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Now that the hullabaloo about Brett Favre’s retirement has died down, at least until he might change his mind sometime before August, the movement to crown him the best pro quarterback of all time has died down with it.
That’s good, since the same sort of stampede was in place most of January when the New England Patriots were not only on the verge of another Super Bowl championship but about to accomplish a 19-0 perfect season. We all know what happened with that concept.
I’ve thought long and hard about it and have come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to pick a No. 1 quarterback of all time. There are just too many football eras involved and the position, at least the pro version, doesn’t remain the same. Rules change, as does equipment, training methods and strategies.
The best I could do was come up with the seven best quarterbacks of all time, with another possibility a current work in progress. These are the seven, in alphabetical order with their main team and years of competition:
• Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins, 1937-1952.
• Tom Brady, New England Patriots, 2000- present.
• John Elway, Denver Broncos, 1983-1998.
• Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers, 1991-2007 (unless he comes back).
• Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns, 1946-1955.
• Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers, 1979-1994.
• Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts, 1956-1973.
• On deck: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts, 1998-present.
For younger readers who might have uttered “who?” upon reading the names of Baugh and Graham, some explanation might come in handy.
Baugh last played 55 seasons ago but he still holds or is tied for six Redskins records: most touchdown passes in a career, 187; best punting average career, 45.1; most passing yards in a game, 446; most touchdown passes in a game, six; best punting average in a season, 51.4 yards, which remains an NFL record also; and most passes intercepted in a game, four. The last record occurred in 1943, when most of the veteran players were in the armed forces during World War II and Sammy was among those old guys who had to play both offense and defense.
I never saw Baugh play but the old-time players with whom I spoke swore no one was better at slinging the football, even when it was fat and unpebbled.
Graham was one of the first two-sport pro athletes. He graduated from Northwestern during the war and was enrolled in the Navy’s V-12 program at Colgate. On his nights off, he drove up to Rochester to play with the Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) of the NBA. When the war ended Graham began his pro football career with the Browns of the new All-America Conference and led them to four league championships in the AAFC’s four years of existence.
In the Browns’ first game as a member of the NFL, Graham led Cleveland to a 34-10 pounding of the old league’s champion, the Philadelphia Eagles, then to the NFL title. In his 10-year career the Browns won either their league or conference title. In his final two years he spearheaded Cleveland’s blowout championship victories over the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams.
It’s interesting that Baugh, Graham and Unitas pretty much followed each other in successive dominations. Then there was a six-year pause before Joe Montana defined the West Coast offense and assumed the crown. Elway and Favre overlapped each other. Now Brady, 30, and Manning, who turns 31 on Monday, should spend the next five seasons battling over which one is the best of their era.
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