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Originally Posted by Mile High Mania
That has not been my intent at all. As has been said, it's just difficult to compare players from different eras. Every decade things evolve and advance.
My point with looking at the last 25 years, yeah there are a couple of phenomenal QB talents that have the longevity, stats and "wow factor" from watching them play. I think you look at guys like Ryan, Rivers, Stafford and several others and point to what are their memorable moments? What did they do in their body of work that makes them different. Hell, they'll all get into the HOF, but that doesn't really speak to their place in the game.
Right now we are seeing the 'golden age' of QBs for the most part. Players are bigger, stronger faster, rules are different and offensive schemes are different and more wide open.
Just look at the list of all-time 4,000+ yard passers... the great bulk of those QBs and seasons it has happened have been within the last quarter century.
There's not one stat or collection of stats that cements greatness. Hell, Aikman has a lot of accolades and 3 rings. I don't know if anyone can point to more than 3 games where they say "Troy won this one".
Strip people of their fandom biases and ask them to put up the best 12-15 QBs of all time, the lists will include 95% of the same QBs - order doesn't really matter.
Obviously, Montana and Brady will be 1A/1B for most... but there are another 12-13 players that are locks for the all-time greats. And, honestly I don't care where you rank any of them - they're dominant and belong on the list.
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I think Aikman gets a bad rap because he had some loaded teams, but Elway's last 3 teams were loaded too. I'd rank Elway above Aikman, but Aikman was pretty damn good. One of the most accurate QBs ever.
I don't compare Elway's numbers to today's QBs. I only compare to his era. His numbers and accomplishments were solid. I just don't think they were "top 5 all time" solid.