It seems that there are several people who do not agree with Kurt Warner being placed above John Elway in my all-time rankings, and I believe that I may not have adequately proven that Warner was a greater overall quarterback, so let me go a little deeper into the numbers to show why Warner belongs where I have placed him.
First of all, let's start by examining the careers of the 4 quarterbacks already included in the top 10. Each of them had a very similar length of time as an elite quarterback, with 5 years each for Young and Warner, and 6 years for Rodgers and Elway. You may think that Elway was better than that, but if you actually look at his numbers, he was only among the best in 1986, 1987, 1993, and 1996-1998. Besides those years, he was a fairly mediocre, although consistent, quarterback.
Now let's compare the best season for each against the average starter in the league for that season, the only fair way to compare players from different eras:
Rodgers (2011) - 4643 yards, 45 touchdowns, 6 interceptions
Average (2011) - 3341 yards, 21 touchdowns, 13 interceptions
His yardage was 39.0% higher than the average, touchdowns 114.3%, and interceptions far lower than the average.
Young (1998) - 4170 yards, 36 touchdowns, 12 interceptions
Average (1998) - 2647 yards, 17 touchdowns, 11 interceptions
His yardage was 57.5% higher than the average, touchdowns 111.8%, with interceptions slightly higher (9.1%) than average.
Elway (1993) - 4030 yards, 25 touchdowns, 10 interceptions
Average (1993) - 2603 yards, 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions
His yardage was 54.8% higher than the average, touchdowns 78.6%, with interceptions slightly lower than the average.
Warner (1999) - 4353 yards, 41 touchdowns, 13 interceptions
Average (1999) - 2789 yards, 17 touchdowns, 12 interceptions
His yardage was 56.1% higher than the average, touchdowns 141.2%, and interceptions slightly higher (8.3%) than average.
If you were to rank each of these passers against each other in each of these categories, Young comes out best in yardage, Warner in touchdowns, and Rodgers in interceptions, with Elway left out. If you rank them overall based on their rank in each category, Warner comes in first due to finishing #1 in TD's, #2 in yardage, and #3 in interceptions, with Rodgers second with a #1 in picks, #2 in touchdowns, and #4 in yardage. Young comes in third with #1 in yardage but #3 in touchdowns and #4 in interceptions, and Elway comes in last due to being #2 in picks, #3 in yardage, and last in touchdowns.
When you look at the playoff successes of these 4, each was responsible for one Super Bowl victory. (John Elway's first Super Bowl win was 100% due to Terrell Davis. Elway's performance in that game was the worst ever for a winning QB.) Let's look at their stats in Super Bowl MVP games:
Rodgers (2011) - 304 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions
Young (1995) - 325 yards, 6 touchdowns, 0 interceptions
Elway (1999) - 336 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception
Warner (2000) - 414 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions
In comparing the players based on these performances, Warner and Young come out tied for first, with Young #1 in touchdowns and #3 in yards while Warner was #1 in yards and #3 in touchdowns, both without interceptions. Elway comes in last again, with the fewest touchdowns and the only interception, even with the second-most yards.
Other than their championship seasons, Rodgers has advanced to one NFC title game, Young 3 of them, Elway 4 Super Bowls (including the first win), and Warner 2 Super Bowls, showing a clear demarcation between the first two and the last. When you look at how Warner and Elway performed in the Super Bowls in which they weren't MVP, you can see that Warner was far superior to Elway in championship games.
Warner (2 games) - 742 yards, 4 touchdowns, 3 interceptions
Elway (4 games) - 792 yards, 2 touchdowns, 7 interceptions
As you can clearly see, Warner had nearly as many yards in two games as Elway had in 4, meaning he averaged nearly twice as many per game. The interceptions are nearly identical, slightly in Warner's favor as well, but the touchdowns are far apart, with Warner throwing twice as many in half as many games. Elway may have been good at getting his team to the Super Bowl, but he wasn't good once he got there.
No matter which way you look at it, Warner's career was the best of any of these quarterbacks up to this point (Rodgers could easily pass all of them in the next year or two). People tend to look back at Elway's career with rose-colored glasses due to the storybook ending, but he just wasn't quite as great as most think. Elway has the slight edge in elite regular seasons and a decent edge in deep playoff runs, but Warner has a huge edge in MVP season performance, Super Bowl MVP performance, and Super Bowl losing performance, all of which proves my point that Warner was a greater overall quarterback than John Elway.
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