alltimeQB.com
ESPN Football
NFL.com
ProFootballTalk
Legendary 49ers quarterbacks Steve Young, left, and Joe Montana, right (John Iacono/SI)
As QBs go, nobody does it better than Niners.
Scout.com’s article: http://j.mp/oMv9ty
Updates from RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Guillaume
-
Guillaume
Tennessee Titans quarterback Kerry Collins (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Titans QB Kerry Collins retires from the NFL after 16 seasons. What’s his legacy going to be Seb?
I, for one, think he has had a very good career. In terms of productions, he is top 15-30 in every major passing categories, thanks to his longevity. Also took the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2000 (loss to the Ravens) and was able to overcome all kinds of personnal & professional issues early in his career to eventually become a respected leader and a productive player that would go on to play for 16 long seasons. That is quite an accomplishment. In my mind, Collins ranks with the likes of Vinnie Testaverde and Steve DeBerg: good quarterbacks who ended up having long and productive careers and who got better and better as the years went on.
-
Seb
Reacting on your last sentence above: would you say the Panthers gave up on him too soon?
After a superb college career, including an undefeated season where he led Penn State to win the Rose Bowl, he was Carolina’s 1st pick ever and the 5th overall selection in the 1995 NFL Draft. He was chosen to build the team around. He showed signs of improvements in his first two seasons and helped lift the Panthers to the NFC Championship game! But after a poor 3rd year (21 interceptions vs. only 11 TDs, along with 27 sacks and a 4.6 yds/play average), and despite improving his game in 1998, the Panthers started off with an 0-4 record before he essentially asked himself out of the team. The Panthers immediately put him on waivers. We later learned he had been having personal issues with alcohol for some time already.
He went on to play as a back-up QB for the Saints, then Giants, then took the starting role and led them to the Super Bowl in 2000, which they eventually lost. His production in New York was above average, he passed for at least 3,600 yards on 3 out of 5 years, reaching the 4,000 mark (and 6.4 yds/play average) in 2002. Two years later, the Giants released him to make room for rookie Eli Manning and first-class veteran Kurt Warner. His stint at Oakland was unremarkable, but he rebounded well in Nashville, leading the Titans to a 13-3 regular season record and the Playoffs in 2008.
I agree with you bro, when all is said and done, Kerry Collins had a very good career. While he did not have many great seasons, his accomplishments, longevity in the league and repeated success leading three distinct teams to the Playoffs prove he was more than just “good”. Hence the question: did the Panthers rushed their decision to waive him in 1998?
-
Guillaume
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/15310922/collins-ability-at-life-may-surpass-very-good-career
nice article about Collins’ retirement from CBS Sportsline’s respected editor (and HOF voter) Len Pasquarelli.
Says Collins rank at the top or near the top of the ‘Hall of Very Good”.
I would agree with this assessment.
-
-
Guillaume
Can Michael Vick be better than Steve Young?
Can Michael Vick be better than Steve Young? “NFL Total Access” breaks down the comparison between two of the NFL’s greatest elusive QBs.
NFL Network video: http://j.mp/qAGTPK
-
Seb
In reference to your previous comment of Vick having the “tools” to be one of the greatest, well isn’t it what most NFL starting quarterbacks have for them entering the league, to various degrees? My point is Steve Young was inducted in the Hall of Fame after an unbelievable 15-year career an countless memorable plays, let alone his performance in Super Bowl XXIX! In comparison, Vick really only has one excellent season (2010) and a few very good years in Atlanta (but nothing exceptional: not once did he average more than 6.2 yds/play, vs. Young’s 6.8 career average…). At a position where careers are predominantly defined by consistency, I find it way too early to wonder if Vick can be better than Steve Young, just like you may find it meaningless to ask whether Matt Ryan can be better than Peyton Manning, whether TIm Tebow can be better than John Elway, or even whether Cam Newton can be better than Johnny Unitas… :) Let’s wait until they have a few more (lot more?) productive years before we even bother asking.
