Here’s a look at the Top 20 quarterbacks of all time as measured by passer rating, through Week 3 of the 2007 season.
By benching Rex Grossman this week, Chicago coach Lovie Smith has made an obvious and long-overdue decision to put the ball in the hands of one of the best passers in history, at least as measured by passer rating. Brian Griese is No. 19 on the all-time list (84.5), just a notch ahead of Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.
Many of the NFL's all-time passer rating leaders had monster games in Week 3, including Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb and Tom Brady, and each padded their career numbers with the peformances. McNabb, for example, pitched a perfect 158.3 on Sunday, and jumped past Jake Delhomme and Brett Favre into a tie with Matt Hasselbeck for the 13th spot on the all-time list.
Bad games by the likes of Marc Bulger and Drew Brees dropped them down a few notches. Brees, for example, tossed four INTs, and fell behind the legendary Dan Marino on the all-time list.
You’ll notice that 15 of the all-time Top 20 are active players, which simply goes to prove just how much easier it’s become to pass the ball in the modern NFL.
The oldest player on the list, for example, is Joe Montana, who entered the league in 1979 and essentially ushered in the era of the inflated passer rating, through the short, high-percentage passing game that replaced the “bombs away” model of previous generations.
It proves that Montana was not only a great quarterback, but an important figure historically (along with the architect of his new-style passing game, Bill Walsh).
Four of the five former quarterbacks on the list are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Young, Montana, Marino and Kelly, denoted with * below). The fifth, Rich Gannon, was good enough to earn NFL MVP honors in 2002.
All-Time Passer Rating Leaders (as of Week 3 2007)
|
Rank |
Player |
Rating |
|
1 |
Steve Young* |
96.8 |
|
2 |
Peyton Manning |
94.6 |
|
3 |
Kurt Warner |
94.2 |
|
4 |
Joe Montana |
92.3 |
|
5 |
Carlson Palmer |
91.9 |
|
6 |
Daunte Culpepper |
90.7 |
|
7 |
Marc Bulger |
90.2 |
|
8 |
Chad Pennington |
90.1 |
|
9 |
Tom Brady |
89.9 |
|
10 |
Trent Green |
87.1 |
|
11 |
Jeff Garcia |
86.8 |
|
12 |
Dan Marino |
86.4 |
|
13 |
Drew Brees |
86.0 |
|
14 |
Matt Hasselbeck |
85.5 |
|
14 |
Donovan McNabb |
85.5 |
|
16 |
Jake Delhomme |
85.2 |
|
16 |
Brett Favre |
85.2 |
|
18 |
Rich Gannon |
84.7 |
|
19 |
Brian Griese |
84.5 |
|
20 |
Jim Kelly* |
84.4 |
minimum 1,500 pass attempts
