[Rain Man]

Elway forced himself onto a team that had been in the Super Bowl six years earlier, and had posted a 50-33 record in those six years. Unlike PManning, Bradshaw, Brady, Montana, and other great quarterbacks, he didn't join a weak team that needed rebuilding. He forced himself onto a consistent playoff team. The only other quarterback in the conversation who had that advantage was Marino, but Marino did it fair and square by having a hurt shoulder and falling in the draft.

Unlike those other quarterbacks, he simply never made those around him better. There's a reason that PManning lifts up Harrison and Clark and Wayne, and Montana lifts up Rice and Taylor and Craig, and Marino lifts up Duper and Clayton, while Elway's receivers never were perceived as anything special. The great quarterbacks created great teammates.