-
Guillaume
i, obviously, could not agree with you more :-)
-
-
Guillaume
Taylor Lautner and the NFL "ghosts" in Field of Dreams 2 (Funny or Die)
“Field of Dreams” gets NFL sequel in Web video. Sports Illustrated article: http://j.mp/pY4jTR
-
Seb
Wow! Awesome video mocking the on-going NFL lockout, featuring movie stars Taylor Lautner (Twilight), Dennis Haysbert (24), Ray Liotta and Kevin Costner (both starring in the original Field of Dreams), as well as currently unemployed football “ghosts” Ray Lewis, Tony Gonzalez, Shawne Merriman, Antonio Cromartie, Dwight Freeney, Shaun Phillips, Kirk Morrison, Steve Smith and DeSean Jackson.
-
Air Jordan
Thank you for an extra good writing. What are the local people can get in such a perfect way to write the details? I have a presentation next week, and I look around this information and facts.
-
-
Guillaume
-
Guillaume
Now that is fun…the 49ers’ worst moments…
in all fairness, there have been quite a few over the last decade. A decade we ought to call “of futility” with only two Playoff appearances (2001 & 2002) and no winning season since the10-6 NFC West champ season of 2002. that is SHAMEFUL. I think we are one of 4 teams in the NFL that haven’t made the postseason once in the last 8 years…
yes, that’s right, the 5x-time Superbowl champions 49ers, once the league’s most decorated team, are currently one of the laughingstocks of the National Football League. Come ot think of it: if you are a 10 or 12 years old little boy (like I was when I started cheering for the Niners), then all you have seen from them is losing seasons, Dennis Erickson, The Yorks, Mike Nolan etc. A pity isn’t it?so, here are my ‘top” worst moments in recent 49ers history:
- Eddie D busted in Louisiana in 1997 and forced to sell the 49ers to the Yorks because of that. It signaled the end of the 49ers dynastie.
- Young smashed by Aeneas Williams of the Cardinals to the ground after Lawrence Philipps missed a block, putting an end to Young’s career with this final concussion and essentialy terminating the 49ers for good in 1999.
- Drafting the likes of Mike Rumph, Reggie McGrew, Rashan Woods etc. in the 1st round between 1999-2004.
- The Yorks being so stubborn continuously bringing in zero-experience defensive minded head-coaches (Nolan, Singletarry) when the roots and the history of the 49ers is offense. (I purposedly did not include ‘offensive minded’ Dennis Erickson here because this man clearly is NOT an NFL headcoach. Should have stayed in the college ranks all along).
- these same Yorks sending Mooch, Garcia, Owens & the offensive line sail away after the 2002 season and a Divisional Playoff loss to eventual SB Champs Tampa Bay. Apparently “unhappy” with the direction of the team after the 2002 Playoff season, they got rid of the headcoach, their Pro-Bowl QB, and a future Hall of Fame Pain in the Neck Wide Receiver in TO. Of course, it served them well and we haven’t had a single winning seasons since then. good job.
- As much as i hate to say it, choosing Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 Draft with the #1 overall pick. Obvisously Rodgers is now a Superbowl MVP and one of the league’s best and Alex Smith is currently a free-agent hoping to start for San Francisco next year.
I don’t ‘think’ Alex Smith qualifies as a “worst” in 49ers history, but the truth of the matter is that Rodgers is the better QB and San Francisco was in position to draft him. We missed on that.
(still a fan of Alex I would like to add, he’s a nice a guy as you’ll find and I wish him the best in San Fran or elsewhere).
I’m sure other ‘worst’ moments will come to mind later and I’ll post them here…’stay tuned” then, unfortunately.
-
-
Guillaume
This has to be the longest and most boring NFL offseason I ever experienced in my 24 years as a fan of American Football. Damn lockout, go to hell.
