It's getting increasingly difficult to argue that anyone was better than Peyton Manning. He's going to own just about every important qb record unless he gets injured.

He is easily the most impactful player of all time. He basically runs and creates the whole offense and plugs in anyone and makes them very good and even moderately talented skill position players become stars. What he has done in Denver, especially at his age, is nothing short of remarkable. It's not just his statistical dominance, which is huge when you look at the total number of games played. It's how he has dominated the league pretty much every season. We didn't appreciate it as much because Tom Brady was also there and it just seemed to be normal but Peyton has undoubtedly had a better second half of his career vs. him.

The only knock left on him is his playoff record and the fact he only has one ring. Unless he gets a second ring that will be the one thing that keeps the discussion open. Obviously, we can't just take Super Bowls won as the major as it fails many sanity checks(Eli and Big Ben are better qbs!).

My top five:
1) Manning
2) Montana
3) Brady
4) Elway
5) Favre
6) Orton

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He's had some amazing 16-game stretches.

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There is this thing called the playoffs that eliminates Manning.

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Put Nas in the Eli is better category!

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his performance in super bowls aren't anything special. and his playoff record can get downright pedestrian.

greatest of all time talk is nice for water cooler discussions but when you start taking it's seriously, it's laughable. 15 years ago people made that argument about favre. 10 years before that people were making that argument about elway or montana. before that it would've been johnny unitas.

if you want to talk about eras, i would agree manning might be the best in this era. but brady still has better performances in playoff games, and super bowls.

Not just his record. I mean that kinda makes it sound like he's always been good in the playoffs and just ran into some hard luck or great teams

He was bad in the beginning of his career and slightly above average in the last half

Just a clarification

The playoffs are really important. Performing on the biggest stage is the pinnacle of each sport.

That's why Montana is better and Brady still has a case

Eli is better than Craig Krenzel? Peyton's numbers are inflated and others have had success during the post season and regular season. IMO Brett Favre was a better QB.

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Most of Peyton's career has been played in a very QB friendly era


That's one thing that makes these discussions very difficult. The different eras might as well be different sports with the rule changes

You can't just start rating players based on playoff performance alone. It's important but it can't overcome everything. It's just people looking for an excuse to discount Manning and the CLEAR advantage he has over just about everyone.

Otherwise, the two best quarterbacks in NFL history are Montana and Terry Bradshaw, with the next tier being Troy Aikman, and Bart Starr, and then the third tier being Tom Brady, Eli, Ben Roethlisberger, and Bob Griese.

The playoff performance metric fails so many sanity checks that you simply can't use it as anything more than one of many factors.

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That and the fact he has never played without at least 1 pro bowl level receiver. He's been very fortunate and good.

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So what? As a whole, he's been so much better than just about everyone else who isn't Tom Brady.

It's not just his numbers. It is what he does to teams. We never really understood the greatness of Peyton Manning until he started over in Denver and turned them into the most elite offense in the league.

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They didnt look elite in the Super Bowl

I think there is a reason for that. It's not like he played with Jerry Rice.

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We're looking at the entire body of work. Having a losing record and many awful games in the playoffs eliminates him. He has a great argument for greatest regular season QB.

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You aren't looking at his whole body of work though. That is the point. His statistical dominance and his impact on an offense is undeniably better than any player in NFL history. You are basically just saying "1-2 in Super Bowls!".

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I'm fine with Peyton holding the title until Aaron Rodgers retires.

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So based, on the early arguments here, this is what others believe constitutes the top 5 NFL QBs of all time.

1) Joe Montana
2) Terry Bradshaw
3) Bart Starr
4) Troy Aikman
5) Tom Brady

Poor Favre, Manning, and Elway.

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Playoff QB Rating


1. Bart Starr+ 104.8 1956-1971 gnb
2. Aaron Rodgers (31) 103.1 2005-2014 gnb
3. Kurt Warner 102.8 1998-2009 2TM
4. Drew Brees (35) 100.7 2001-2014 2TM
5. Joe Montana+ 95.6 1979-1994 2TM
6. Mark Sanchez (28) 94.3 2009-2014 nyj
7. Ken Anderson 93.5 1971-1986 cin
8. Joe Theismann 91.4 1974-1985 was
9. Eli Manning (33) 89.3 2004-2014 nyg
10. Peyton Manning (38) 89.2 1998-2014 2TM
11. Troy Aikman+ 88.3 1989-2000 dal
12. Tom Brady (37) 87.5 2000-2014 nwe
13. Colin Kaepernick (27) 87.3 2011-2014 sfo
14. Brett Favre 86.3 1991-2010 2TM
15. Joe Flacco (29) 86.2 2008-2014 rav
16. Steve Young+ 85.8 1985-1999 sfo
17. Philip Rivers (33) 85.2 2004-2014 sdg
Matt Ryan (29) 85.2 2008-2014 atl
19. Warren Moon+ 84.9 1984-2000 2TM
20. Rich Gannon 84.6 1987-2004 3TM

If I had to choose from the qb's Ive seen play in my lifetime Manning and Brady are a toss up with Rodgers running close behind then its everyone else and Cutler.

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It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Sanity checks are failing all over the place there!

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No I'm not. On the other hand you're just looking at his regular season stats and ignoring everything else.

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No. I'm also looking at the impact on his team and other players and his career longevity.

There is literally only one knock left on Peyton now and that is that he only won a single Super Bowl.

I believe I may be wrong, but don't you have Elway as your greatest QB? How?

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I dont know what you're referencing, but Mark Sanchez always gets left out in these GOAT discussions

The most telling stat is that Peyton Manning is a better playoff quarterback than Tom Brady!

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Greatest fantasy QB of All time.

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Yes, I noticed that last year


The thing is it seems most QB's end up in the 87-89 range after a while. But a lot of that is them lowering it with performances as older QB's.

Yes I do. For Elway's and a large part of Favre's career you can't look at things like stats in comparison to what Manning is doing. Elway was great despite having crap around him for nearly his entire career. Favre played with an elite WR for 1 year and that was his rookie season. Both played during an era that didn't cater to QBs and offense. Both were better when the games mattered most. There was always the belief that they would lead their teams to victory regardless of the score. That's why both will likely always be ranked ahead of Manning on my list. If my life was on the line I would choose them over Manning every day of the week.

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It's extremely hard to get to the SB in the NFL, let alone win it. It's not like baseball or basketball where your dominance is displayed over a seven game series. It's one single game. Flukes happen. Manning went three times, on top of all the accolades and whatever. I'm good with that. Rick is right.

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I feel like Rick started this thread so he could have something to do (argue) at work today.

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Every elite player that Manning played with has been replaced multiple times and still been elite. You could consider this argument in Indianapolis but with what he has done in Denver you simply can't say that now. It's not like Denver just happened to have 3 elite skill position players and he walked into that.

Favre and Elway were not better in the playoffs.

This is why I'm saying that Manning has the best argument. Pretty much any criteria used to discredit Manning out of the #1 spot also knocks out players like Marino, Favre, and Elway while putting up guys like Bradshaw and Aikman.

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