Five Greatest Football Players

[Kash$]

Originally Posted by tucker6

can't believe you spend your time rummaging through old threads looking to bump lol.

Anyway, two things stuck out for me in the 20 odd posts I viewed. One, greatest lists are always made up of QB, RB, WR, and LB nearly 98% of the time. Anthony Munoz played for the rival Bengals and was the absolute best LT I have ever seen bar none. Not sure he ever allowed a sack. His impact on the game he was playing in was phenomenal. Two, a LOT of Namath fanboys were in this thread. Holy hell the guy was mostly a tv image icon, nothing more, nothing less. He was an average qb, even for that day and age. Losing record, 50% completion rate, and 173 tds against 220 ints.

Tucker great points on Munoz and Namath..

Best ive seen in my era (never saw Jim Brown)...

L.T.
Munoz
Rice
Montana
Elway

[forced89]

Give me Chuck Bednarik. All Pro at both Offensive Center and Line Backer. Played 60 minutes game after game. Put Frank Gifford out for a full season with one hit.

[OTM Al]

God Lord. Did this 12 year old thread occur before there was a split between sports and general in off topic? Please make the madness stop.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by tucker6

can't believe you spend your time rummaging through old threads looking to bump lol.

Anyway, two things stuck out for me in the 20 odd posts I viewed. One, greatest lists are always made up of QB, RB, WR, and LB nearly 98% of the time. Anthony Munoz played for the rival Bengals and was the absolute best LT I have ever seen bar none. Not sure he ever allowed a sack. His impact on the game he was playing in was phenomenal. Two, a LOT of Namath fanboys were in this thread. Holy hell the guy was mostly a tv image icon, nothing more, nothing less. He was an average qb, even for that day and age. Losing record, 50% completion rate, and 173 tds against 220 ints.

Pretty obvious why no one names offensive lineman, they usually are noticed mostly for missing blocks that lead to sacks and drawing penalty flags. The worst lineman are the ones whose name is called the most by the announcing team. The great ones get very little air time. Namath had a couple amazing years but I don't think his whole body of work should put him in the Hall of Fame.

[tucker6]

Bednarik was from the area I lived in for many years. A true great. I feel blessed to have seen the NFL in its heyday back in the 70s when it resembled the wild west. The current game is fun to watch, but we'll never have the same "characters" we once had, both players and coaches. Not to mention the hitting.

[The Judge]

If I were picking a team here is how I would start

Jim Brown
Joe Montana
O.J Simpson
Gale Sayers
Lawrence Taylor (Got To see them all live)

Wouldn't Argue with Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Tom Brady,Reggie White,Dan Marino, Deion Sanders,Barry Sanders, Bo Jackson.

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Pretty obvious why no one names offensive lineman, they usually are noticed mostly for missing blocks that lead to sacks and drawing penalty flags. The worst lineman are the ones whose name is called the most by the announcing team. The great ones get very little air time. Namath had a couple amazing years but I don't think his whole body of work should put him in the Hall of Fame.

I agree with your post except for the bolded. Here were Namath's best three years and stats for them

1966 - 49.3% completion, 3,379 yards, 19 tds, 27 ints
1967 - 52.5% completion, 4,007 yards, 26 tds, 28 ints
1968 - 49.2% completion, 3,147 yards, 15 tds, 17 ints

Good enough to win a SB after the 68 season, but not much amazing about those stats, even for the 60s.

To me, amazing is Otto Graham passing for 25 tds and throwing 11 ints in 1947 with a 61% completion rate. That would get him $25M/year today.

[Valuist]

I was going to post my top 5 and I started reading the thread. I already responded.....12 years ago.

[pandy]

Originally Posted by dav4463

Great post Cato ! Namath was an icon both on and off the field. The women followed him around like a rock star ! He was cocky, confident, and he backed it up. When he won, he took the credit, when he lost, he took the blame. He had something hard to describe...call it "IT" ! Namath had "IT" ! He was simply a leader who revolutionized pro football. Statistics weren't that important to him, if the team needed field position, he would sacrifice an interception as long as it was 40 + yards downfield with the chance of a big play. He didn't throw too many dumpoff passes. His passes were designed to gain big yardage. Also, he threw in an era where the receivers were knocked down and beat up all the way down the field. If the knees hadn't have gone, I have no doubt that he would have been even greater than he already was. Statistics don't tell the whole story. In today's game it is a lot easier to pile up stats, it was a different game then. "Broadway Joe" will always be remembered as one of the truly great players in the history of the league.

Very good points, I agree with all. No doubt that in today's game Namath's stats would be huge.

[pandy]

Even though Namath was my favorite player, he was not as consistent as Manning and Marino.

We should have two lists, one for top 5 offense and one for top 5 defense.


Peyton Manning
Dan Marino
Jim Brown
Barry Sanders
Lawrence Taylor

[ArlJim78]

It took me 10 minutes reading through this thread before I realized that it originated in 2004!

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

God Lord. Did this 12 year old thread occur before there was a split between sports and general in off topic? Please make the madness stop.

There's always going to be five greatest football players what's the difference when the thread started its always a relevant conversation. It's also interesting to see what some of us thought over a decade ago, is it not?

[ronsmac]

Originally Posted by tucker6

I agree with your post except for the bolded. Here were Namath's best three years and stats for them

1966 - 49.3% completion, 3,379 yards, 19 tds, 27 ints
1967 - 52.5% completion, 4,007 yards, 26 tds, 28 ints
1968 - 49.2% completion, 3,147 yards, 15 tds, 17 ints

Good enough to win a SB after the 68 season, but not much amazing about those stats, even for the 60s.

To me, amazing is Otto Graham passing for 25 tds and throwing 11 ints in 1947 with a 61% completion rate. That would get him $25M/year today.

True but most of the players sucked back in those days.

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

There's always going to be five greatest football players what's the difference when the thread started its always a relevant conversation. It's also interesting to see what some of us thought over a decade ago, is it not?

No

[Rookies]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

No