-
Guillaume
Patrick Tillman of the Arizona Cardinals
Absolutely tired of hearing people lobby for Pat Tillman to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I appreciate i’m not going to make myself lots of friends here today but I simply can’t quite get why Americans always seem to mix things up whenever ‘US troops’ are involed in any debate, conversation, you name it. Pat Tillman was a marginally good football player who decided to prematurely end his professionnal football career to go in the Army and serve his country after the notorious events of 9/11. This is an act of bravoure, and he got the US Army medals and honours to recognize his military heroism during the war. This is where it should end. But apparently, people think he is also deserving for the Hall of Fame, the ‘Pro Football Hall of Fame” that is. I’m asking, why is that? I think if we go on inducting Pat Tillman for his ‘off the field heroics”, then we ought to immediately remove the likes of OJ Simpson and Lawrence Taylor for their ‘off the field crimes”. HOF voters are told to solely focus over the ‘on the field’ actions of the former players and I would agree that this is how things should be done in Canton, most people do agree as well. Why then in the case of Tillman do people want to make an exception and induct a player who had very moderate success on a team (the Cardinals), the laughingstock of the league at that time. It just doesn’t make any sense at all to mix things up, for the sake of patriotism only. I think we should leave Tillman’s story to what it is: a professoinal athlete who decided to leave the sport, join the forces and serve his country abroad. Already an amazing story in itself.
-
Seb
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s mission statement is “to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to professional football”. Most of them naturally come on the field, from players themselves. But not always. The 2011 Hall of Fame class includes Ed Sabol, founder of NFL Films, whose impact on the development and reach of NFL football is undisputed. So clearly, off-field contribution – to professional football – does matter.
What about non-football-related contributions? As it stands today, there is no room for such praise in the Hall of Fame. Except… if they promote the positive values of the sport, as the mission statement also indicates. And while I agree Patrick Tillman’s football production does not belong in Canton, his sacrificing his NFL career (and ultimately his life) to serve his country echoes one of the fundamental values in football: putting the collective interest ahead of one’s own.
Is that to say he deserves a bronze bust? I don’t think so, but his story, along with several others (see Joe Delaney’s here: http://bit.ly/lSWsDa), could still find a valuable place in the Hall and inspire generations to come without taking anything away from the exceptional athletes enshrined.
-
Guillaume
i think your first sentence, the HOF’s mission statement: “to honour individuals who have made outstanding contributions to PROFESSIONNAL FOOTBALL” sums it up: Sabol made an outstanding contribution to Pro Football with NFL Films. I date anyone to say he didn’t. As for today’s topic, Pat Tillman, he never ‘outstandingly’ contributed to Pro Football either on or off the field. Hopefully this should settle the issue we have here. Patt Tillman in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a BIG NO.
-
Seb
“Date anyone”? No you won’t… ;)
-
Guillaume
HA!
-
Bennie
As I sit here and read this blog I cant help but ponder how an individual doesnt think Pat Tillman is a Hall of Famer. As well, I cant seem to figure out how another human being doesnt see his contributions to the game. Then, I found some clarity in the matter when I remembered that there are two different people in this world: Smart people and Idiots. The smart person in this matter sees Pat Tillman as a Hall of Famer, no brainer. The idiot inadvertantly allows their personal shortcomings to interfere with their better judgement. It would be pointless for the smart person to state any type of further case because the idiot will never get it no matter how strong the points are.Therefore, the smart person recognizes this and lays the issue to rest knowing that it takes the idiots of the world for the smart people to distinguish themselves.
-
Guillaume
we love you Bennie. We love you because you are so smart and it helps idiots like me get better :-). Oh, and by the way, you forgot to end your rant with: “God Bless America” ! “Oooooh, sayyyy can’t you see by the dawn’s early light”.
