The debate of "greatest ever" of nearly anything in the world can almost never get a clear cut answer as to whom is the undoubted number one. Sports, specifically football, is a particularly interesting and often tricky debate mainly because of the team aspect, different eras, different rules, yada yada. So when I claim that Peyton Manning is the greatest QB ever, I am going to add in that he is the best post 1974. Prior to that I would say Otto Graham could probably take the cake. He led the Browns to 10 division and/or league titles from 1946 to 1955. That is pretty ridiculous.
Post 1974, I compared Mr. Manning to an elite group of QB's that either have or will go down in history as some of the best ever. I did not compare Manning to some greats that could make the list such as Aikman, Elway and Fouts. I also could be showing my relative young age by picking a couple of QBs that are still active. The Five QBs that I would put on Mannings level are Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Dan Marino and Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw gets the nod over Elway and Aikman because of his four Superbowls but statistically, he is nowhere near the other guys. First lets take one guy from the list that Peyton Manning is not trailing in most career stats.
Bradshaw is nowhere near the regular season QB that Manning is, however his Superbowl stats are really impressive. 4 wins, 9-4 TD to INT over 300 yards a game and a 112 rating. In 1978 he threw for 318 yards with 4-1 TDs to INT and had a 119 rating. Pretty good. But those were some amazing defenses he had in Pittsburgh and two great wide recievers to combine with a hall of fame running back, so maybe Bradshaw is getting too much credit. His regular season numbers are not great and Manning has more yards, TDs and less picks than Bradshaw. The next names are much more worthy of being compared to Manning.
Right now Dan Marino and Brett Favre are the only names between the top of the career passing TDs and Manning. Favre has played in 7 more seasons than Manning while Marino has 5 on him. Assuming Manning plays 7 more seasons, to match Marino, he will have to average a measly 1600 yards and 7 TDs a season. Manning could probably play two more seasons and pass Marinos records. Marino has only one MVP while Manning has 4 and Manning has one Super bowl with the possibility of winning a second in just over a week from now.
Brett freakin' Favre is arguably one of the best QBs to play the game of football. He leads the career NFL records for passing yards (69,329), TDs (497), INTs (317) and consecutive MVP awards (3). If Favre comes back in 2010, he could also pass John Elway as the most sacked QB of all time if he goes down 14 more times. If Manning continues playing for 7 more seasons, he will have to average 18 TD passes and 2743 yards a season to tie Favre. Manning has never thrown for less than 26 TDs and 3739 yards in one season. Manning has also thrown 20+ picks only twice and once was his rookie year. Favre has thrown 20+ picks 6 times. Right now they are both tied in the Super Bowl department but Manning could overtake that soon. Manning has 4 MVPs while Favre has 3 which he won in consecutive seasons. If Manning wins next year he will tie that record as well. Manning averages more yards a game, yards an attempt than Favre while being more accurate (64.8%-62%) and a higher average QB rating (95.2 to 86.6). I have no idea how you compute QB ratings but I know that having one over 90 is a good season and Manning has done it 9 times while going over 100 in 4 seasons. Favre has 9 seasons of a rating more than 90 but only 1 season over 100. Favre also has more wins than Manning (169-117) but Manning could easily break that as well.
Finally the last two QBs to compare him to are Tom Brady and Joe Montana. They both make this list not necessarily for their regular season performance but their post season dominance. Manning has more passing yards, TDs, MVPs better QB rating, more accurate, equal or more wins, more yards per game, more yards per attempt and more hilarious TV commericals than Brady and Montana. The reason they are held in such stature is because of their ridiculous dominance during the playoffs and particulary in the Super Bowl. In 4 Super Bowls, Montana has over 1100 yards, 11 TDs and no interceptions. The dude needs to be checked whether or not he is human. I think Peyton is certainly better than Brady for the statistical reasons mentioned but he has a little way to go before he can be seated above Montana in post season lore.
All in all, I would say Peyton Manning could be looked at the way people look at Eldrick Woods. Sooner or later he is going to pass all of the records that historians and stat addicts hold dear. I say Bravo, Mr. Manning, you are the best I have ever seen and I cannot wait to continue watching.
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He clearly is the best ever and we are blessed to watch him in his prime. There is a question, is he in his prime now, or just getting passed it? One interesting fact that I came across, Superbowl XLIV will be the first time since 1993 that two no. 1 overall seeds will meet each other.
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