I noticed something while watching the NFL Network the other day when they had a program up about the Bill Walsh coaching tree. Now the subject of this thread isn't that line of coaches but rather the teams that have been blessed with good to great QB talent throughout their history. I compiled a list with a few rules:
- There has to be more than just two good QBs, but two great ones might get you on the list.
- You get points for Super Bowl appearance, but only so much.
- Longevity counts because the longer a good QB plays, the more chances he gives his team.
After compiling the list, I found it curious that only eleven teams in the League were "lucky" enough to be considered blessed with a lot of QB talent. That's just a third of the total teams!
Given that, consider the following list that is arranged alphabetically (I listed some of the "good" QBs and annotated them with a (?) as an "honorable mention" type of thing):
Dallas - Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Danny White, Troy Aikman, Tony Romo (?) - Has any team had more top notch talent than Dallas? Look at that list, even with Tony Romo! That's a ton of QB talent for one team to have throughout it's legacy.
Denver - Elway, Manning - Two greats put them on the list, but I kinda feel like that's cheating a bit since they brought in Manning in the Twilight of his career. Still, he wears the jersey so I guess it counts.
Green Bay - Bart Starr, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers - Might be the best all around in terms of quality over quantity. That is some sterling credentials right there.
Indianapolis / Baltimore - Unitas, Manning, Luck - Having the guy that basically created the two-minute Offense, followed up by the guy that perfected the "call at the line" aspect, then follow him up with a guy that was pretty much born to play QB in the NFL is a really good haul. Apologies that I missed this stellar collection at first swipe.
New England - Steve Grogan (?), Tony Eason <strong>(?), Tom Brady</strong> - Brady leads this class and while Grogan and Eason are both only good, it's not often that a team has two good QBs from which to choose.
New Orleans - Manning, Brees - This is the exception that proves the rule. I'd probably be willing to put up with some lousy seasons if I got to cheer for both Manning and Brees in my lifetime. Two greats right there.
New York Giants - Conerly, Tittle, Tarkenton, Simms, Manning - That list might just rival Dallas'. That is some serious luck for one team to bring in all that QB talent.
Oakland/LA - Lamonica, Stabler, Plunkett, Wilson (?), Gannon (?) - Oakland gets on here out of sheer volume. While maybe Stabler is the only really great QB on the list, the simple fact that they have had so many good QBs wear the Black and Silver speaks volumes about Al Davis. Granted, he made some really poor decisions later on in his career, but he has quite a list of good QBs to his name.
Pittsburgh - Bradshaw, Roethlisberger - (Can't believe I missed this one) Having two multi-Super Bowl Champion QBs is about all a fanbase can wish for. Too bad it had to happen to the Pittsburgh fanbase.
St. Louis/LA - Van Brocklin, Gabriel, Everett, Warner, Bulger (?) - An early oversight on my part. The Rams have had a pretty good run of some top notch QB talent in their history.
San Diego - Dan Fouts, Drew Brees (?), Philip Rivers - This one is just skirting the edge due to Brees not really hitting his stride until he left but he was a good QB while there. Also, the careers that Fouts and Rivers put together were probably enough to get them on the list.
San Francisco - Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jeff Garcia (?) -For me, Joe Montana was the best QB I've ever seen play. He was sneaky athletic, had a good enough arm, and understood the Offense he was running to a point where you were playing Checkers and he was playing Chess. Steve Young was athletic as you could get but once he started winning games with his arm, he really took off.
Tennessee/Houston - Moon, McNair - Here's another of the exceptions. While McNair was maybe never great, the fact that he strung together a thirteen year career and a Co-MVP to boot is nothing to sneeze at. And Moon's career speaks for itself.
Washington - Baugh, Snead, Jurgensen, Kilmer (?), Theismann (?) - Not a bad list, and I'd like to have one like it but not the best I've seen either.
Have any of your own to add? Want some taken off? Whaddaya got?
I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.
Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!
