Perhaps now more than ever before, the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. As fans wait to see which passer leads his team to a title in Super Bowl LX, the squad over at SB Nation decided to take a look back at which signal-callers have most dominated the game in the modern era.
They've placed two of the Cowboys' greatest legends pretty high on the list.
A 13-member panel, made up of analysts and writers from major national outlets, submitted their rankings for quarterbacks of the Super Bowl era, which began in 1966. Forty-eight QBs got votes; the lists were then compared to come up with the 30 who received the best scores overall.
Both Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach made the top 20.
17. Troy Aikman
With three Super Bowl rings, a gold jacket, and still the fourth-most passing yards in league history, one might think Aikman is ranked curiously low here. Panel members slotted the six-time Pro Bowler as high as 13th and as low as 28th, clearly recognizing what playing with all-time rushing king Emmitt Smith in the same huddle did to Aikman's career numbers (as well as what he was asked to do within the Cowboys' system). To wit, he ranks just 68th all-time in passing touchdowns.
Still, 17th on this list is no small achievement, considering Aikman placed above luminaries like Warren Moon, Kurt Warner, Bart Starr, and Johnny Unitas.
Marc Sessler from Underdog notes of Aikman:
“I was once in a ponderous verbal spat with a beer-addled fellow who argued that Tony Romo was superior to Troy Aikman based on compiled numbers in an altered era of pro football. Statistics can roll down a hill into the dark sea. Aikman morphed into a wild/fiery monolith of the American Idea: Cinema-star visage, theatrical wonders in the largest gridiron showdowns, and a calm and cool demeanor most men spend their entire lives searching for – and a great broadcaster, too.”
11. Roger Staubach
Staubach will always be one of the biggest what-ifs in NFL history. The 1963 Heisman Trophy winner didn't play for the Cowboys until six years later because of his post-collegiate military commitment. He proved well worth the wait, though, earning the franchise its first two Super Bowl rings en route to a Hall of Fame career that was utterly brilliant despite being somewhat abbreviated.
The six-time Pro Bowler ranked as high as 6th with panel members, and no lower than 23rd. He finished ahead of a who's who of prolific quarterbacks: Fran Tarkenton, Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts, and Terry Bradshaw.
Writes Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy:
“Because of his Navy service, Roger Staubach didn’t play in the NFL until he was 27 years old. He didn’t start regularly until he was 29. That was 1971, when Staubach led the Dallas Cowboys to his first title in Super Bowl VI. Despite the late start, Staubach ranks this high because he was fantastic throughout the '70s. Then he took it to another level when the NFL liberalized passing rules in 1978. No other quarterback had a better grasp of the new rules, and Staubach was statistically dominant at ages 36 and 37. He easily could have kept going when he retired after the 1979 season.”
SB Nation's top 10 will be released in the coming days.
