"All the Hype That Money Can Buy"

Since the beginning of Modern Civilization, man has found it necessary to debate and argue on anything and everything. From politics, to sports, to the best way to screw in a light bulb, man has evolved into a walking deliberation factory – yet it doesn’t seem to help when it comes to “heated exchanges” with the wife. (I once heard somewhere that women go to a special class when they are younger to learn how to win arguments. I might have to look into that.)

But one argument that can officially come to rest is the debate of who the greatest quarterback is in the history of NFL.

For years, Dan Marino was always viewed – by most – as the greatest quarterback, statistically, to ever walk the gridiron. While that may have been true for the most part, many disagreed because of the simple fact that Marino never won a Super Bowl.

Starting in the early 00s, Peyton Manning joined the fray as “arguably the greatest.” However, Peyton was in the same boat as Marino – he hadn’t won a Super Bowl, much less been to one. Until now.

Sunday night, Peyton Manning quieted the critics, silenced the detractors and stunned the skeptics. After winning Super Bowl XLI, Manning stands alone as the greatest to ever stand under center.

While Joe Montana won four Super Bowls, he didn’t have career numbers that match Manning’s. Plus, Manning has never played with as many potential Hall of Famers as Montana did (Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark – although only Lott and Montana are in the Hall as of today, the other four could be potentially.) Manning has had one superstar wide receiver to work with (Marvin Harrison – who still has yet to show up in a playoff game) and a couple stars that won’t be Hall worthy (Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark). It’s the same argument Tom Brady apologists use, so why shouldn’t it work for Peyton?

John Elway was Peyton Manning before Peyton Manning. He was always the guy that couldn’t win the big one. But once again, his statistics don’t measure up to Manning’s.

In his 17-year career, Marino averaged 292 completions out of 491 pass attempts, 3,609 yards, 24 TD and 15 interceptions per season. So far, in his 9-year career, Manning has averaged 347 completions out of 543 pass attempts, 4,176 yards, 30 TD and 15 interceptions per season.

If you use the Marino template and say Manning will play 8 more seasons in the NFL, his career stats would demolish those of Marino. Based on a 17-year career, Manning would throw for over 70,000 yards, 510 TDs, nearly 6,000 pass completions to over 9,200 attempts – a completion percentage of nearly 64%. Marino’s career numbers are 4,967 completions to 8,358 attempts – a percentage of 59.4% - 61,361 passing yards, 420 TDs and 252 interceptions.

And Peyton plays in the Salary Cap Era – a time when it’s hard for teams to keep the same core guys together for consecutive seasons. Something Montana, Marino nor Elway had to deal with during their careers.

In addition, Manning got over the hump and won the Big One. Something Boomer Esiason can tell you Marino has never done.

Oh, if looks could kill.