-
Guillaume
oups, and i forgot to say: almost 8 years after his death, Pat is still NOT in the Hall of Fame as a matter of fact. I guess there are A LOT of idiots sitting amongst the Pro Football Hall of Fame board. These 40 idiots sitting at the discussion table, and me. 41 vs. one smart guy = YOU ARE OVERWHELMED BENNY! goodbye, and please shut the door after you leave.
-
-
Guillaume
It’s been a long time without a post here, but the truth is: we are so engrossed into the NFL season that it is hard to find a minute to write about it. Now that the season is over, and the Super Bowl was just a few days ago, here we are already starving for NFL discussions that will keep us going through Easter & summer…all the way down to Thursday September 9th when the Super Bowl Champions New Orleans Saints (am I really writing this right now??) will take the field to kickoff the 2010 season.
Well, no questions we will have plenty to talk about in the coming weeks: the Combine, Free-Agency (or what will remain of it), the Draft of course, mini-camps etc.
In the meantime, and as we are set to kickoff the off-season, I thought it would be appropriate to post a few lines on the one player that helped make two Quarterbacks, future Hall of Famers, I am talking of course of the G.O.A.T (Greatest Off All Time), the incomparable, the one and only, Jerry Rice.
Legendary number 80 was drafted by San Francisco in April 1985 ; The 49ers were coming off an outstanding season in ‘84, finishing with a then league-record 15-1 record and winning Super Bowl XIX beating the Dan Marino led Miami Dolphins, thanks to 3 TDs by star running back Roger Craig and another MVP performance by Montana. The Niners were hot. They were also choosing 28th & dead last in the NFL draft.
But Bill Walsh was in control and all he did on Draft day was trade the 49ers’ first two picks for New England’s 1st round choice (#16 overall, the teams also swapped 3rd round picks as part of the deal), and selected Rice…just ahead of the Dallas Cowboys, who were thinking hard about picking him too.
You can bet Gil Brandt, then Dallas’ general manager, was sick when he saw this happen in front of his very eyes. Rice would never be a Cowboy, and yours truly is quite pleased about that or else he probably wouldn’t be writing this post about Mister Rice, today!
Well, no need to go through all the insane numbers that Jerry Rice posted in his career: basically all you have to remember is that he is the all time leader in every major statistical category for wide receivers (most TDs, most catches, most yards, most bla, most bla bla, and also most bla bla bla), you name it: Rice will always be #1 anyway. Did I mention he is also the all-time NFL leader in touchdowns scored with 208? And don’t think any of the current Wide Receiver greats such as Terrell Owens or Randy Moss can ever catch up on his records one day…it won’t happen.
Also what separates Jerry from these guys is that, aside from the gaudy numbers, Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13x times and named All-Pro 11 times in his 20 seasons. Maybe even more impressive, he has won 3x Super Bowl rings and he was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIII back in 1988.
So, here you have the records that will never be matched, you also have the Pro Bowl selections and the Super Bowl championships, and you have something very rare: a WR who has been the Most Valuable Player of a Super Bowl (for the record, after Jerry Rice and in the 20+ years that followed, only Hynes Ward and Santonio Holmes of the Pittsburgh Steelers have been Wide Receivers who earned Super Bowl MVP honors).
Rice was a legend during his playing days, and he is a legend 5 years after his retirement. He was a shoe-in for induction into the Hall of Fame and is now the newest member of the 49ers’ Super Bowl era in Canton.
What else to say. Seriously, you could write & talk for ages about the great Jerry Rice.
But when I think of him, I think of the ultimate professional player, so talented and dedicated, that everything he touched, transformed into gold.
That is fitting for a team that plays in Scarlet & Gold uniforms. He made Joe Montana and Steve Young look even better, probably (but it works both ways and there is no questions they both made him look super too…), all in all this was a match made in heaven for the San Francisco 49ers.
And so before I shut up, one last bit of your precious time to just say “Congratulations Jerry”, you are the greatest WR to ever play in the NFL.
