missing a beat and the time has come to wonder whether the Colts even need an offensive coordinator or play-caller anymore.  Hell, it’s always a bit surprising when the Colts DON’T score on a given drive.  It’s been discussed ad nauseum, but the biggest reason Bill Belichick went for it on 4^th down from his own 29 a couple of weeks ago isn’t because he was worried Peyton Manning might drive the Colts to a game-winning touchdown… it’s because he was pretty damn sure he would.

And this is the first time I’ve ever done this list with any thought of not putting Joe Montana at the top.  In my more green-and-gold-drenched days, I could argue Brett Favre was better than anyone… but Joe Montana.  I could never make that argument stick. 

Montana has four Super Bowl rings.  No quarterback in the history of football has ever been more deadly and proficient at the two minute drill, especially when it mattered most.  He was a stone-cold killer and as responsible for the success and proliferation of the West Coast Offense as Bill Walsh himself. 

In fact, there’s really nothing bad to say about Joe Montana.  There’s a reason that this conversation, this barroom debate almost always ends with everyone saying “Joe Montana” and nodding their head… and he accomplished everything without seeming to possess the great physical skills that others on this list have. 

And while he doesn’t top any of the stats I’ve been discussing here, he’s in the top half of all of them.  He throws touchdowns at the rate of Warner and Favre (and slightly better than Marino).  He completes passes like Brady and only Brady avoided the interception better.  And for a guy who’s sometimes accused of being a dink-and-dunker, his 7.5 yards an attempt is better than Brees, Marino, Brady, Favre, etc… Of course, with the exception of the INT rate (which is close enough to be a wash), Manning is amazingly even more efficient when it comes to the numbers. 

So for me, it kind of comes down to this:  For years, people questioned Manning’s ability to win the big game.  Hell it started in college where he could never win the big one… and then the year after he left Tennessee, Tee Martin too the Volunteers to the national title. 

In Indianapolis, he put up huge numbers almost from the beginning, but never had any post-season success.  Then, he finally put it together, winning the Super Bowl with the Colts and all of the “big game” criticism quieted. 

Manning hasn’t won a playoff game since.

So while Montana is sporting four rings and Brady has three… Manning is still holding on to one.  He’s led the Colts to an 11-0 start this season (at first writing, they’re now 12-0) and they’ll have home-field throughout the playoffs in hopes of getting back to the big game.  But what if he never wins another Super Bowl?  What if he doesn’t even MAKE it this season?  The next few years will determine where Manning ultimately settles on this list.  If he brings home another Lombardi Trophy this season and another in a few years… it will be awfully hard to keep him from the top of this mountain.

But right here, right now, I’m not ready to say that yet.  For me, Joe Montana is still the best to ever play the position.  Ever.  But for the first time, there is a guy on the horizon who may lay claim to his title. 

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

#8 Kurt Warner

#7 Dan Marino

#6 John Elway

#5 Steve Young

#4 Brett Favre

#3 Tom Brady

(For more on this list, click here)

The 3rd Best QB of All-Time*: Tom Brady

#3 Tom Brady

Career:   124 Games * 94-28 Record * 63.3 Comp. Pct. (2,583 – 4,082) * 29,732 yards * 217 TDs (5.3%) * 94 INTs (2.3%) * 7.3 Yds/Att. * 93.3 Rating * 14-3 Post-Season Record * 3 Super Bowl titles * 1 MVP * 4 Pro Bowls

For what it’s worth, I had Brady behind Favre on this list until I actually started writing the posts for each and realized I was convincing myself to swap the two.

Outside of Kurt Warner, whose career is the stuff of fairy tales, there probably isn’t a more unlikely candidate to get this high.  A so-so Michigan career, a 6^th round draft pick and a back-up to Drew Bledsoe hardly looks like the early resume for one of the game’s all-time greats.  But what he’s done since inheriting the reigns in New England is virtually unparalleled. 

