2. Otto Graham (1946-55)

Top 5 Quarterbacks by Era

If the measure of a quarterback is winning, no one is the equal of Graham. He played 10 seasons with Cleveland and led the Browns to the league championship game every year, winning the title seven times. In the 1954 championship game, Graham accounted for six touchdowns (three rushing, three passing) in a 56-10 rout of Detroit. (Photo by Pictorial Parage/Getty Images)

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Top 5 Quarterbac... By Ray Didinger
CSNPhilly.com
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Because the 24/7 news cycle needs constant feeding, there was endless debate last week about whether Peyton Manning was the greatest quarterback in history. Many people felt he was. The days leading up to the Super Bowl were more like a Manning coronation.
Then came the game and the fourth quarter interception, and now the talk has changed to how Manning is overrated, how he too often comes up short in big games, how he should not be mentioned in the same breath as the all-time greats. How quickly it turned around.
I’ve been bombarded with e-mails on both sides. Prior to the game, they asked where I would rank Manning among all quarterbacks – the suggestion being he should be No. 1. Now I’m getting the flip side, people claiming this loss – one throw, really – will define his career.
Let me try to restore a sense of order.
For one thing, it is silly to talk about Manning’s “legacy.” He is only 33-years-old and shows no signs of slowing down. He is likely to play another four or five years, if not longer, so he will continue to break records, and he could win another Super Bowl, or two, before he’s done. Let’s wait until he hangs up the jersey before we start assessing his legacy.
Don Shula suffered one of the most crushing defeats imaginable when his Colts lost to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, but four years later, he coached the only perfect season in league history and went on to break George Halas’s record for victories (347). That became Shula’s legacy; the loss to the Jets is just a footnote. Similarly, Manning has time to put this game behind him.
For this discussion, I’ll address the “Who’s the Greatest Quarterback?” issue since it is one of the questions I’m asked most frequently. My answer differs from most because I divide it into two parts. In my opinion, it is impossible to compare the old-timers with the quarterbacks playing today. I view it as two distinct eras, with 1978 as the dividing line.
That was the year the NFL changed the rules to increase scoring. They eliminated all contact with receivers beyond five yards, and they liberalized the blocking rules to allow offensive linemen to extend their arms. As a result, receivers were free to go deep or run across the field without being hit, and thanks to the new blocking rules, quarterbacks had more time to deliver the ball.
Within a year, the league completion percentage was at an all-time high, and teams were passing the ball more than running it. The rule makers didn’t just change the game, they created a new game. They opened the door for the West Coast offense and spread formations that put as many as five receivers in a pass pattern.
Short drops, quick throws, yards after the catch; it is a whole new approach and makes it impossible to compare, say, Otto Graham with Dan Marino. They are both quarterbacks, but they didn’t play the same game. It would be like trying to compare Cy Young to C.C. Sabathia or Joe Fulks to LeBron James, so I don’t even try.
Here are my top five quarterbacks by era:
Old-Timers (AP Photo)
5. Roger Staubac... A Heisman Trophy winner at Navy, Staubach got a late start on his pro career because of a four-year military commitment. He was 27 when he finally joined the Dallas Cowboys, and he didn’t become the full-time starter until 1971, but over the next nine years, he led the Cowboys to four Super Bowls. He was known as a scrambler, but when he retired his passer rating of 83.4 was the best in NFL history. (AP Photo)
4. Bart Starr (1... I’ve always felt Starr was underrated. Overshadowed by coach Vince Lombardi and larger-than-life teammates such as Ray Nitschke and Paul Hornung, Starr never received the acclaim of other great quarterbacks, but he led Green Bay to five NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls in which he was voted MVP. (AP Photo)
3. Sammy Baugh (... Better known as “Slingin’ Sammy,” Baugh was the first great passer in pro football. Prior to Baugh, teams threw the ball only in desperation and were lucky to complete 40 percent of their attempts. With his accuracy and touch, Baugh made the forward pass a viable weapon. In 1947, he completed 60 percent of his passes for 2,938 yards and 25 touchdowns, astounding numbers for a 12-game season. (AP Photo)
2. Otto Graham (... If the measure of a quarterback is winning, no one is the equal of Graham. He played 10 seasons with Cleveland and led the Browns to the league championship game every year, winning the title seven times. In the 1954 championship game, Graham accounted for six touchdowns (three rushing, three passing) in a 56-10 rout of Detroit. (Photo by Pictorial Parage/Getty Images)
1. John Unitas (... In my view, clearly the best of his era. Accurate passer, cool under pressure, a superb play-caller back in the days when quarterbacks were allowed to run the offense. Led the Baltimore Colts to back-to-back NFL championships in 1958-59 and still was under center a decade later when they defeated Dallas in Super Bowl V. His record of throwing at least one touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games may never be broken. (AP Photo)
Modern Era (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
5. Dan Marino (1... This was the toughest choice: Marino or Brett Favre for the fifth spot. I took Marino even though he is the only quarterback on either list without a world championship to his credit. The Miami defense wasn’t very good in those years so Marino went into every game knowing he had to light it up for the Dolphins to win. His quick-as-a-blink release was a thing of beauty. (AP Photo/Jane Rudolph)
4. Peyton Mannin... Four MVP Awards (a record), 10 seasons with more than 4,000 passing yards, 210 consecutive starts, at least 12 wins in seven of his 12 seasons. A great player who will play at a high level for several more years and probably rewrite the record book. One bad throw on Sunday doesn’t change that. (AP Photo/Bill Waugh, File)
3. Tom Brady (cu... I still marvel at his 2008 season when he led New England to a 16-0 mark and set a league mark by tossing 50 touchdown passes. And if Eli Manning and David Tyree had not combined on that miracle play, Brady would be four-for-four in Super Bowls. He drove the Patriots down the field to take the lead – a touchdown pass to Randy Moss – with 2:42 to go in that game. The defense, not Brady, lost that game. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)
2. John Elway (1... Unfairly criticized early in his career after losing his first three Super Bowls. People said he couldn’t win the big one, when in reality the Denver teams weren’t very good. Elway carried those Broncos farther than they had any right to go. He brought his team from behind to win in the fourth quarter 47 times, a league record. At the end of his career, with a better supporting cast, he won back-to-back Super Bowls. (AP Photo/Bryan Kelsen)
1. Joe Montana (... If I had one game to play and I could pick any quarterback to play it, I’d pick Montana. He went to four Super Bowls with San Francisco and won them all. Three times he was the game’s MVP. The bigger the game, the better he played. Great touch passer, uncanny accuracy, rarely made mistakes. He threw 122 passes in the Super Bowl, zero interceptions. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)