Brett Farve is down! Will someone please step on his neck?

Apparently there are two enormous segments in this country that have one of the following two perspectives on Brett Farve.

1) They can’t get enough of him, unless they are named Jenn Stenger.

2) They want him to just finally, finally, go away, especially if they are named Jenn Stenger.
I don't know how the lovely and innocent Jenn feels about all of this, but I am not in either segment, or perhaps I'd like to feel that I am nestling snugly in between both of them, but what is more interesting (if a lot less exciting) to me is that the talk has begun again, on where Brett Farve ranks all-time, as a NFL quarterback?

This is a topic of wonderful and endless debate and argument, and because football is so overwhelmingly the sport of choice in this country, it’s very easy to draw folks into a conversation. 

Any argument on this topic engender a huge amount of subjectivity and invariably involves an argument about what seem to be the two main "qualifiers."

It’s the Joe Montana –

"How many Super Bowls (or NFL Championships) has he won?"

versus the Brett Farve –

"How many times did we hear how fabulous he is, so it must be true that he’s fabulous?"

argument.

I grew up hearing from my dad and his contemporaries about how great Sammy Baugh and Otto Graham were. I read a lot of fascinating stuff about those two guys and about Bobby Layne too when I was a kid – some of the Layne stuff was what made Joe "Willie" Namath a legend in many more ways than just football. It’s also some of the stuff that has dogged Brett (and little brett) Farve this year.

I have seen most of the guys acknowledged as being in the top 10, or 13 or whatever number someone wants to choose. The argument is open for anyone that wants to claim Troy Aikman, Steve Young or Jim Kelly, but no one will listen to you.

In no particular order the 13 QB’s that I would put into the discussion are: Baugh, Graham, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Marino, Montana, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, Farve, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady.

I never saw Baugh and Graham play, so I have to allow for that. I do know that Graham won seven (3 NFL and 4 AAFC) championships and I do believe that Slingin’ Sammy Baugh is the best pro football player we’ve ever had in this country.

I’ll admit up front that I remain a big Roger Staubach fan. There was a stretch in my life when I loved the Cowboys, and it was all because of Staubach. In some ways, he was like Bart Starr, always the leader, but always a gentleman. Staubach was in 4 Super Bowls, and Starr won 5 NFL Championships, including 2 Super Bowls.

I never thought I’d see a better arm on a QB than Namath’s, but then Marino came along and killed that one. Problem is Marino won squat. Bradshaw had a cannon for an arm too, but I think it went off next to his brain too often. Terry didn’t hurt the Steelers, but those 4 Super Bowls were truly team championships.

I always rooted for Fran Tarkenton. Some of his scrambles are the best parts of old NFL Films. Google "Tarkenton scramble" and then witness some truly unbelievable stuff. It’s also true that he was the Giant QB for a few years, and was about the only thing that made the team watchable.

As good as Montana was, I give a lot more credit to Bill Walsh than Joe. Walsh defined the New NFL as a coach’s league, one in which systems led to championships. Is there anyone out there that thinks George Seifert and Steve Young were that good, or did they just inherit a gold mine?

I think that Peyton Manning is superb, perhaps the most prepared and technically precise QB the game has ever seen. I think Tom Brady has been better because he’s won a lot more with just as little help as Peyton has had.  If there was an Archie Manning Award, Peyton would get it most years.

Objectively, my opinion is that the best QB I have ever seen is John Elway, and I will (of course) tell you why.

1) John Elway’s athleticism at the QB position is unmatched for the many seasons he displayed it. Mike Vick is displaying better skills and better athleticism this year, but he hasn’t won anything yet, and even if he does win this year, he’ll need a lot of great seasons to catch Elway.

2) No QB has ever shown the arm, the accuracy, the ability to run with the ball, and the durability the way Elway did. Elway played for a long time, and threw as well as Namath with much better results than Marino. Staubach is the only apt comparison.

3) Elway played in 5 Super Bowls. No one else has played in as many. Yeah, I know the Broncos got hammered in his first three, but those were teams he carried on his back every step of the way. Once he actually got a running back and a little bit of defense, he won a couple. In his career, Elway led his team to 47 fourth-quarter comebacks. 47!

Farve? Yeah, he was fun wasn’t he? All those TD’s, and all those interceptions. Seems like the guy won 7 or 8 Super Bowls, but he only won that single one. He lost #2 to some kid named Brady, who right now I put at #2 all time, with Starr at #3. (For anyone who has actually read this far)

Farve was great, but in my opinion he falls just out of the top 10, so anytime folks want to stop telling me how great he was will be fine. I chalk some of this talk to the "Cal Ripken Effect," which is:

"Give America a white guy that is a great player while attaching some random virtue to him like being fortunate enough to avoid an injury that would stop anyone else from playing and it automatically makes him a better player and maybe even a God" effect.

It doesn’t work for me, but what the hell, why would I write all of this if it did?

However, now, we can talk about Brett Farve in a simpler way -- as dons he Wranglers, grabs his hound dog, and rides off on his John Deere into the sunset, transmitting a little brett to the next sun-dappled pony on the horizon.