Tom Brady is 14-3 in the post-season.  14-and-freaking-3.  He’s won three Super Bowls, leading the Patriots to game-winning final drives in two of them.  And then he followed that up with an insane 2007 season.  Armed for the first time in his career with top-notch weapons, Brady blew up for 300 yards a game, an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes and an absurd 117 quarterback rating.  And with all of the slinging he’s done in his career, his 2.3 interception percentage is easily the lowest among the quarterbacks in this list. 

At the age of 32, Tom Brady still has a chance to add to his credentials… and the way he comes back from a season-ending knee injury a year ago will go a long way towards cementing his place on this list.  I think in the end he could slip a spot or two… he could rise a spot (or two at the most)

The arguments against Brady aren’t arguments against him as much as they’re wonderings over how good he really is.  Is he as stunningly efficient week-in and week-out as Peyton Manning?  Does he strike the fear of God into you the way Favre or Montana did in their primes?  I’m not sure.  But I think he’s a combination of all those things in a positive way.   And with a few more years to go, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that he can reach that “best of all-time” spot.  

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

#8 Kurt Warner

#7 Dan Marino

#6 John Elway

#5 Steve Young

#4 Brett Favre

(For more on this list, click here)

The 4th Best QB of All-Time*: Brett Favre

#4 Brett Favre

Career:   284 Games * 179-101 Record * 61.9 Comp. Pct. (5,968 – 9,638) * 68,001 yards * 488 TDs (5.1%) * 313 INTs (3.2%) * 7.1 Yds/Att * 86.4 Rating * 12-10 Post-Season Record * 1 Super Bowl title * 3 MVPs * 10 Pro Bowls 

Ah, the man responsible for the most angst I’ve ever experienced in my sports fan life. 

 A disclaimer for those that don’t know, I’m a die-hard born-and-raised Packers fan and, up until about four months ago, Brett Favre was easily my favorite athlete of all-time.  I covered Brett in Green Bay when he was winning MVPs and taking the Packers to Super Bowls and I still consider him to be among the most humble and enjoyable athletes I’ve ever interacted with. 

 Of course, I now hate him.

 But all of that aside, I’ve tried my hardest throughout the years to argue objectively about Favre’s place in history.  He’s the only player in NFL history to win three straight MVPs and that stretch from 1995 – 1997 is as good as I think I’ve ever seen.  Like Young, you can certainly argue that for a stretch of time, no one’s ever been better than Favre was during that time.  And not only did he come into his own as a player, but he helped the Packers go from contender to the NFL’s elite, going to back-to-back Super Bowls, winning in 1997 against the Patriots.  From the moment Favre took over in 1992, the Packers had 12 straight non-losing seasons, with an 8-8 mark in 1999 the only non-winning season. 

Very few quarterbacks have ever been more dangerous with the ball in their hands in the 4^th quarter, but in Favre’s case, it at times went both ways.  Favre has thrown a handful of notoriously bad interceptions that cost his team games, perhaps most famously in the 2007 NFC Championship game when his interception in overtime sent the visiting Giants to the Super Bowl instead of the heavily-favored Packers.   

In addition, like Marino and Elway, his career marks are built largely on longevity.  Favre’s completion percentage, INT percentage, yards per attempt and quarterback rating all fall in the lower half of the QBs on this list. 

Nevertheless, I know as a fan, there are very few quarterbacks I’ve ever seen I’d trade Favre for.  In his prime, teams absolutely dreaded facing him and even as he grew older and his physical skills began to slip a bit, he was still a bear to play against.

And then there’s this year.  Amazingly, at the age of 40, he’s putting together one of his finest seasons.  He’s taken a Vikings team full of potential offensively and turned them into an absolute machine.  I didn’t think his legacy would turn on this season for better or worse, but I may have been wrong about that.  If he leads the Vikings to a Super Bowl title, it will strengthen the argument for “greatest of all-time” considerably. 

