Poll: Greatest qb ever?

[Theodor Madison]

I really think he did not win the game about the Hawks, but the hawks blew it, by not running the ball. Brady is the man in this generation. I always thought Montana was the smartest qb. This will change if Pats win this year. No Fan of the Seahawks, Patriots.
Ps Manning had all the talent to be the best.

[pwaldo]

Ps Manning had all the talent to be the best.

I really like Manning and I can see people picking him as the best all time but his "choking" in the playoffs and coming up small against the Patriots basically every time hurts his cause with me. If I need a guy to rack up regular season wins and post a ton of stats he's basically the guy but in crunch time and during the playoffs I'd probably take guys like Brady, Elway, etc. over him even though Peyton probably has the highest QB IQ out of all the NFL quarterbacks.

[Goose97]

My pick would be Warren Moon!

After his start in the CFL , and being on five consecutive Grey Cup champions with the Eskimos. Showing off his passing arm and accuracy with great thanks to a league that is wide open for that. Becoming the first pro quarterback to hit 5000 yards in a season, and doing it the last two seasons in Edmonton before joining Houston.

He also did some great things in the NFL. Unfortunately never won a Super Bowl.

Here's what he has as accomplishments:
Awards

• 9× Pro Bowl selection (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997)
• All-Pro selection (1990)
• 5× Grey Cup champion (66th, 67th, 68th, 69th, 70th)
• 2001 Enshrined on Eskimos' Wall of Fame
• 1990 NEA NFL MVP
• 1990 NFL Offensive Player of the Year
• 1990 UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year
• 1989 Man of the Year
• 1997 Pro Bowl MVP
• 1982 Grey Cup MVP
• 1980 Grey Cup MVP
• 1983 CFL Most Outstanding Player
• 1983 Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy
• 1978 Rose Bowl MVP
• 1977 Pac-8 Player of the Year
• Oilers/Titans Career Passing Yards Leader with 32,685
• Tennessee Titans #1 Retired
• Hall of Fame (inducted in 2006)
• University of Washington Ring of Honor (Inaugural Member in 2013)^[22]

So I'd say honourable mention would be in order.

Maybe one for Doug Flutie too... Plus a couple other CFL greats in Antony Calvillo, and Damon Allen:
Most Passing Yards, career

• 79,816 - Anthony Calvillo
• 72,381 - Damon Allen

Last I checked Peyton Manning, and Brett Farve are behind these two!

[Jameis1of1]

I really like Manning and I can see people picking him as the best all time but his "choking" in the playoffs and coming up small against the Patriots basically every time hurts his cause with me. If I need a guy to rack up regular season wins and post a ton of stats he's basically the guy but in crunch time and during the playoffs I'd probably take guys like Brady, Elway, etc. over him even though Peyton probably has the highest QB IQ out of all the NFL quarterbacks.

Manning "choked" in the playoffs?

You do realize that Peyton has a winning record against Brady in the playoffs right? Manning won 3 of their 5 games.

Also, Peyton has a higher playoff completion percentage than Brady and a better yards per pass attempt in the playoffs as well, while the players have an identical int % and their rating is almost identical as well (Brady is .6 higher).

If Peyton is a playoff choker, so is Brady as their numbers are almost identical.

It was the Colts team and more specifically their defense that "choked" away many of Peyton's playoff games, not Peyton himself.

Peyton has won FIVE MVP's and been named a 1st team all-pro SEVEN times ... Brady has just two of each and those are "individual" awards ... Brady has more rings which are anything but "individual" awards and are in fact "team" awards.

Peyton was the better QB and the better individual talent while Brady played on better "teams" and experienced more team success ... it's like comparing Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith ... Barry was undoubtedly the better individual player and his 2x OPOY and 6 1st team all-pro points to such, while Emmitt had more "team" success ... Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell is another good comparison ...

My pick would be Warren Moon!

Warren Moon is the greatest black QB ever (and will remain so until Jameis passes him imho) I would agree that he might just be the best pure passer ever ... ahead of Marino ... however his CFL stats will never be considered on the same level with NFL stats and that leads to a rather unfortunate bias against him. I agree he was an amazing player though!

[pwaldo]

[B]Manning "choked" in the playoffs?

That awful Super Bowl against the Seahawks? The 14-13 career playoff record? His playoff win percentage is garbage compared to Brady, Montana, Bradshaw, Elway, Favre, Aikman, Big Ben, Joe Flacco, Donovan McNabb, etc. The only big guy he really has a better % than is Marino who was on some god awful rosters in my opinion.

You do realize that Peyton has a winning record against Brady in the playoffs right? Manning won 3 of their 5 games.

Yes but I was referring to all the Pats vs Manning match ups. I don't know off hand but I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the record Peyton has against the Patriots (postseason and regular season) with Brady is very lopsided in favor of Brady.

