A week from Sunday, the country will watch the 44th Super Bowl. Actually, a few people will watch, while most of the "viewers" will eat, drink and talk about Heidi Montag.
For the football fans, one debate should rise to the surface. Is Peyton Manning the greatest quarterback of all-time?
Up until now, there has not been a clear G.O.A.T. like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky or Pele in their respective sports. In fact, there have been four strong schools of thought on the subject.
1) If you make the "evolution of the game" argument, Johnny Unitas is your guy.
Unitas was the first QB to sling the ball around the field and paved the way for the modern aerial assaults that we know and love. However, it's hard to ask an evolutionary to also perfect his craft. We learn from our past, so Unitas's statistics don't compare to today's signal-callers. He never completed 60% of his passes in a year and he threw more picks than touchdowns in 9 of his 17 seasons.
2) If you make the "winner" argument, Joe Montana is your guy.
Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories. Like Derek Jeter, he's better known for moments ("The Catch") than he is for statistical dominance. He was ruthlessly efficient completing over 63% of his passes for his career and throwing just 139 INTs to 273 TDs. However, he never passed for 4,000 yards in a season, which was accomplished by 10 QBs this season alone.
3) If you want statistical dominance, Dan Marino is your guy.
Marino is second on the all-time list for career TD passes. As a 23-year-old (2nd year), he passed for 5,084 yards and 48 TDs. Enough said! Of course, Dan "The Man" holds bitterly to his statistical marks because he lacks the security of a championship ring. Marino was 8-10 in playoff games and 0-1 in Super Bowls (despite what you see in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective).
4) If you think the true mark of a quarterback is his performance in the clutch, John Elway is your guy.
From "The Drive" to beat the Browns in the playoffs to the helicopter leap that won the Super Bowl, "The Comeback Kid" was deadly in the clutch. With the game on the line, he's the guy you want running your team. For the longest time, Elway had the same knock as Marino, but "this one's for John" happened and then happened again, so he could ride out on top with two rings. Statistically, he falls short of Montana let alone Marino.
And now for category #5...
5) If you want it all, Peyton Manning is THE guy.
Like Unitas, Manning has played a large role in the evolution of NFL offense. While the hurry-up was made fashionable by Jim Kelly's Bills, Manning perfected, if not created, the no-huddle offense for an entire game. His trademark barking of signals at the line of scrimmage has become commonplace among the game's elite QBs.
Like Montana, Manning is a winner. He struggled with the Marino label for 7 years before shedding it with a Super Bowl MVP performance in 2006. The smart money is that he'll do it again Sunday. He has a career regular season record of 131-61, which includes a 3-13 rookie season.
Like Marino, he has the numbers to back it up. In 2004, Manning broke Marino's single-season TD pass mark with 49, which included a 121.0 QB rating for the year. He's thrown for over 4,000 yards in 10 of his 12 seasons and he has completed 64.8% of his passes in his career.
Like Elway, he is nearly unstoppable in the two-minute drill with the game on the line. This season, Bill Belichick conceded Manning's greatness by going for it on 4th down deep in his own end instead of punting to Peyton. As I said at the time, it was the greatest compliment ever paid to a quarterback.
And sadly, if you like to make the Brett Favre argument, Manning has never missed a start in his professional career.
While it is usually best to make career achievement arguments after a career is over, Manning is a living legend.
If you catch a glimpse of the TV on Super Bowl Sunday between refrigerator trips and Tiger Woods jokes, please note that you're watching the greatest quarterback of all-time on the game's biggest stage or as you know him, "that funny guy from the commercials."
That's ring #2, but I think you're #1.