I hope someday I can look back at his Packers career again without scowling and getting angry.  And it’s possible that his spot at #4 here is a little lower than I would’ve made him if he hadn’t gone all purple on us.  But for now, there are three guys I’ll take ahead of him.

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

#8 Kurt Warner

#7 Dan Marino

#6 John Elway

#5 Steve Young

(For more on this list, click here)

The 5th Best QB of All-Time*: Steve Young

#5 Steve Young

Career:   169 Games * 94-49 Record * 64.3 Comp. Pct. (2,667 – 4,149) * 33,124 yards * 232 TDs (5.6%) * 107 INTs (2.6%) * 8.0 Yds/Att * 96.8 Rating * 8-6 Post-Season Record * 1 Super Bowl title * 2 MVPs * 7 Pro Bowls

Oh what could have been.  I’m going to say this:  it’s possible that for a period of time, Steve Young was the best quarterback that’s ever played.  Ever.  His combination of passing and running is virtually unparalleled.  If someone told me “for one game, with my life on the line, I’ll take Steve Young…” I wouldn’t bat an eye. 

But man, his career got off to a really slow start and it makes it difficult to say how great he really was.  He started in the USFL and then made his way to the NFL via the horrible, awful Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he suffered a brutal amount of punishment.  He escaped to the San Francisco 49ers where he sat on the bench admiring the handiwork of Joe Montana for four years.  In 1991 he finally got his chance, when the Niners jettisoned Montana… and Young promptly got hurt midway through the season.  Finally, in 1992, at the age of 30, Young finally got his chance to shine.  In his eight seasons as the 49ers quarterback, he finished with a quarterback rating of 100+ six times.  He made the Pro Bowl every one of those seasons.

In his career, he has the highest quarterback rating of all-time while averaging 8.0 yards per attempt.   His TD percentage is high, his INT percentage is low, the numbers all work for Steve Young.

So where’s the flaw?  It comes in the post-season.  While other quarterbacks elevated their game, there’s a big question about whether Young did that.  Outside of his 1995 Super Bowl run, which ended with a world championship and a Super Bowl MVP trophy, he never won more than one game in the post-season.  As good as he was, I don’t think teams ever feared him in the playoffs the way they feared Joe Montana.  You always wondered if Young would come through in the clutch… you knew Montana would.

And in the end, isn’t that the exercise?  It’s winning when it matters most.  For all of his awesome physical skills and football acumen, Young wasn’t a killer.  He’s the best of the quarterbacks we’ve discussed so far and I wonder if he had the chance to play in his 20s if much of that would’ve worked out differently.  But this isn’t about “what ifs” it’s about what is. 

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

#8 Kurt Warner

#7 Dan Marino

#6 John Elway

(For more on this list, click here)

The 6th Best QB of All-Time*: John Elway

#6 John Elway

Career:   234 Games * 148-82-1 Record * 56.9 Comp. Pct. (4,123 – 7,250) *51,475 yards * 300 TDs (4.1%) * 226 INTs (3.1%) * 7.1 Yds/Att * 79.9 Rating * 14-7 Post-Season Record * 2 Super Bowl titles * 1 MVPs * 9 Pro Bowls

My least favorite argument in all of sports is “John Elway was the greatest quarterback of all-time!”  Um, no he wasn’t.  Not even close.

For starts, there was never, ever a point in John Elway’s career when he was the best quarterback in the NFL.  Never.  Ever.  Find me a point when he was.  It doesn’t exist.

But he won the 1987 MVP!  Okay.  In that season, Elway threw for 3,200 yards, 19 TDs and 12 INTs.  He also ran for another 300 yards.  Nice season, sure.  But that same year, Joe Montana was throwing 31 touchdown and finishing with a quarterback rating over 100.  Elway, that year, by the way, completely stunk up the Super Bowl.  He was horrible.  There is no one in their right mind that would take John Elway at that point over Joe Montana (who went on to win the next two Super Bowls).  No one.  Maybe a couple of die-hard Broncos fans.  That’s it

To finish the point, early in his career, Elway wasn’t as good as Montana or Marino (during the aforementioned 1984-86 stretch).  Later in his career, he paled in comparison to Favre and Young.   And when Elway finally got his Super Bowl rings, he wasn’t even the best offensive player on his own team. 