I've always viewed Peyton more of an Arod type player. He puts up great regular season numbers but when it comes time to shine in the clutch he's spotty at best. I'd take Unitas over him for the Colts. I'd take Elway over him for the Broncos. His brother Eli has the same amount of Super Bowl wins as him. I mean it isn't that I don't think he is an all time great but if everyone penalizes Marino for carrying garbage teams by not voting for him I don't see how people can instead ignore that for Peyton. Marino could have bolted the Dolphins and won a SB with the Bucs or some other good team that was badly missing a QB at the time but he never did and I guess that hurts him with no Super Bowl win.

[Jameis1of1]

That awful Super Bowl against the Seahawks?

That wasn't even a game ... the Broncos offensive line was just destroyed that entire game ... there is nothing Manning could have done even in his absolute prime.

By the way ... even with that awful game included, his playoff stats are still almost identical to Brady's and that is my point. "Team success" has very little to do with individual greatness.

For example, put Brady on the Browns this year ... his stats would suffer some but not anywhere near as much as his "wins" total would and that would be the fault of his "team" more so than his own personal fault.

I just personally think it's absurd to judge "individual" talent on "team" success. Is Trent Dilfer a better all-time QB than Marino? How about Brad Johnson over Dan Fouts? Even with guys who have won at least one ring ... would anyone in their right mind take Terry Bradshaw over Steve Young or Aaron Rodgers?

Peyton was a better individual talent and has a better "individual" career than Brady ... Brady had more "team" success ...

For some reason, everyone can understand the above line of reasoning when it comes too RB's, WR's, etc., but not when it comes to QB's and that just irks me.

The 14-13 career playoff record? His playoff win percentage is garbage compared to Brady, Montana, Bradshaw, Elway, Favre, Aikman, Big Ben, Joe Flacco, Donovan McNabb, etc. The only big guy he really has a better % than is Marino who was on some god awful rosters in my opinion.

Again, the above would only be relevant if Peyton played some weird brand of "one on one" football and did not have 10 other guys on the field with him, an entire defense, special teams and the like. "Team" wins often times have little to do with the QB's individual performance ... if they did, guys like Dilfer, Johnson, Hostettler, etc., would not have rings and guys like Marino, Fouts and Kelly would.

Yes but I was referring to all the Pats vs Manning match ups. I don't know off hand but I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the record Peyton has against the Patriots (postseason and regular season) with Brady is very lopsided in favor of Brady.

You are correct as Brady teams had an 11-5 regular season record over Manning teams ... yet Manning had the winning record in the playoffs which is interesting.

Everyone knows Peyton is the greatest "regular season QB" in NFL history ... and he has a winning record against Brady in the playoffs ... that's just a fact.

I've always viewed Peyton more of an Arod type player. He puts up great regular season numbers but when it comes time to shine in the clutch he's spotty at best.

How can he be viewed as "spotty" and Brady as "the best ever" when they have an almost identical rating in the playoffs and the exact same int % with Peyton actually having a higher completion percentage? Doesn't that just sort of prove Brady simply played on better "teams" or that Petyon's defense "choked" more often?

I'd take Unitas over him for the Colts. I'd take Elway over him for the Broncos. His brother Eli has the same amount of Super Bowl wins as him. I mean it isn't that I don't think he is an all time great but if everyone penalizes Marino for carrying garbage teams by not voting for him I don't see how people can instead ignore that for Peyton.

No one would ignore Marino if he made it to four SB's with 4 different coaches and won two of them ...

Marino could have bolted the Dolphins and won a SB with the Bucs or some other good team that was badly missing a QB at the time but he never did and I guess that hurts him with no Super Bowl win.

Not to me ... I consider Marino perhaps the best "pure passer" that ever played the game and I would rate him higher on a GOAT list than many all-time greats that won rings such as Bradshaw, Aikman, etc.

[Jameis1of1]

BTW, Drew Brees is a guy that gets very, very little respect in the GOAT conversation and I believe it's ONLY due to his "team" being pretty abysmal for most of his career.

By the time he retires he will probably have OBLITERATED whatever stats Manning and Brady put up ... AND the guy has a 100+ playoff rating, a ring and a SB MVP while Manning and Brady has playoff ratings in the 80s ... simply put, Drew Brees is a bad, bad man.

[JWinn]

Well, even though Tommy beat us, I still can't give him this yet. Today was not his greatest game. Certainly not after the first quarter, when he had 0 yards, got sacked, and they showed his numbers on the board. -4 yards, and that was the last we heard from the crowd…..

So for me, Montana it is. for now.

[kyle12162000]

Me Hady Tom Brady, but he's #1.
Montana is a close #2 for me

[sportsnutz1915]

I can remember not to long ago Peyton Manning fulfilled his childhood dream of passing for the winning touchdown for the New Orleans Saints