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
Now if Elway had retired after the 1996 season instead of playing for two more years, these would have been his career Super Bowl passing statistics. Do you mean to tell me that if he had retired after 15 seasons you would look at his achievements and leave him off your list of all-time great QBs simply because of his Super Bowl numbers?
He must hate Noo Yawk...
Elway took mediocre teams to the Super Bowl those first three times. I don't think the Broncos were favored in any of those games. The fact that they lost doesn't diminish Elway's accomplishments.
Now if Elway had retired after the 1996 season instead of playing for two more years, these would have been his career Super Bowl passing statistics. Do you mean to tell me that if he had retired after 15 seasons you would look at his achievements and leave him off your list of all-time great QBs simply because of his Super Bowl numbers?
Absolutely not. The fact that he went to 5 Super Bowls instead of 3 just raised him from three or four to number one. Jim Kelly and Fran Tarkington went to four Super Bowls and never won. They are still great QBs who belong in the top ten.
I just think Marino is overrated. He was in a pass oriented offense and amassed fantastic numbers. However, football is a team game. Peyton Manning is the next Dan Marino. He will break all of Marino's records and never win a Superbowl.
I'd move Montana ahead of Marino.
Why???
I'd move Montana ahead of Marino.
Why???
DB: Darrel Green, Deion
LB: Singletary, R. Lewis, L.T.
QB: Unitas, Marino, Montana, Manning is on his way
RB: Brown, Sweetness
DL: White, B. Smith
OL: Ogden
WR: Rice
Banks effectively shut down running games almost single-handedly with his exceptional instincts and play recognition skills, and with his remarkable ability to overpower an opposing tight end to close off a running back's wide runs to his side of the field. Go back and look at the tapes from that season -- especially the team's dominant defensive performances and the three post-season games in which they outscored their opposition by a combined 105-23 score. The best linebacker in a blue jersey in those games wore #58, not #56.
They got their heads handed to them in all those Super Bowls for the same reason the Buffalo Bills lost four straight -- because they were built with smaller, faster players to win against other AFC teams but matched up very poorly against the larger, run-oriented teams that dominated the NFC in that era.
A class act, too.
Except for LT who won the NFL's MVP, the first time a defensive player had won the award since 1971. I am not taking anything away from Banks or any of the other Giant linebackers. As I said, when you have a force like LT on the field, it makes the jobs of the other players easier. It is like having Shaq in the middle. When people collapse on him, someone else is open.
Jackie Smith of the St Louis Cardinals was also one of the best TEs ever. But he's only remembered for one play, the dropped pass in the endzone for Dallas against Pittsburgh in SB 13.
Sandy Koufax
The Broncos were not favored to win the first three Superbowls. No one disputes that they had a good team. You don't go to three Superbowls in four years, but they were not dominant, especially against NFC teams. As far as the NFC was concerned, they were mediocre.
In 1987 the Giants beat the Broncos 39-20 with Simms throwing for 22 out of 25. In 1988 it was the Redskins turn to whip the Broncos 42-10. And in 1990, San Francisco whalloped Denver 55-10 with Montana at the helm. From 1982 to 1997, the NFC won every Superbowl except one when the Raiders beat Washington. Clearly, the AFC was overmatched.
y got their heads handed to them in all those Super Bowls for the same reason the Buffalo Bills lost four straight -- because they were built with smaller, faster players to win against other AFC teams but matched up very poorly against the larger, run-oriented teams that dominated the NFC in that era.
I'll agree with that. Pass-oriented teams place tremendous pressure on their own defenses. Quick-strike offenses keep their defenses on the field and wear them out. Ball control teams have greater time of possession, which allows the defense to rest. Also, as the old football adage goes, when you throw the ball three things happen and two of them are bad.
won more Super Bowls than Marino or Unitas
"LT is not one of the greatest all time players because for one year Carl Banks was a better linebacker." There's no logic in that. Two different things - best season by a linebacker, best players in history.
I loved Banks, but defensive coordinators didnt gameplan around him. QBs didnt look to see where he was. But they had different games - Banks was the trenchman, LT the freelancer.
The "Taylor was only a rush linebacker (one dimensional)" has been tried before too. It falls short because you can apply it everybody else - Butkus was a run-stuffer only, Singletary needed protection from a big DL, etc.
Flanker, Charlie Hennigan!
Jerry Rice
Lee Roy Selmon (im biased im a bucs fan)
Manning has talent, but that doesn't mean he's a great quarterback -- yet.
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