By the way, another aside, the idea that Elway “carried” Broncos teams to Super Bowls in the 80s is a gross misstatement. 

Do you know Elway’s TD passing totals in the three years the Broncos went to the Super Bowl (in his early years) were 19, 19 and 18? That he threw an average of 14 picks a year as well? That his QB rating in those three seasons never rose above 83 and was twice below 80?

Do you know in 1987 the Broncos had the 7th scoring defense in the league? Do you know in 1989 the Broncos had the #1 scoring defense in the league?

People think John Elway was running around throwing 30 TDs a season and leading the Broncos to 45-42 wins every week. And it’s simply not true.

Elway’s numbers are also very reminiscent of Dan Marino’s.  They look good in the end, but in a lot of ways they were compiled via longevity.  His 79.9 career QB rating isn’t even good, forget great.  His career completion percentage of 56.9 is just… well… let’s put it this way.  Brian Griese, much maligned for being the poor soul that had to follow Elway in Denver has a career completion percentage of 62.7. 

So at this point you’re probably wondering why I even have Elway on the list at all.  I must admit, I’ve always railed on the Elway worship as it was and looking at some of these numbers hammered it home even more.  But there were things Elway brought to the table.  He had a cannon for an arm, there was no throw he couldn’t make.  His legs gave him the ability to make plays that few other quarterbacks in the NFL could make.  And he was an awesome competitor, there’s no question. 

Despite everything I’ve said above, if I had to win one game, I’d still take Elway over Marino and Aikman.  He made plays, he won games, you cannot take that away from him.  But there are five guys I’d rather have, five guys who were/are simply better than Elway ever was. 

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

#8 Kurt Warner

#7 Dan Marino

(For more on this list, click here)

The 7th Best QB of All-Time*: Dan Marino

#7 Dan Marino

Career:   242 Games * 147-93 Record * 59.4 Comp. Pct. (4,967 – 8,358) * 61,361 yards * 420 TDs (5.0%) * 252 INTs (3.0%) * 7.3 Yds/Att * 86.4 Rating * 8-10 Post-Season Record * 0 Super Bowl titles * 1 MVP * 9 Pro Bowls

This is where I start pissing people off.  Listen, being called the 7^th best quarterback in the last 30 years is a pretty good compliment.  Everyone on this list is a great quarterback, they’re all either in the Hall of Fame or someday will be.  But the truth is when you really start breaking down Dan Marino’s numbers, moving past the totals and getting into how he got there… they’re just not all that overwhelming (relative to the other guys on this list)

He held a ton of career records (before Mr. Favre started obliterating all of them) simply because he played longer and threw it more than anyone in history before him.  But some of the metrics are very “eh.”  In comparing the QBs on the list in completion percentage, TD percentage, INT percentage, yards per attempt and quarterback rating, Marino’s in the bottom half of all of them.  Marino gets credit for his lightning quick release and gun for an arm, but his accuracy was not great.  In 1984, Marino put up one of the great seasons of all-time, in fact, the stretch from 1984-86 is among the great three-year runs a QB has ever had.  But after that, Marino was decidedly very good, but not great. 

And on the field, I just simply don’t remember a lot of watershed moments from Marino.  I remember him most for taking out his frustration on his receivers and linemen when things weren’t going well.  After taking the Dolphins to the Super Bowl in 1984-85, he never won more than a single playoff game in a season again in his career.  Now that’s a team thing as much as a Marino thing, but it is what it is.  I think I take Marino over the guys behind him in this list, but I have to think about Warner honestly.  And there’s no way I even consider taking him ahead of the top five guys on this list.  I flipped and flopped Marino and the guy at 6 multiple times and I’m still not sure I have it right. 