-
Guillaume
The farce that is the Pro Bowl, today
I was reading about the news of Rodney Harrison’s retirement and found an interesting article debating his Hall of Fame worthiness. Facts are: the guy has had a monstrous career which spanned 15 years (the first 9 with the San Diego Chargers, and the next 6 with the New England Patriots). He was an integral part of two Super Bowl winning squads with the Pats, had more tackles & sacks than any other Safeties in his era bla bla bla you name it.
Well, can you believe that Rodney Harrison played a grand total of just…2 Pro Bowls in his career?!
yes, you read that right. Despite all the accolades and titles…Harrison was every year snubbed by the likes of Ed Reed, John Lynch and others (all great players OF COURSE) but who turned out to have MUCH LESS impact than Harrison in these particular seasons. Indeed, there was even a couple of years where Harrison had more than twice the number of tackles & interceptions that Lynch had, but still: he was not selected for the Pro Bowl.
The reason is quite simple to understand: the Pro Bowl is a vote of popularity: fans get to pick the players they want in and Harrison was never one to look for a TV appearance, as opposed to others. Also, arguably the dirtiest player of his era, other players hated him and were quick to check him off of their lists. In the end, Rodney Harrison made just two Pro Bowls whilst he probably should have been closer to 8 or 10.
And so this why something is very wrong with the Pro Bowl nowadays. It cannot be considered a true measuring stick of greatness anymore. It used to be, but not anymore. Guys like Joe Montana and Steve Young made, respectively, 8 and 7 Pro Bowls and this will not shock anyone as it is on par with their Hall of Fame careers. But that was back in the ’80s and ’90s. Today, the Pro Bowl is nothing more than a fashion show. Just the fact that the fans are allowed in makes no sense to me: having an 8-year old go online and vote for whom he believes are the best players in the NFL does not seem to shock anyone though! but this kid’s vote will count just the same as, say, the Vikings Defensive coordinator’s choice for best players in the league. It is thanks to this brilliant idea of a vote that a Full Back named Mike Alstott (a fine player but nothing to make you jump up your seat on any given Sunday) ended up making a total of 6 Pro Bowls in his careers, bypassing numerous other real Full Backs, simply because he had all the media/fan accolades. Outrageous? you bet this is!
Time for the NFL to stop the waste that is the Pro Bowl in this format and re-do the process of selecting the worthy players.
-
Laura
But surely it’s the fans’ opinions and thoughts that count and make the players half of what they are! Without the fans, they would be nothing! I think it’s unfair to generalise and dismiss and belittle the younger generation’s views and opinions on the game and players. What would you say if someone told you at 10 years old your own opinion did not count?
-
Paul Gassee
Come on Gents! Time to get your s*** in gear…. No posts for the past three weeks….? Let’s get this media entity thriving a little bit, please ;).
Thanks!
As for Pro Bowls, we agree on their worthless status. Nowadays, with players making such huge salaries, the trip to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii meant very little to them. Once seen as a reward for all the hard work put into a season, the trip to the Oahu started loosing a lot of its value, as its top players could usually afford many such vacations with their families during the off season. A lot of top names started dropping out of the festivities after having been named to the Pro Bowl.
The voting will always include popularity, as a factor in which players make the Pro Bowl. That’s why the Hall of Fame operates in a much different fashion. Pro football writers are asked for their critical evaluation of players. They decide the fate of certain players, not the masses who may have been swayed by a certain player’s popularity. As the gatekeepers of the Hall, I certainly trust the John Claytons and Peter Kings in the world in making the right decisions when come time to decide whether or not players make it through the white pearly gates of pro football….
-
-
Guillaume
Random Tuesday thoughts from the NFL world
- In a move that may not seem like very important at first glance, I think it is still worth noting that NFL Network will now be available to an increased audience of 10 millions more people in the US through the deal it has just signed with communication tycoon Comcast.
