Monday, Jan. 12, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
Ask a pro football fan "When was the golden age of quarterbacks?" and he'll probably say it occurred in the 1970s.
There were some great passers and leaders in the National Football League during that decade, Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese, Joe Namath, Roger Staubach and Kenny Stabler foremost among them. Hall of Fame quarterbacks Len Dawson, Sonny Jurgensen, Fran Tarkenton, Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas also completed their careers in the early portion of that decade, and another Hall of Famer, Dan Fouts, was just nicely getting started.
Then there are those who would call the 1980s the golden age of quarterbacks, as Fouts, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Steve Young, Jim Kelly and Joe Theismann routinely led their teams to significant wins and the sport exploded as the new national pastime.
But after watching each of the NFL playoff games over the weekend, is it not possible that the real Golden Age of Quarterbacks is, potentially, upon us? The great play of the men at the helms of the teams that were in action, as well as the depth and bulk of talent around the league, gives a proponent a strong argument that the quarterback play in the league has never been better.
Before the current decade is over the evidence will be more complete, but what seems worth considering when comparing quarterbacks from generation to generation, or even decade to decade, is that the league has long since passed the time when a given team or dynasty rules. Hence, quarterback records such as most championships won or most championship games may be irrelevant when comparing the current crop of quarterbacks to its predecessors.
But rarely, if ever, has the NFL had such an array of strong, talented, mentally alert and competitive quarterbacks as it does now. As demonstrated by the quarterbacks of the teams still alive this postseason -- Jake Delhomme of Carolina, Tom Brady of New England, Peyton Manning of Indianapolis and Donovan McNabb of Philadelphia -- play at this most demanding of positions may be unsurpassed in comparison to previous eras.
Delhomme, easily the least likely of this group to reach the Hall of Fame, hit 16 of 26 passes in leading the Panthers past the St. Louis Rams, 29-23, Saturday; Brady, with a Super Bowl victory already on his resume and a staunch presence in the pocket, was 21-of-41 as the Patriots bested the Tennessee Titans 17-14 in the other Saturday game; Manning, playing a second consecutive almost unbelievable game, was 22-of-30 as the Colts downed the Kansas City Chiefs 38-31 Sunday; and the gritty McNabb was 21-of-39 in rallying the Eagles to a 20-17 overtime win against the Green Bay Packers.
Even the losing quarterbacks had their moments, as Marc Bulger of the Rams was 27-of-46 (and effective enough to keep two-time MVP Kurt Warner on the bench); Steve McNair of the Titans was 18-of-26 and tried to will his team to victory; Trent Green was 18-of-30 and hitting critical fourth-down throws to keep the outcome in doubt down the stretch for the Chiefs; and Brett Favre was 15-of-28 for the Packers and the game's biggest star until a late interception ruined his day.
(Nonetheless, anyone betting on each of the underdogs -- an idea fostered in this same space Friday -- came out a winner on every wager.)
Factor in the number of respected veterans in the league, such as Mark Brunell, Jake Plummer, Drew Bledsoe, Daunte Culpepper and Jeff Garcia, and a host of younger quarterbacks still learning the trade, David Carr foremost among them, and the typical NFL quarterback is both brainy and brawned, and the league, it could be said, is enjoying a rebirth at this most critical position.
At the very least, the guys who play this position these days have never been more physical or as cerebrally gifted. The workloads and demands are immense.
Quarterback wasn't always quite as difficult as it is today, although there is no denying the fortitude of the league's first batch of prominent signal callers. Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham, Sid Luckman, Bob Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin were the best of the batch in the game's earliest years, giving way to a group in the 1950s and '60s that included Bobby Layne, Y.A. Tittle, Jurgensen, Tarkenton, Starr and Unitas.
Then came the stellar quarterbacks of the '70s and '80s, and, some would say, '90s, with Montana, Marino, Elway, Young, Kelly and Theismann still playing and joined by Troy Aikman and Favre.
Readers may find fault with the exclusionary tactics I've used to limit the number of names here, just as the TV broadcasters working the weekend games found ways to at least occasionally criticize the quarterbacks who were playing. But I see this glass as more than half full, and respectfully submit that the toughest position in all of sports has never been better manned.
Or Manninged.
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