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

#8 Kurt Warner

(For more on this list, click here)

The 8th Best QB of All-Time*: Kurt Warner

#8 Kurt Warner

Career:   120 Games * 64-47 Record * 65.6 Comp. Pct. (2,578 – 3,929) * 31,309 yards * 202 TDs (5.1%) * 125 INTs (3.2%) * 8.0 Yds/Att * 93.8 Rating * 8-3 Post-Season Record *1 Super Bowl title * 2 MVPs * 4 Pro Bowls

Kurt Warner’s accomplishments really sneak up on you.  The first thing to note is Kurt Warner played his first full season in the NFL at the age of 28.   To emphasize how much that will skew his final career numbers, by the time Brett Favre turned 28 he had thrown for more than 18,000 yards and 150 TDs.  Peyton Manning had thrown for almost 25,000 yards and 167 TDs!  Warner missed basically an entire career’s worth of numbers before ever taking an NFL snap.

But wow, did he do a job catching up.  Warner’s 65.6 completion percentage and 8.0 yards/attempt are the highest among quarterbacks on this list.  Read that again.  The common belief is that Warner is a bomber, yet he has completed a higher percentage of his passes than Joe Montana and Peyton Manning… and still gets more out of his attempts yardage-wise than the big guns.  He’s won a pair of MVPs, a Super Bowl and took the Cardinals back there last season.

On the downside, he’s played in high-powered, pass-happy offenses.  Even when he had a hall-of-fame caliber running back (Marshall Faulk) he still threw for 4,000+ yards and 40 TDs.  If this was a Heisman campaign, he would kind of be the Houston/Texas Tech QB of the race, the guy posting huge numbers while everyone asked if it was indicative of talent or system.  In addition, the guy has been (relatively) a turnover machine.  No one throws a higher percentage of INTs in this group and he’s fumbled 97 times in his career.  (In contrast, Drew Brees has fumbled 55 times in two less career games)

Nevertheless, the numbers and results are hard to ignore… and on the field, when he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s downright scary for opponents. 

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

# 9 Drew Brees

(For more on this list, click here)

The 9th Best QB of All-Time*: Drew Brees

#9 Drew Brees

Career:   118 Games * 66-51 Record * 64.4 Comp. Pct. (2,570 – 3,993) * 29,375 yards * 195 TDs (4.9%) * 108 INTs (2.7%) * 7.4 Yds/Att * 91.4 Rating * 1-2 Post-Season Record * 0 Super Bowl titles * 0 MVPs * 3 Pro Bowls

I’m going to start this one by admitting I have no idea what to do with Drew Brees here.  There are some major plusses that put him in the discussion… and some interesting negatives that hurt him, not the least of which is a relatively short career right now (he has the least # of games played in this top 10) and a lack of team accomplishments.  Brees will go a long way towards cementing his legacy for better or worse this season as he continues to guide an undefeated Saints team.  But for now, here’s what we’ve got.

Brees compares favorably to other quarterbacks in the discussion in terms of his ability to complete passes for high yardage and not throw INTs.  At the age of 30, he’s having easily the best year of his career and his mastery of the Saints offense which incorporates more weapons than any offense we’ve perhaps ever seen has been beyond impressive. 

Yet, his achievements and accomplishments (or lack thereof) make it hard to push him any higher… and in fact, I flip-flop Brees and Aikman repeatedly and have a hard time stopping.  And while watching him is a joy, I don’t think he rises to the level of other quarterbacks on this list that transcend the position.  There’s really nothing Brees does poorly… yet there’s nothing about him that makes you say “He’s the best I’ve ever seen at…” doing this. 

Given a choice, I’d take him over Aikman… and both of them over Randall Cunningham and Jim Kelly, two guys who don’t quite make the list.  But it’s close and it’s tough to distinguish the four of them honestly.  Brees will have a chance over the rest of this season and the next few to widen the gap.

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#10 Troy Aikman

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