John Elway is NOT one of the Greatest Quarterbacks Ever

I will first argue over Elway's statistics first. There is no doubt that Elway's career stats are impressive. But my main argument is simple. Elway was never an elite quarterback. The first half of his career is simply ordinary. The second half was strong, but certainly not the level of all time greats. As I have compared previously to Boomer Esiason, Boomer is very comparable. My opponent made no attempt to disprove this statement, instead he merely stated that Esiason's TEAM wasn't as good. Now my opponent listed the amounts of times Elway finished among the league leaders. I have never understood why or how it is impressive to lead your league in attempts. Matthew Stafford took a record 737 attempts in 2012. I don't see anyone saying that is a positive. In reality, TD, Yards, Passer rating, completion % and INT are the important ones. However, back in Elway's time there were only 28 teams. It follows that it is easier to finish among the top 10. Finishing in the top ten does not make you a Great quarterback; it is evidence that you merely a good one. Let's look at Ben Roethlisberger and once again Tony Romo is 2013. Big Ben: 9th in yards, 7th in TD, 9th in passer rating, 7th in completion %, 9th in interceptions Romo: 12th in yards, 5th in TD, 8th in passer rating, 9th in completion % Both Romo and Roethlisberger's stats are ranked among the top ten, but except for Romo's touchdowns, not in the top 5. Both Romo and Roethlisberger are considered "good" quarterback, but not great ones. That makes sense, there can't be ten elite quarterbacks in a 32 team league. While a consistently good quarterback for a long period of time can certainly build a relatively strong case for the Hall of Fame, it does not mean that quarterback is one of the greatest of all time. To be that, the quarterback needs to be elite. Comparing Elway to Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady (Amount of times finished in the top 5) Stat, Elway, P.Manning, Brees, Brady Yards: 5, 10, 7, 5 TD: 3, 15, 9, 7 Completion %: 2, 12, 6, 5 Passer Rating: 4, 11, 5, 4 INT: 2, 3, 3, 0 Fact is Elway doesn't even come close. Sure finishing so many times in the top 10 is impressive as my opponent notes, but remember these are the GREATEST ever we are talking about. Elway doesn't make the cut. Now, let's compare Elway to Philip Rivers. Rivers finished among the top 5 in yards three times, touchdowns 4 times, passer rating 4 times, % 2 times and interceptions only once. And Rivers has only played 8 seasons as a starter compared to 16 for Elway. Already his top 5 number are comparable to Elway's. My opponent also consistently notes that my logic is flawed when I compare current day quarterbacks to Elway based solely on stats because Elway was better compared to his league. Unfortunately he is wrong. I made adjustments when using stats. Rate+ is a prime example of this. There is no excuse for Elway's Rate+ to be so low in his earlier seasons. So those Pro Bowls? Shouldn't have ever happened. And Pro Bowls are flawed. Example: LaDaninan Tonlinson in 2003 had 1645 yards rushing, 100 receptions and 735 receiving yards. He was not selected to the Pro Bowl. Not just that, Elway's 79.9 passer rating is not impressive. Dan Fouts retired ten years before Elway and finished with a rating of 80.2; Joe Monatan 92.3; and Steve Young 96.8. All played before or at the same time as Elway. Sources: 1) http://m.pfref.com... 2) http://m.pfref.com...