Is Peyton Manning The Greatest QB Of This Generation?

Let the debate rage on. After adding  another three touchdowns to his resume, giving him 513 in his career, its pretty safe to say that Peyton Manning is a lock for the Football Hall of Fame. This also sparked a pretty good debate. Where does Peyton Manning rank among the all time great quarterbacks. There's no doubt that Manning is in the top ten all time amongst the great QB's, but at the same time it's hard to accurately compare quarterbacks who played in say the 1940's and 1950's to guys who play in today's game. So with this debate, I'm taking two things into consideration. One I'm limiting this to the last 25 years of the NFL, as it makes things a little bit easier at least to define a time frame in the game. Two, this is a comparison of each quarterback’s “greatness” as a relative measure to their contemporaries.

So before I reveal the top five, there are a few guys I have to mention for just missing the cut. We have guys like Kurt Warner (came out of nowhere to be a force with the Rams), Drew Brees (been tearing it up the past few seasons), Steve Young (wasn't quite as good as Montana but still a solid, winning QB in his own right), Warren Moon (threw for well over 49,000 career yards and helped make the Oilers relevant), Tom Brady (the golden boy keeps winning every year no matter what talent he has around him), and of course Troy Aikman (may not have put up as prolific numbers as some of the other QB's of the time but the guy can win and has two rings to prove it).

So without further ado, here's the top five quarterbacks of the last quarter century:

5. John Elway
When you talk all time greats, this guy's name has to get mention. Elway has the third-most comebacks in league history and started for five Super Bowl teams with the Denver Broncos, winning back-to-back titles in Super Bowls 32 and 33, while claiming MVP in Superbowl 33. His "Drive" to beat Cleveland in the 1986 AFC Championship Game will be remembered forever. He also ranks 4th all time on the passing yards list.

4. Dan Marino
For the longest time, this guy was king of the hill at the quarterback position. Marino had every passing record in the book, and while he never won a Super Bowl, he was still a great quarterback. Part of what held Marino back was the lack of a run game and a sub par defense. Even with that, Marino single handily carried the Dolphins to Super Bowl 19 and two more AFC Championship games. Marino's 1984 season might be the best season by a quarterback ever. He had 5,084 passing yards and 48 touchdowns more than two decades before the NFL opened up the passing game. The only knock on Dan is he never won the big one.

3. Brett Farve
Sure there's the constant knock on Farve for flipping back and forth about retirement at the end of his career. But there is no denying the fact that during his heyday with the Packers, he was one of the greatest to every step foot onto a football field. His ironman streak started wiht the Packers, and he started 253 of a possible 255 games. His 2009 season with the Vikings was arguably the best season of his career at age 40. He's got the superbowl ring from 1996 and will sit in 2nd place in the record books in most major categories by the time Manning is done. The only knock on Farve is he holds the record for most interceptions in his career with 336.

2. Peyton Manning
What's more to say about this guy that hasn't already been said. He will hold every major passing record there is to hold when all is said and done. On the field, Manning has won five MVP awards, and held the single-season passing touchdown record twice. Manning has also taken two different teams to the Super Bowl. Manning has also been able to do these things, at least in regards to winning a title, with a lackluster defense to support him. That's been the biggest knock on Peyton during his career, is the inability to win come playoff time.

1. Joe Montana
Now your probably wondering why put Montana over Manning? Well I'll tell you. When I put this together I took into account not just stats but also winning. If it was based purely on stats alone I would put Manning one and Marino two, they were that good. And this is no knock on Montana, who is a top five QB all time. Think about this with Joe, he threw for over 40,000 yards in his career, and was named to eight Pro Bowls. He also won three Super Bowl MVP awards and threw the game-winning touchdown to clinch another. His postseason record was 16-7, including 4-0 in Super Bowls, with 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions, and kickstarted 5 game winning drives while in San Francisco. Plus, he was the centerpiece of the revolutionary West Coast offense that prioritized efficient passing as opposed to long bombs.

Now that's why I have Montana better than Manning. With Peyton, his career still has another year maybe two left to it before he decides to hang up the pads. Manning is sure to pass Farve for the all time yards record before the end of next season. If, and that's still a big if, Peyton can win one more ring, then he will have a strong case to move into the top spot as the greatest passer of this generation. That's the only thing that has held Manning back from grabbing top honors as the greatest passer of the last quarter century. He, for whatever reason, just can't seem to get it done when it matters most in the playoffs. Sure he's got the one ring and been to two more games, but he hasn't been all that successful otherwise. He has an 11-12 record career in the playoffs, which is another big knock on the star QB.

Still, I think by the time all is said and done, most people will agree with me that Peyton Manning will be the greatest QB of the last quarter century!