#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)

#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)

#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)

#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)

#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)

#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.

Previous Articles in this Series:

#10 Troy Aikman

(For more on this list, click here)

#10 Troy Aikman

Career:  165 Games * 94-71 Record * 61.5 Comp. Pct. (2,898 – 4,715) * 32,945 yards *165 TDs (3.5%) * 141 INTs (3.0%) * 7.0 Yds/Att * 81.6 Rating * 11-4 Post-Season Record * 3 Super Bowl titles * 0 MVPs * 6 Pro Bowls

Defining greatness in football is much harder to do than it is in, say, baseball.

With baseball you always have the same statistical metrics. Sure, you expect less offensively from some positions than others, but it’s easy to look at stats and quantify how good a stretch/season/career a guy had.

In football, obviously, it’s a lot harder, because the success a team achieves is rarely, if ever, based on a single man’s performance, even if it’s the quarterback.

Exhibit A:  the oft-underrated Troy Aikman.

When you look at his numbers season by season it’s a big fat “huh?” Do you know how many times Troy Aikman threw for 20+ TDs in a season? Would you believe ONCE??? I mean, how amazing is that? When you think about those Cowboy teams with Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, etc… you think of a high-powered offense, so what happened here?

Well, the answer of course is that the Cowboys ran the ball an absurd amount of time in the red zone. Like, when they got inside the 20, they’d turn and hand it to Emmitt over and over and over and over again. From 1992 – 1998 the Cowboys rushing TD totals looked like this:

• 1992: 20
• 1993: 20
• 1994: 26
• 1995: 29
• 1996: 14
• 1997:   6
• 1998: 21

That’s 5 of 7 years with 20+ TDs on the ground. So Aikman moved the Cowboys up and down the field (From 1992 – 1995 the Cowboys finished in the top 3 in points scored each season), but when it came time to hit pay dirt, it was all Emmitt all the time.

Aikman’s career completion percentage was higher than Dan Marino’s… his INT % was the same as Dan Marino’s… and while his 7.0 yards/att < Marino’s 7.3 yards/att, it’s still a good solid, high number. So in his career, Aikman often played at a hall-of-fame level for a highly successful team. His career isn’t real long… it’s really only 11-12 years.

But if you watched him play, saw him on the field… he looked like a Hall of Famer.  That said, he’s a noticeable step down from most of the rest of the guys on this list.

(For more on this list, click here)

Okay, so with the holiday weekend, I got away from the blog a bit, let’s get back at it with a bang!

It’s probably the single most popular bar room sports debate ever… Who’s the best quarterback of all-time?   The great thing about the conversation is it usually evolves into one guy saying“Quarterback X is better than Quarterback Y!” with the other guy responding “Are you nuts!?!?  I’d take Quarterback Y in  a heartbeat!” 

So what follows is one man’s opinion on the Top 10 quarterbacks of all-time.  Well kind of.  In this particular case, “All-Time” encompasses the time after the 1979 NFL draft.  So there’s no Johnny Unitas or Otto Graham on this list, it would be silly, I never saw them play.  Similarly, there’s no Terry Bradshaw or Dan Fouts.  While I do remember these guys playing, my memory of them is limited and probably severely blurred (even though Dan Fouts was one of my favorite players as a kid.) 

The most important thing to understand about this list is that it’s not “Best CAREER” it’s “Best Quarterback.”  There’s a difference and this subtlety gets lost in this argument often.  In essence, it’s my stance that at their very best, you should choose a given quarterback ahead of the QBs below him on the list and not select him if given a choice between him and any QB above him on the list.  So while career statistics and season statistics are important metrics for comparison and to add some perspective, it’s not the end-all, be-all of the discussion.

Over the next 10 days, I’ll release an entry a day, starting with the guy I’ve got at #10 and countdown to the best of all-time.  I’m hoping I’ll get some reaction… feel free to comment!  Let’s get started!

… the worse I seem to run???

I keep wanting to put together a series of SnGs and everytime I decide to start I run so damn bad.  This weekend I played a 4-pack and didn’t cash in any of them, only the second time I believe that’s ever happened to me.  The four tables basically boiled down to this:

Table 1: AA < KJ to cripple me
Table 2: 1010 < A5 (A on river ldo) eliminates me (instead of 2 of 5)
Table 3: 99 < A10 (I don’t win races ever apparently)
Table 4: KQ < 66 (See above)

So much fun.  Then yesterday I played another 4-pack and seemed well on my way to the same result.  Couldn’t win a race to save my life and didn’t cash in the first three.  Fortunately, I got a session-saving win in the fourth one, going from short-stack with three left to winner in three hands. 

So maybe I’ll continue this SnG thing or maybe not. 

Wow, this weekend was just a blur.

Took the kids to the Field Museum Friday night for “Dozin’ with the Dinos”… really a good time.  We saw most of the exhibits, a really cool 3D movie and got to sleep under the watchful eyes of the bears and wolves!  Zalen hit the wall around 9:00 p.m. and I thought we might get to bed early but he caught a second wind which allowed us to do the flashlight tour of the Egyptian exhibit around 10:30 p.m. 

Fortunately I got a nap in Saturday before Sky and I co-hosted our “Wine about the Holidays” party at WineStyles with Kris and Eric.  Wildly successful in my opinion and I may have discovered a new favorite Cabernet!

We hit Lifetime to work out Sunday morning/afternoon and did work around the house for the rest of Sunday.  Monday morning came VERY quickly!