Brett Favre, Iron Man: Was He the Best Ever?

It was a sad day in the NFL, and while it is early to compare Favre to the rest of the NFL greats, the comparisons are always going to happen, so let's compare Favre and his amazing accomplishments to several of the other great quarterbacks.

Dan Marino: Dan Marino set all the records that Favre broke. Marino was the best pocket passer to ever play the game, and he was often considered one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, with the only argument against being that he never won a Super Bowl.

Favre broke Marino's records, and he did with less quality weapons throughout his career. Favre has his ring, and the records, and he walks away after a season that in any other year would be an MVP year. Had Favre decided to stay three more years, you have to wonder if even Peyton Manning would be able to catch up.

John Elway: Elway's passing statistics were generally never very impressive, but he just won. Elway was the winningest quarterback in NFL history until guess who came along. Elway has two rings to Favre's one, including one at the Packers' expense.

Elway was the best ever at the two-minute drive, which was heavily helped by the fact that he could still scramble at an older age. Favre was second best and coming from behind, and Favre knew how to win without much support, like Elway did. These two knew how to win like no one's business, and the fact that Favre had both the stats and the wins is amazing.

Joe Montana: Only one of two quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls, Montana was known for leadership. Even surrounded by hall of fame players, including the great Jerry Rice, Montana was without question the leader of that team, and was known for his off the wall humor to relax everyone in the huddle.

Montana was known to crack jokes and he was the face of the team, and though Favre never got four Super Bowl rings, he also never had four other Hall of Famers on the offense and a dozen on the team. Favre cracked jokes and made everyone calm. These guys would have a joke if the fate of the world was on the line on 4^th and 20, and these guys are cut from the same cloth.

Peyton Manning: Peyton Manning is the most likely quarterback to break all of Favre's career records. While Favre was renowned for his ability to change the offense into the perfect audible, Manning has taken that system to an entirely new level. Manning will most likely break at least the majority of Favre's career passing records, and Manning is without question the best system quarterback who ever played.

Manning also had pieces in the system like Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, and a top notch running back behind him. Manning knows how to run the system, however, and no one can take that away, but it says something that one of the best quarterbacks ever needs a great system with hall of fame receivers to even look at trying to catch Brett Favre's career records.

Jim Kelly: Since most of the class of 1983 was here, it only seems right to have Kelly. Jim Kelly was known for being unbelievably tough, and he might have been the toughest quarterback in the modern era until a kid from Southern Mississippi showed up.

Favre has the record for most consecutive starts by a quarterback, and at 250+ starts he has put that number at an insanely hard to reach place. If Manning misses it, no one will probably catch that record, at least not for a long long time. Jim Kelly was tough, but Favre re-defined that term for a quarterback.

So where does Favre rank all time? Well, everyone agrees he's one of the best. But after watching Brady in the Super Bowl, is it really better to throw an un-catchable pass on fourth down to lose the game than to force it in on fourth and get picked? The picks are what seem the biggest argument against Favre, but if he had the receivers that other greats had, the numbers would be different.

In addition, the blocking on reverses, the throwing on the run, the shovel pass, and the fake throw after a hand off are all things that become common in the NFL after Favre was successful. You can say he was a quarterback who literally changed how the game was played, and not many can say that.

If Marino was considered the greatest when he had the best stats, or Elway because he had the most wins, why is it that when Favre gets both he's not? No one has ever done more with less. Until Manning or someone else breaks the records, for now give #4 his due. For the moment: Brett Favre is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

List of Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_favre

http://football.about.com/od/alltimeleaders/AllTime_Leaders.htm

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3276034