Only four players remain in the contest to be named "The Best Quarterback Ever". The top three seeds (Marino, Montana, and Favre) all made it into the final four, but Elway wasn't as fortunate as he was upset by number five seed Fran Tarkenton. Now to make the final four more interesting and a little more in-depth than the previous rounds I decided to find the best years (statistically) of each of the four quarterbacks. I then decided to pit all four of our quarterbacks against the fierce 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defense (My favorite team, so I picked our best defensive year :] ) I am doing all this with the help of What If Sports. All games will be played at Raymond James Stadium (Bucs homefield) and in 80 degree weather. Game results will be ABOVE the rankings and the previous matchup reults and new matchups to vote for are below rankigns as usual!
1984 Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins) versus 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dolphins 17-34 Buccaneers D. Marino 15-29 146yds 0TD 2INT Loss
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1984 Joe Montana (San Francisco 49ers) versus 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
49ers 10-17 Buccaneers J. Montana 12-24 203yds 1TD 1INT Loss
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1995 Brett Favre (Green Bay Packers) versus 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Packers 6-38 Buccaneers B. Favre 15-36 192yrds 0TD 1INT Loss
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1967 Fran Tarkenton (New York Giants) versus 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Giants 6-31 Buccaneers F. Tarkenton 14-30 157yrds 0TD 0INT Loss
After Seeing such brutle results I wanted these quarterbacks to show some success, so I decided they would still face my beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they would face the worst Bucs team ever and arguably the worst NFL team ever. The 1976 Buccanners are now going to be the quarterbacks' opponents. I still used the quarterbacks best seasons.
1984 Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins) versus 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dolphins 27-17 Buccaneers D. Marino 14-16 220yds 2TD 0INT Win
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1984 Joe Montana (San Francisco 49ers) versus 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
49ers 50-0 Buccaneers J. Montana 21-37 282yds 4TD 1INT Win
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1995 Brett Favre (Green Bay Packers) versus 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Packers 34-6 Buccaneers B. Favre 24-34 278yrds 2TD 1INT Win
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1967 Fran Tarkenton (New York Giants) versus 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Giants 24-7 Buccaneers F. Tarkenton 7-12 134yrds 1TD 0INT Win
(Stats by players names are TD/Yards/QB Rating)
1. Dan Marino 420 | 61,361 | 86.4
2. Joe Montana 273 | 40,551 | 92.3
3. Brett Favre 442 | 61,655 | 85.7
5. Fran Tarkenton 342 | 47,003 | 80.4
4. John Elway 300 | 51,475 | 79.9 [Lost in Elite Eight to F. Tarkenton 14-7 ]
6. Johnny Unitas 290 | 40,239 | 78.2 [Lost in Elite Eight to B. Favre 14-7 ]
7. Steve Young 232 | 33,124 | 96.8 [Lost in Elite Eight to J. Montana 21-0 ]
8. Warren Moon 291 | 49,325 | 80.9 [Lost in Elite Eight to D. Marino 19-2 ]
9. Dan Fouts 254 | 43,040 | 80.2 [Lost in Sweet 16 to W. Moon 9-5 ]
10. Bart Starr 152 | 24,718 | 80.5 [Lost in Sweet 16 to S. Young 8-6 ]
11. Jim Kelly 237 | 35,467 | 84.4 [Lost in Sweet 16 to J. Unitas 10-4 ]
12. Troy Aikman 164 | 32,942 | 81.6 [Lost in Sweet 16 to F. Tarkenton 9-5 ]
13. Peyton Manning 306 | 41,626 | 94.7 [Lost in Sweet16 to J. Elway 12-6 ]
16. Roger Staubach 153 | 22,700 | 83.4 [Lost in Sweet16 to B. Favre 13-5 ]
18. Terry Bradshaw 212 | 27,989 | 70.9 [Lost in Sweet16 to J. Montana 17-1 ]
19. Phil Simms 199 | 33,462 | 78.5 [Lost in Sweet16 to D. Marino 18-0 ]
14. Joe Namath 173 | 27,663 | 65.5 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to P. Simms 13-8 ]
15. Dave Krieg 261 | 38,147 | 81.5 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to T. Bradshaw 18-3 ]
17. Boomer Esiason 247 | 37,920 | 81.1 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to R. Staubach 16-5 ]
20. Tom Brady 197 | 26,370 | 92.9 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to P. Manning 11-10 ]
21. Drew Bledsoe 251 | 44,611 | 77.1 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to T. Aikman 11-1 ]
22. Bob Griese 192 | 25,092 | 77.1 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to J. Kelly 11-1 ]
23. Sammy Baugh 187 | 21,866 | 72.2 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to B. Starr 11-1 ]
24. Vinny Testaverde 275 | 46,233 | 75.0 [Lost in Qualifying Rd. to D. Fouts 12-0 ]
Elite Eight RESULTS
#1 Dan Marino vs #8 Warren Moon 19-2
#2 Joe Montana vs #7 Steve Young 21-0
#3 Brett Favre vs #6 Johnny Unitas 14-7
#4 John Elway vs #5 Fran Tarkenton 14-7
FINAL FOUR...VOTE NOW
#1 Dan Marino vs #5 Fran Tarkenton
#2 Joe Montana vs #3 Brett Favre