[Alberta's Child]

Thus, I think Marino is only "great" if he has experienced receivers catching for him. But Montana becomes "great" with lesser receivers.

I don't think this is true at all. If anything, it was Montana who had the better wide receivers on his team throughout his career, along with good tight ends (Jon Frank, Brent Jones) and one of the best pass-catching running backs (Roger Craig) of all time.

[lemura]

Montana who had the better wide receivers on his team

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.

[birbear]

I don't think this is true at all. If anything, it was Montana who had the better wide receivers on his team throughout his career, along with good tight ends (Jon Frank, Brent Jones) and one of the best pass-catching running backs (Roger Craig) of all time

I agree. I'm saying Montana could still have been great with a less competent recieving corp, given the fact that he had an easy catching ball.

Marino threw a bullet that not everybody could catch. If Marino had a Jerry Rice to throw too his numbers would be remarkably higher. As it was, he had a mediocre set of receivers to throw to, so his stats are even more impressive.