Posted on 09/14/2005 2:23:26 PM PDT by One Proud Son
QUARTERBACKS: (1) Johnny Unitas (2) Dan Marino (3) Joe Montana RUNNING BACKS: (1) Jim Brown (2) Walter Payton (3) Barry Sanders WIDE RECEIVERS: (1) Jerry Rice (2) Don Maynard (3) Randy Moss DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: (1) Joe Greene (2) Howie Long (3) Randy White LINEBACKERS: (1) Dick Butkus (2) Jack Lambert (3) Mike Singletary DEFENSIVE BACKS: (1) Ronnie Lott (2) Paul Krause (3) Ken Houston
linebackers:
Sam Huff
and the guy who broke Frank Gifford- Chuck Bednarik
Earl Campbell is a great man, but then again, YOU haven't met him.
Yes to Nighttrain Lane. How about funniest defensive tackle, Artie Donovan.
Regardless of who was catching the ball, Montana had the best 'head' ever for the game - think about how many come-from-behind drives he engineered during his career. When people were literally ready to pass out from excitement (re: 1982 NFC Championship v. Dallas; 1989 Superbowl v. Cincinatti), he somehow would pull out the win.
Match his stats, rings and intangibles mentioned above, and Joe stands heads and shoulders above all the rest.
Lineman:
Anthony Munoz
Mike Webster
Jerry Kramer
I think their basic point was that Campbell wasn't just a great athlete -- he was a great man on and off the field who happened to dominate his sport at different levels, all while playing in the state of Texas.
Montana, who led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories and is the only player to win three Super Bowl MVPs, was voted No. 25 among North American athletes of the 20th century by SportsCentury's distinguished 48-person panel.
Signature game
Jan. 10, 1982 -- The game will forever be remembered for "The Catch." But the pass was pretty impressive, too. And so was the drive.
Trailing the Dallas Cowboys 27-21 in the NFC championship game, the San Francisco 49ers took over on their own 11 with 4:54 left in the fourth quarter at Candlestick Park. Mixing four running plays with six passes, Montana adroitly moved the 49ers to the Dallas 13. But on first down, he missed an open Freddie Solomon in the end zone, causing the 49ers' usually stoic coach, Bill Walsh, to leap in the air and let out a yell.
Two plays later, faced with a third-and-three on the six, a mobile Montana sprinted to his right while three Cowboys chased him. In the back of the end zone, his favorite target, Dwight Clark, ran in the same direction. Throwing off the wrong foot, Montana lofted the ball towards the end zone. Knocked down, Montana never saw Clark's leaping catch. He rolled over, saw Clark's feet hit the ground and then heard the crowd roar. Ray Wersching's extra point with 51 seconds left gave the 49ers a 28-27 victory, putting them in their first Super Bowl.
"I was thinking of throwing the ball away, but I saw Dwight come open and I figured if I could hang on another half-second ..." Montana said. "We're instructed that if we throw that pass to make sure he's the only one who can catch it."
Tackle Keith Fehnhorst said, "That last drive will go down in history."
I respect your long list of quarterbacks but startled by your low ranking of Unitas.
Unitas and Graham played in an era when quarterbacks didn't wear skirts. These guys took a beating. Without all the rules protecting quarterbacks today, Unitas still holds the record for most consecutive weeks with at least one TD pass (47), and he won the "Greatest Game Ever Played"
Unitas and Berry are still the best Q-back/Receiver combo. Most likely Manning will break Unitas's consecutive TD record, but he will do it on artificial turfs in his tutu.
Despite the advantages offenses have today Manning and Marvin Harrison remind me most of Unitas and Berry. Both teams are all business without the attitude.
Among Real quarterbacks Unitas will always be the best. Unitas also ushered in the modern day NFL after winning The Greatest Game.
God bless you , Johnny U. Nobody gave this young kid more heart attacks than you on Sunday afternoons.
I like Lynch. How about one of the first "linebackers" to play safety, Jack Tatum - Oakland Raiders.
Bob Kuechenberg
Why did you put him on here?. He's from my hometown. He was great though.
No way as in Elway. How many Super Bowl rings does Marino have?
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: (1) Joe Greene (2) Howie Long (3) Randy White
Howie Long over Reggie White? Sure. Absolutely. < /sarcasm>
LINEBACKERS: (1) Dick Butkus (2) Jack Lambert (3) Mike Singletary
Who could we have left off? Lawrence somebody. Last name starts with a T, IIRC.
I vote Sanders. No line, no quarterback, no offensive scheme, as exciting a runner as ever was. You want excitement or you want some workhorse 3rd down back?
I can't stand Tatum after what he did to Daryll Stingley in 1978 and was proud of it. Tatum recently lost a leg to diabetes. What goes around comes around.
Jim Parker, Anthony Munoz, John Hannah, Forest Gregg and I can't make up my mind between Badnarik and Webster
Good, but NOT great by any stretch of the imagination.
Defensive Line: from Deacon Jones, Bob Lily, Joe Greene, Reggie White
Linebackers: Ham, Butkus, LT
Wideouts: Rice, Don Hutson
Tight End: Big John Mackey
Sorry, that was not meant to be a ranking and I meant to say so at the time. It was just a list of 15 QBs in response to someone saying Farve was clearly among the top 10 all time.
As I said in my first case I agreed with the thread starter that Unitas in the top 3 was a good choice.
Of course the best way to study this to me would be to look at the QB rating of each of these QBs to the average of the league at the time they played. That is how much better they were than the average of their league. The big reason for this to me is what you say about the hits QBs of Unitas' era took. Some of the best QBs today might not last a season taking the hits NFL QBs of the 1960s.
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