As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I no longer take part in the fraud of professional sports, but I listen when someone like Joe Montana assesses who was the best football quarterback. His assessment was correct in Dan Marino, who put up fantastic numbers
When I first saw the title to the article, I frankly thought that the best quarterback would be Fran Tarkenton of the Minnesota Vikings.
Why?
He was called the scrambler in he ran around on the field and was impossible to tackle when a play was broken. See that is the thing in this, that if a quarterback like Dan Fouts who was as good and large as Dan Marino, has protection and time to pass the football, they can do what Tom Brady does in win.
Get a quarterback who has no protection, and he will be beat to hell and crippled up. What makes a great quarterback is a line that can not only protect him, but a line that can open holes and make any running back, into a superstar.
John Robinson of the Los Angeles Rams could plug and play any running back, behind his line and they would rush for 1000 yards. The Dallas Cowboys in the Emmit Sanders years, due to the Vikings trading their entire team for Herschel Walker, could have made any running back, into a hall of fame character.
Great quarterbacks are shit, if they do not have running backs that can take the pressure off the passing game. In the passing game, a great quarterback still needs receivers and tight ends who can get themselves open and catch the ball. Great quarterbacks, still need a coaching staff who can make the opportunities in exploiting an opponents weaknesses so the team wins.
Dan Marino never had a really good running game. The Dolphins under the great coach, Don Shula, invested their game in the air, much like Don Coriel of the Sand Diego Chargers, in the Dan Fouts era with Kellen Winslow.
A good defense makes a quarterback great and a great quarterback makes a mediocre defense good.
I would add John Elway as an equal to Dan Marino, because Elway did more to win on his own. Elway won the Super Bowl, Dan Marino did not.
One of my sentimental favorites was Archie Manning of the New Orleans Saints. That poor bastard was stuck in the era of teams owning players on the worst team in football, and he had to run for his life scrambling on almost every play. He was a remarkable player who never won, because he never had a team.
In that, Peyton Manning, was a great quarterback, but he was provided an environment like Tom Brady, in protection and an offense and defense which was talented.
It is as hard to argue that Terry Bradshaw of the Steelers was not the best, along with most of his team on offense and defense as they are all in the Hall of Fame.
I think it is easier to mention the worst quarterbacks, most were overrated like Daunte Culpepper or that kneeler.
In that category was Jim Plunket of the Oakland Raiders. Plunket was a chubby short guy who could not throw the football 30 yards, and yet, he did what a quarterback does when they are great. They win games, season after season and he won Super Bowls.
Roger Staubach, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Otto Graham, Ben Roethlisberger, who could be debated the equal to Dan Marion or better, because Joe Montana who is in that list, is someone who found a way to not lose games. Montana based his greatest quarterback on the gun a man had in that cannon for an arm.
I place more value on leadership, intelligence of the game and that winning virtue in those quarterbacks who find a way to make the play when others found a thousands ways to lose a game.
agtG
