Greatest Quarterbacks of All-Time

On the Access Viking website this morning, Mark Craig of the Strib looks at the top 10 Quarterbacks of All-Time. The link is here. A Daily News reporter's list of the top NFL QB's is as follows:

1. Joe Montana (4 Super Bowl wins – San Francisco, played with Jerry Rice and a young Terrell Owens as his receivers, and a great back in Roger Craig);
   
2. Tom Brady (3 Super Bowl wins – going for his 4^th SB victory this year);
   
3. Johnny Unitas (1 Super Bowl win);
   
4. Dan Marino (1 Super Bowl win with some great receivers in the Mark's Brothers - Mark Duper and Mark Clayton);
   
5. John Elway (2 Super Bowl wins);
   
6. Peyton Manning (1 Super Bowl win);
   
7. Troy Aikman (3 Super Bowl wins with Michael Irvin as his main receiver and a great running back in Emmitt Smith);
   
8. Brett Favre (1 Super Bowl win);
   
9. Terry Bradshaw (4 Super Bowl wins, Lynn Swan and John Stallworth as his main receivers, and an offence including Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier);
   
10. Otto Graham – (token old-timer?)
    

First, let me comment about 2 graet quarterbacks left off the list: where is Bart Starr? He won 2 Super Bowls (the first 2), as well as three league championships before they had Super Bowls. He has to be on the top 10 list. I also think Steve Young (1 Super Bowl win as a starter), should be on the list. He changed the quarterback position in the NFL, by having a great arm as well as the ability to effectively run the ball as a big part of the offense (all due respect to the Viking's Fran Tarkenton, but his scrambling wasn't a big part of the offense).

Having watched all of these guys play (except Otto Graham), here's my take on the list. Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw don't belong on the list. Yes, they won Super Bowls but they weren't great quarterbacks. They didn't have great percentages of completions, and the running backs they had were the larger part of why they won. So they'd be out of my list.

Tom Brady is better than Joe Montana. Period. No doubt. Look at what he's done this year, with back up wide receivers like Deion Branch, he led his team to the best record in the NFL this year. And he had no good running backs. And a defense without many big names. This was Tom Brady's show this year. It was all him. Yes, Montana had some great teams in San Francisco. But do you remember his two years in Kansas City? While Joe Montana played for Kansas City with a normal offense, he was mediocre. What did Montana do when the offense was focused on him? Not much, and his quarterback rating during those 2 years was 87 or less. Nope, Brady has done more with less talent around him than Montana did.

And although he's a Packer, Brett Favre belongs ahead of Peyton Manning, John Elway, Johnny Unitas, and certainly Troy Aikman. I put him at number 3 all-time. All of the QB records he has have to mean something.

That's my take. Feel free to share your thoughts about this list or my comments. Have a happy Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. /s/Tom Wolff