Montana, Marino, Elway, Unitas Marino has to be in top 4, there was no learning curve for him, the man came into the league and started scorching defenders from the day he got his fist start in the NFL. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think any other QB has come in from day one and put up the numbers Dan has.
in the pre Super Bowl era, i believe both Graham and Baugh won championships their rookie years (would have to double check that), and they never looked back. in the modern day, i'd probably have to go with Marino's rookie season. although he didn't exactly hit the ground running. the 83 season started with a strike, and Dan wasn't the day 1 starter after the strike. took him a couple more games to get in there, but his talent was obvious right away to your point (and much to my dismay as a youth). QB's starting off strong is also a function of the team around them too. Marino had that, as did Big Ben and Russell Wilson, who also had very good rookie years. you could argue Luck did the most with the least as a rookie. i have a feeling he'll be in that top 10 discussion one day.
I don't understand how people can have Marino in their top 4 but not Peyton. I understand if you don't have both due to the lack of postseason success but you can't pick and choose. This guy was amazing in the regular season but doesn't have a ring and he's in but this guy was even better in the regular season and has a ring and isn't?
Not that I would necessarily put him in my top 4, but I'm somewhat surprised that Fran Tarkenton's name hasn't even been mentioned in the first 2 pages of this thread. Always underrated. One of the best.
The game has changed so much over the years. Imagine Marino and Montana in this pass friendly league. Picking only 4 would be very difficult. Marino, Montana and two others, of half a dozen possibles. I could easily put Br*dy as the best ever, but I just don't know how many games/seasons are in question with him. It's hard to believe they only cheated twice... and were cuaght both times.
Peyton Manning has an overall losing record in the playoffs. No way a QB who chokes in big games belongs on that list. All Manning has done is pad his stats during the regular season.
He's still one of the smartest QBs to ever play the game if not the smartest. He still has a SB ring, so he belongs on this list over Marino and even Elway. How many shots did Elway have before he finally broke through? He was benched plenty of times, and was part of the greatest defense prob ever in NFL history.
