Greatest Catchers/Greatest NFL Quarterbacks

I've never been a Cowboys Fan, but it really surprises me that I seldom see Roger Staubach not mentioned on these lists. I think he had the highest QB rating of all time and he could do it all

Staubach was undoubtedly a great leader and a fine quarterback. I will always take him in the perennial Staubach/Bradshaw debate. However, his QB rating, while fine, was only 31st of all time. I'm posting the full list below. Aaron Rodgers is actually number 1 with a filthy 104.6 rating. Phillip Rivers and Tony Romo are a very surprising 4th and 5th.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/l ... career.htm

Wow! Thanks for the list. I don't remember just how long ago I heard that on a sports show. But it may have been 15-20 yrs ago. Its amazing how many current or modern QB's have higher ratings than some of the alltime greats. Aaron Rogers has always seemed so incredibly accurate to me. Maybe its because the game has so much more short passing and considerably less running game. But that's a great list. Definitely a lot of surprises. Thanks.

And I do stand corrected.

Yogi Berra and Johnny Unitas.

Bench, Irod and Pudge Fisk were the best all around catchers I saw play, but Piazza may have been the best all around hitter in the bunch. His defensive skills deteriorated over a fairly long career. But he was a great defensive catcher with a very good arm when he came up with the Dodgers.

I have to throw in a plug for Campanella. To me he and Bench clearly at the top for the total package of offense and defense.

Piazza was probably the best hitter to ever play catcher, he did not throw well but pitchers liked to throw to him

Bob Boone was the best defensively I ever saw over a long period of time. Molina is right there too

As a Bay Area guy, I've got to put in a plug for some wonderful players. Sure, maybe they aren't as "awesome" as the names that have been rightly cited so far, but those guys who grew up watching the Raiders and the 49ers had some pretty great quarterbacks to see:

John Brodie
Daryle Lamonica (the Mad Bomber)
George Blanda (that guy had some mojo going for him)
Jim Plunkett
Kenny Stabler

Also got to put out some love for Bob Griese and Earl Morrall for those great 1971/1972 seasons (I had forgotten that Morrall was MVP in 1968). And I'll always have a soft spot for both Bobby Douglass and Steve Bartkowski.

Bill

Unfortunately, I think comparing passer ratings over eras is somewhat worthless. Rules changes over the years has so dramatically favored qbs and receivers that it's apples and oranges.

Unfortunately, I think comparing passer ratings over eras is somewhat worthless. Rules changes over the years has so dramatically favored qbs and receivers that it's apples and oranges.

This is an interesting point. The fact that excellent HOF quarterbacks from earlier eras--such as Staubach, Tarkenton, and Kelly--have such low ratings in comparison to inferior qbs such as David Garrard gives it some validity. However, the fact the ratings privilege relative efficiency applicable to any era means it is not "entirely worthless" as a means of comparing qbs of different eras. I'm not a statistics whiz, so I'm posting the formula below for someone who is to read and chime in:

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

P.s. As I said earlier, I'm an unabashed roids snob, so I left Piazza off my list--as I should have done with Miguel Tejada--until significant suspicion of him is cleared. He is, however, the greatest offensive catcher of the modern era, and he would have been third on my list.

P.p.s. George, no love for Jeff Garcia? He was a pretty excellent qb for a guy who had to follow two gods. As a Bay Area fan myself, I even wax nostalgic over Steve Deberg's inefficient, but flamboyant, passing game.

if someone invented a WAR for qb's, that would be telling