Where have all of the great Quarterbacks gone?
On the evening of November 2nd I, along with several million other Americans, will sit on my couch and watch the last two of an endangered species in their natural habitat. I of course, will be watching Tom Brady and Peyton Manning battle it out on the gridiron of Lucas Oil Stadium. Over the past half-decade the rivalry of their two teams has become the greatest in the NFL. It has been the marquee game of the regular season and the Playoffs. Twice they have played for the AFC championship and they have accounted for 4 of the last 7 Super Bowl victories. But with just two players missing, the rivalry would mean nothing. The weeks of hype and fanfare would die off and it would be billed as just another week 9 game. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are what makes the rivalry great.
 |
Pro Football Fans features a great selection of NFL hats & merchandise as well as NFL Fatheads and more! |
After the retirement of gridiron warrior Brett Favre, the NFL has been left with just two Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks; Brady and Manning. The final pair in a dying breed, they walk a lonely path in the footsteps of the greats before them. There was a time when nearly half the teams in the league had a great QB. When Hall of Fame shootouts happened on a weekly basis in the fall. No longer. Precisely one-sixteenth of the teams in the league have an all-time great QB on their roster. For those of you having trouble following, that’s two. So I as, where have all the Quarterbacks gone?
In 1971 the great QB landscape was far different. Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Fran Tarkenton, Bob Griese, John Hadl, Terry Bradshaw and Len Dawson were lighting up the Sunday sky back then. Nearly half the teams in the league had a great passing and handing off for them. By 1980, things were starting to change. The league had more teams and the number of great QB’s was dwindling. Joe Montana, Dan Fouts, Archie Manning, Terry Bradshaw, Ken Stabler and Phil Simms are the notables. Now, in the mid to late 80’s several special QBs entered the league and it appeared for a while that the talent pool may not be drying up. John Elway and Dan Marino, both hall of famers, entered the league in the ’83 draft. Later in the decade Steve Young, Jim Kelley and Troy Aikman joined the ranks as well. By 1993 Montana was nearing the end of his career and many of his 80’s compatriots had long since retired. Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Brett Favre were battling constantly for NFC supremacy while the AFC had the seasoned vets in Marino, Elway and Kelley. Young’s 49ers and Aikman’s Cowboys Won 4 Superbowls in a row, followed by Favre’s Packers winning one and then dropping the next to Elway’s Broncos.
By this time, its 1998. Montana and Kelley are gone, and Elway would retire after winning his second Super Bowl that season. Peyton Manning had just completed an impressive rookie season with the Colts and was considered the league’s most talented up-and-comer. He would have big shoes to fill. By the time the 2000 season ended, Troy Aikman and Steve Young had retired due more or less to injury and Dan Marino due to age, leaving just Manning and Favre as the league’s elite. Then, early in the 2001 season, the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe went down with a chest injury and in stepped Tom Brady, whom no one outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan had ever heard of. He quickly made a name for himself over the next 6 seasons and now is widely considered to be the league’s best. Favre, as I said before, retired after 18 seasons in ’07. Welcome to 2008, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning - that’s it.
But how did we get here? Why did the Quarterback talent pool slowly dry up over the last 35 or so years? Was it easier to be a great Quarterback back then with slower defenses, less complicated schemes and more emphasis on the run game? Is it the high QB draft picks being more focused on landing that huge contract then on less material accomplishments? Or is it simply that less great QB prospects are being developed? My guess is that it is a combination of these factors, a sort of preventative formula for gridiron greatness from the signal-caller position. If things stay the way they are—especially in 2010 when, unless a labor agreement is reached, there will be an uncapped season—we may never see the heyday of Quarterbacks again. There are plenty of solid QB starters in the league, a few have the potential to make their mark on history (Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer) but no one who is a sure-fire all-timer like Mr. Brady and Mr. Manning. We might, in 6 or 7 years, when Brady and Manning are gone, have 10 greats putting the ball in the air. Or, we might be watching a bunch of Chad Penningtons, John Kitnas and Jeff Garcias with no true greats around. I’m betting on the latter. So, on November 2nd, let’s all watch the Pats battle the Colts for AFC supremacy for yet another year and take special notice of the two veteran signal callers on the field. They are the last of their kind, throwbacks to a different age of football. We may not see two of the greatest of all time battle it out many more times, so take a couple hours to appreciate it now.
By Matt Fullerton
DFN Sports Staff Writer