The 9-4 head to head stat that was all over the TV this weekend probably doesn't hurt.

If this was a wrestling tournament, every round is ending with Montana holding up the bloody, severed head of his opponent.

Let me frame it this way:

Superbowl game, your choice...

P Manning or E Manning
P Manning or T Brady
P Manning or Big Ben

P Manning has a much better skillset than all of the above, but in the SB who is truly the better QB?

Joe Montana
Tom Brady
John Elway
Drew Brees
Johnny Unitas

that's probably your top 5 all time right there

Manning is Marino, the only difference is he happened to get a SB win. Both are pussies when it comes down to it. Brady, Big Ben, and E Manning have that same clutch refuse to lose mentality when it comes down to it in big games. M&M were both regular season superstars.

agree with where you're going but you missed one important fact. P Manning isn't clutch.

John Elway is. That was in my factors I listed below.

Alright people, here it is. Knock it off already:

Even when Elway had the same "stacked team" and won, he still played like shit.

Read every word of this article and tell me Elway is better with a straight face:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7...te-of-all-time

But for a quarterback it's all about one game: the Super Bowl. And obviously Elway was a stud in the big game, right? Well, let's compare Super Bowl stats between the two.

Elway: five games, 152 attempts, 76 completions, 50% completion, 1,128 yards, three touchdowns, eight interceptions, a 59.3 quarterback rating and two Super Bowl victories.
Montana: four games, 122 attempts, 83 completions, 68% completion, 1,142 yards, 11 touchdowns, zero interceptions, a 127.8 quarterback rating and four Super Bowl victories.

I could not believe it when I calculated those stats. Aside from his last game, Elway wasn't just bad in the Super Bowl, he was god-awful. Montana was just as great as Elway was awful—he shined the brightest in the big game. Montana had more touchdown passes (five) in his last Super Bowl then Elway did in all five of his. Montana never threw a pick in the Super Bowl, while Elway threw at least one in every game. Montana's completion percentage in 18 percent higher and his quarterback rating more than doubles Elway's.

Please god let elway be knocked out this time.

I will contend that if you take those SB head to heads of Montana v Elway that the talent levels between the teams were so great that if they swapped, you'd get the same result. 49ers win.

It is widely accepted that Jerry Rice is the greatest football player ever. Not just at his position. Ever. Honestly you have to factor this in.

Read every word of that article I posted and tell me you would still take Elway. Even when he had the talent of the 9ers teams he played like shit.

Absolutely, I do it ALL THE TIME here.

That wasn't the question. If I had a team that had already made it to the Super Bowl, I might actually start Montana.

But if I had a team that was mediocre in most aspects and I need to GET TO THE SUPER BOWL in the first place, I'd take Elway.

It's a team game. Some of the defenses Montana had in SF were AWESOME.

And there you have the REAL answer at the heart of this argument.

The problem is you've focused completely on the Super Bowl.

Nowhere in the original premise does Rain Man say we should limit our opinion to just Super Bowl performances.

In the year where the 49ers beat the Broncos 55-10, the Broncos had the #1 defense in the league.

Re-read the OP..... you think he was referring to the 2nd preseason game?