Aaron Rodgers has proven to be one of the greatest QB's to ever play football

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I’m not a live in the moment type of person when it comes to players in sports. Just because Aaron Rodgers leads an incredible comeback with a minute to play in Dallas, doesn’t mean I’m anointing him the greatest quarterback to ever play in the NFL. It just solidifies it! I’ve been saying for the past 3-4 seasons that Rodgers is possibly the greatest QB of all time.

Look, I’m 37 years old and have seen some of the best to ever toss the pigskin. From Montana to Marino, Elway, Young, Brady, and Manning to name a few. Brett Favre belongs in that category but his successor belongs ahead of him in my opinion.

I’ve argued back and forth for years whether I thought Joe Montana or John Elway was the best quarterback to suit up on Sunday’s. I came to a conclusion about 10 years ago that despite being a die-hard 49ers fan, I’d take John Elway under center. Then Peyton came along and made me think twice and started to compare him to the NFL elite. A couple of years later I began to considered Tom Brady for best QB ever based off all of his accomplishments which includes a record five Super Bowl rings. But you can’t go off stats and championships alone. If so Dan Marino would be outside the top 25 on the QB hierarchy list.

While stats, titles, and record are all important factors, the greatest common denominator is the eye test. Every quarterback plays on different teams, with different coaches, players, and staff. Not every QB had the squad Montana and Brady played with when they were winning championships almost every season.

Elway carried the Broncos to three Super Bowls in the 80’s without a decent defense and nothing resembling a good ground game. The same can be said about Peyton Manning and Dan Marino who were counted on to win games with their arm and limited help. I’ve said it a million times; football is the ultimate team sport and not one player can win a game on their own despite what the numbers say.

Aaron Rodgers career stats look more like Manning’s and Marino’s as opposed to Brady’s or Montana’s. The major difference is that Joe and Tom had completely dominating teams and weren’t under the same kind of pressure as Peyton, Marino, and Elway. Anybody who knows anything about the NFL understands that these three men are top 10 QB’s of all time no matter what order you rank them. Interestingly they played a total of 48 seasons in the league and only have four titles to show for it. That doesn’t sound like elite quarterbacks but that’s exactly my point. As great as this Big Three were they still couldn’t possibly win Super Bowls by their lonesome. Why do you think Terry Bradshaw has four Super Bowl titles!? Nobody considers him as the best quarterback the league has ever produced. He was backed up and protected by “The Steel Curtain” perhaps the most dominating defense in NFL history.

So here’s the bottom line – all you need to do is watch Rodgers play just like any other quarterback and judge for yourself. I always compared Rodgers to Steve Young because they brought every element to the quarterback position. Arm strength, intelligence, poise, running ability, creating plays, scrambling and being pinpoint accurate. They both do it all and do it great. Rodgers just does it greater and that says a lot when comparing him to a Super Bowl MVP who threw a record six touchdowns in that 1994 title game against the Chargers. Young also won the league MVP twice and led the league in passer rating 6 times which is another record Young holds. In fact when he retired Young had the highest passer rating of all time. That’s B.R.C. (Before Rule Changes).

The main reason we knew Steve Young would be in the Hall of Fame was because of the eye test. All you had to do was watch the game tape. Same applies to Aaron Rodgers but his statistics are also off the charts and simply eye-popping! When Rodgers has the ball in his hands with a minute to go in the game needing a touchdown to win with no timeouts, we still expect him to lead the drive to pay-dirt for the victory. How many guys can you say that about? A handful?

What makes Rodgers the best quarterback of all time is how easy the game comes to him. He expects to be able to lead his team to victory regardless of the circumstances. He’s forced to throw the ball as much as any other QB and does it without turning it over and maintaining the best QB rating almost every year. He drives the defense crazy because he can make any throw on the field but also use his legs to get just the right amount of yardage to continue the drive.

His football IQ is as good as it gets. He knows if you have 12 players on defense and when there’s a free play. He’ll throw the ball away to live another day instead of forcing a pass in tight windows. Even in those tight windows, Rodgers has the ability to place the football in a spot where only his receiver can catch it. You know how great he is, you know he’s going to make the play when needed and yet we’re still amazed every time he has the ball. He’s won the league MVP twice and was named MVP in their Super Bowl victory over Pittsburgh.

You can look up all the statistics you want, compare championships and playoff records but in the end what you see is what you get. I can’t think of any quarterback in the history of this great game that has as many attributes as Aaron Rodgers and is able to use them all to the highest level. There’s nothing humanly possible he can’t do on the football field. He has another variable that cannot be measured but if it could his confidence level would be at the top of the list. If you do look at his stats which I linked in this post, check out his TD to INT ratio. It will make you think it’s a typo because the numbers are absolutely ridiculous!

Please leave your opinion on which quarterback you believe is the greatest ever.