- LB Julian Peterson will start next fall for the third team of his career, after beeing traded to the league’s worst team, the Detroit Lions (0-16 in 2008). Peterson was a standout linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers (who drafted him 1-16 in 2000) and played well for the Seattle Seahawks as his next stop. After refusing to take a pay cut, Seattle then shipped him to Detroit. I believe this will turn out to be a really good deal for the Lions who, in their current rebuilding process, have now added one of league’s best LB that posseses pass rushing abilities. This move has gone under the radar in the media but something tells me that a year from now, we will look back on this deal thinking the Lions’ front office made a bold move with JP!
- For the first time in his 12-year NFL career, Peyton Manning will have someone other than Tom Moore as his offensive coordinator…let’s see how things go but here too, something tells me a year from now, the Colts will regret not having Mr Moore around.
- You read it here first: Jeff Garcia will start for the Raiders no later than week 3 or 4 of the regular season. Actually, I would not be surprised at all if Garcia is the starter for the Raiders’ opener instead of disapointing former #1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell.
- My friend Peter King (well, technically he does not know I actually consider him a friend but truth is: since I have been reading his great MMQB column for ages now, I do consider him a bit of friend somehow. ok I shut up) did put a very interesting stat in this week’s MMQB: if the NFL moves on to a 17 or an 18-game regular season schedule (which it undoubtedly will, sooner rather than later), than a RB will have to average just 55,6 yards a game to reach the milestone of 1000 years for the season…Something has to be done here.
Guillaume, and 
Seb are discussing. 
Bennie, and 
Laura are discussing. 
Seb 11:30 pm on July 11, 2011 Permalink
Unscientific method indeed…
I am surprised they don’t give more consideration to other duos, such as the Rams’ Van Brocklin and Warner (for a combined 3 titles), the Cowboys’ Staubach and Aikman (5 Super Bowls), or the Steelers’ Bradshaw and Roethlisberger (6 Super Bowls). That being said, a Super Bowl or NFL Championship is the result of a total team effort throughout the course of a season and cannot be the sole measuring stick for quarterbacks, or else the Bears would tie the #1 spot in this list with Sid Luckman’s 4 titles, added to Bobby Wade’s and Jim McMahon’s : 1, Jim McMahon: 1). Not taking anything away from these guys, I still believe the sum of Montana’s and Young’s careers best any of theirs. And when you start looking beyond the 2 best QBs in each franchise’s history, there is simply no discussion, the 49ers have had the best overall production by QBs among all NFL franchises.
Little trivia: the Kansas City Chiefs have had 3 Hall of Fame QBs play for them. Can you name them?
Answer: legendary Chief Len Dawson is the first that comes to mind of course, Joe Montana’s final two years are not forgotten either… so who is the third Hall of Famer? Right, Warren Moon, who also finished his career in Kansas City (with a total of 37 attempts for 228 yards in 3 games…).
Last but not least, dear bro, you know what the sweetest comment of the article really is? “Four other iconic NFL franchises – the Green Bay Packers (13), Chicago Bears (nine), New York Giants (seven) and Pittsburgh Steelers (six) – have more NFL championships than the Niners.”. Glad to see I’m not the only one to say so! :P
Guillaume 6:09 am on July 12, 2011 Permalink
right, I knew you’d hit on this sentence. Knew it’d make your day :-)
i can’t dispute “‘NFL Championships” (from as far ago as the 1920′s when only 6 teams were competing for the “NFL Championship”). And I also can’t ispute the plain fact that the 49ers were founded in 1946, and did not join the NFL until 1950….
and finally, maybe you want to check your agenda but the “Super Bowl era” (aka, the measuring stick for the NFL champion ‘these days”) dates back to 1966 so it’s been on for quite a while now…
I recommend you try Google+ for an automatic agenda update and you’ll find that in 2011 the discussion in NFL circles is around Superbowls a bit more than “NFL championships”
isn’t it tough to be outdated ,uh?
;-)