H3:Top Ten Quaterbacks of All Time (10-6)

10. Roger Staubach- Roger was the head piece to America’s team. He led them to 2 Super Bowl championships. He captivated the nation like no other quarterback could. He led a team to the Super Bowl 4 times in his NFL career. Roger Staubach came out of Army as a Heisman Trophy. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys and he joined the war effort, and didn’t return until he was 29.  When Staubach retired he was the highest rated quarterback. At a time when defense dominated the NFL landscape, Roger could take chuck the rock up and down field like no one else could. Technically when he retired he would have been considered the greatest quarterback of all time.+

9. Dan Marino- Dan Marino was one of the most pure passers of all time. He was not the most agile, but he had the fancy feet to side step in the pocket from defenders. Out of Pittsburgh, Dan Marino was projected to go in the top ten, but he quickly slid down the board. Miami snatched him up and he transformed Miami for the next 16 seasons. In only his second year he had one of the greatest passing seasons of all time; passing for 5081 yards and 48 touchdowns. The record for touchdowns fell in 2003 and it wasn’t until 2011 that his record for 5081 yards was broken by Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Even after all of his accomplishments many view his career as incomplete because he didn’t win a Super Bowl.

8. John Elway- John Elway was viewed as the finest NFL draft prospect in NFL history, until Andrew Luck in 2012. Elway came out of Stanford in ’83 in the same class. During the 1980s John Elway was remembered for the “The Drive”, a 98 yard drive against the Cleveland Browns, but he was remembered also for losing 3 Super Bowls, all in blowouts to NFC super powers; the Redskins, Giants and the 49ers. Some thought that Elway would never win a Super Bowl, but in 1997 and 1998, he defied his critics, and won two Super Bowls. One was against favored Packers, where Elway led a game winning drive that was defined by his helicopter spin to the end zone. The next year he won it again, against the Atlanta Falcons, where he won NFL MVP. Elway was also remembered being a clutch quarterback and having the most NFL comebacks of all time, until that was broke by Peyton Manning.  

7. Bart Starr- No player in NFL history has been more overlooked than Bart Starr. He was selected in the 17^th round by the Green Bay Packers; it turned out to be the right choice. Bart Starr was overlooked merely because he played on a very dominant team and because of their scheme. The Packer of the 60’s weren’t going to spread you out and pass it up and down the field; they were a ground and pound team, only passing out of necessity. The Packers had a legendary team, ranging from; John Taylor to Paul Horning to Ray Nitchske to Forest Gregg, Herb Adderley, Willie Wood, Jim Ringo, and maybe the greatest head coach of all time, Vince Lombardi. While Starr was at quarterback the Packers only lost one Playoff game in his 15 year career. Starr won six divisional, five NFL, and the first two Super Bowl championships. The most famous was the “Ice Bowl” in ’66 the coldest game in NFL history. Starr on the one yard line QB snuck it to win the game. Even after all of the accolades and achievements, Starr still remains synonymous with the terms, underrated and overlooked. For whatever reason we don’t know, but he deserves more recognition.

6. Otto Graham- Not enough can be said about Otto Graham. This man was considered by many as not only one of the greatest NFL players of all time, but also one of the greatest players of all time. In ten years he won ten league titles, a feat to this day that has not been surpassed. Graham was a dual threat, running and passing his way to all league 9 of the 10 years. Many thought that Otto Graham and the Browns would get shown up in the NFL when they joined, but both Graham and the Browns proved more than equal to the occasion. In the Browns' 30-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in the 1950 NFL Championship Game, Graham threw four touchdown passes. His finest title-game performance came four years later when he scored three touchdowns and threw for a trio of scores in a 56-10 beating of Detroit. Graham retired after that game but responded to Paul Brown's request to return in early in 1955. In the final game of his career, the NFL championship against the Los Angeles Rams, he ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more in a 38-14 victory.

            Tune in next time for quarterbacks 5-1 and see who tops my list as “Greatest Quarterback of all time.

H2: Who's In & Who's Out

Top Quarterbacks for Blog:

·         Tom Brady***Yes

·         Peyton Manning***Yes

·         Joe Montana***Yes

·         Steve Young**

·         Terry Bradshaw**

·         Roger Staubach**Yes

·         Otto Graham**Yes

·         Warren Moon*

·         Johnny Unitas***Yes

·         John Elway**Yes

·         Dan Marino**Yes

·         Brett Favre**Yes

·         Kurt Warner*

·         Ken Stabler*

·         Troy Aikman**

·         Fran Tarkenton*

·         Jim Kelly*

·         Joe Namath*

·         Bart Starr**Yes

·         Norm Van Brocklin**

·         Bob Waterfield*

***Automatics                        **Maybe                     *Honorable Mentions

H1:Marcus Allen-The Model Raider

Marcus Allen came out of USC with a lot of publicity. In 1981 he had won the Heisman with one of the greatest college performances of all time.  In his senior season, Allen rushed for 2342 yards and 22 touchdowns. He would eventually be drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders. In his rookies season Marcus Allen won the Rookie of the Year, rushing for 697 yards and 11 touchdowns, while catching 3 touchdown passes. Allan was truly a double threat at the halfback position. At one point Al Davis wanted him switched to a wide receiver because he had such good hands. Allen could also drop back; during his career he threw six touchdowns. In 1982 Allen helped the Raiders win a super both over the favored Washington Redskins. That year Washington seemed unbeatable, they had broke the record for points scored in a season, that season the Redskins were plus 42 in the turn over differential.  Let’s just say that the Raider’s won in spectacular fashion. Allen scored a 74 yard touchdown that put the game out of reach, and the Raiders went on to win 38-9. Allen had one of the greatest Super Bowl rushing performances of all time; rushing for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. Allen would go on to win the MVP in  1985, as he led the league with 1,759 rushing yards on 380 carries for a 4.6 yards per carry average and 11 touchdowns. He also caught 67 passes for 555 yards and scored an additional three touchdowns. There was still some dissension on the team between owner Al Davis and Marcus Allen. Davis drafted Bo Jackson, one of the finest backs to ever come from college. Allen played fullback for Bo Jackson for four years before Bo Jackson blew out his knee and never played football again. Allen would take back seat to other running backs that would come in, from Roger Craig to Erik Dickerson. At one point Allen was 4^th on the depth chart. There was a period of 4 years when Allen rarely ever saw the field. Al Davis didn’t want Allen to play because Davis said that Allen thought he was bigger than the Raiders. Allen was awarded the “Commitment to Excellence Award”, which is voted on by teammates.  At the end of the 1992 season Allen was released by the Los Angeles Raiders and he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Raider’s biggest rivals. Allen Played six season there before retiring 1997. He still had that greatness because he had not played a lot in the earlier seasons. Marcus Allen finished his NFL career with 121 rushing touchdowns most in NFL history at the time of his retirement. To this day Marcus Allen still doesn’t know why Al Davis began to hate him and Allen will probably never know. Marcus Allen may not have been the fastest person in NFL history, but on the field he looked so smooth and fluid.

G2:Luck for MVP? Why Not

As we approach the last part of the NFL Season, the decision on who wins the NFL MVP still looms at large. There are the usual’s who will be in the running for the award like Peyton Manning who is coming back from his 4^th neck surgery and Tom Brady who seems to get better every week. Adrian Peterson is also in the mix this year for the award because he is having one of his best season ever off a torn ACL and he seems to be super human because he is just picking up where he left off. This year I am throwing someone new into the mix, Andrew Luck. This man has basically turned the Colt’s fortunes this year. They have quadrupled their wins from last year, having already won 8 games before the season is over. If the season ended today the Colts would be in the 5^th seed. Last year without a quarterback of some talent they faltered and struggled only winning two games. The award MVP stands for Most Valuable Player, and Andrew Luck is the most valuable player to his team because he has helped become relevant again. Andrew Luck plays with really no run game, his main back Donald Brown can’t stay healthy. He has a very young receiving core consisting Dwayne Allen, T.Y. Hilton, and Coby Fleener who are all rookies. He also has a defense that is ranked 22^nd in the NFL. Andrew Luck does still manage to have the Colts as the 3^rd ranked offense in the NFL and luck is 4^th in passing yards as a rookie which is very stunning and proves his value. Not to mention that the offensive line is not the best in the NFL. There is no mystery that Luck is done more with less talent than his predecessor Peyton Manning. Tom Brady’s team and Peyton Manning’s team both are much more talented than Luck’s team. Peyton has a dominant pass rush, a good offensive line, and nice core of wide receivers. Tom Brady is playing with an embarrassment of riches on offense. I firmly believe that luck should win it because he is doing something that has never been done before with so much less talent.

G1: How the Colts Got Lucky

Jim Irsay must be one of the luckiest men in football considering when he started as general manager he had the first overall pick and drafted Peyton Manning; 14 years later he gets to draft Andrew Luck. The Indianapolis Colts were a powerhouse with Manning, considering they made the playoffs from 2002-2010, a total of 9 years in a row. Manning for a long time since 2006 has had issues with his neck and that was attributed to a vicious hit he took in 2006. Since then he has had 4 neck surgeries to repair some of the nerves in his neck. He had muscle atrophy, or basically the nerves in his neck had begun to deteriorate. Manning also had a bone fusion in his neck too. That combined with a 2-14 season Manning and the Andrew Luck era had begun.

Experts say that Andrew Luck is the greatest quarterback prospect since John Elway is ’83; I have to agree with that. Andrew Luck has helped reshape an organization that looked like at the end of the season last year that would not be successful for another 2-3 years. Luck must have had a time machine because the Colts right now are 7-4 and have 3 times as many wins as last year. Luck is very good mechanically because on the field Luck as the appearance of a 5 year veteran out there because he looks so calm and fluid out there. He is a lot more mobile than people think he ran the same 40 yard dash time as Cam Newton. Luck is a physical specimen weighing in at 234 pounds and he is 6 foot 3. In 2010 when Luck was at Stanford he ran over California defender that he probably can still see in his dreams. Andrew Luck that same season destroyed a USC defender who had picked the ball up and began to run with it. Luck is probably better than a good handful of the quarterbacks in the NFL. He has really helped the Colts become relevant after a year of not being relevant. The Colts are in the playoff race this year and can make the playoffs this year after no one gave them a chance. Their season really got a jump start when Andrew Luck led the Colts to a comeback when they were down 21-3 to at the half. They won the game in honor of their head coach Chuck Pagano who was in treatment for leukemia. The Colts have done very well after that and another huge win for the Colts came on Sunday in a last second touchdown against the Detroit Lions to move them to 8-4. Andrew Luck has the most wins in one season for a first overall pick; he also has the chance to get the Colts in the playoffs, which would be one of the most improbable things to happen in the NFL I have ever seen. Andrew Luck is really making his case for rookie of the year; he remains in a close race with Washington’s electric play maker Robert Griffin III (RGIII). Andre Luck has lived up to the hype and should be a force to reckon with years to come.