<![CDATA[What makes great QBs GREAT]]>That tis the question. Playing off the biggest QB busts thread started a couple days ago, I would like to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions on what makes great QBs so successful at the professional level.

For me, it all comes down to possessing the requisite intangibles necessary to thrive in the NFL, such abstract qualities as having a clutch bone, not having a choke bone, having the insatiable drive to be the best, strong work ethic, unfaltering confidence, able to quickly forget and overcome mistakes and other characteristics great QBs possess.

Compounding the problem of identifying these traits is the fact that one really does not know if they are present until thrown into live, NFL level action for a period of time. I think its possible to get a sense whether a prospect may possess such traits, but it is impossible to truely determine without a large sample of professional play. This is unlike weighing a prospects physical and mental characteristics such as having a strong arm, mobility, speed, being intelligent in general and when it comes to football knowledge. These things can be measured, tested, and quizzed. Intangibles cannot. And intangibles make a QB good to great to possibly among the best of all time. Look at Brady: a miniscule pip squeak of a man coming out of college with questionable physical attributes. Yet, he is loaded with intangible assets, so much so that he was able to overcome his physical deficit and become one of the best to ever play the game.

So what do you guys think? What makes a good QB tick? What allows them to excel at the professional level where others who from the outside would appear to have a greater chance at success fail?

]]>https://brownsboard.com/topic/31810/what-makes-great-qbs-greatRSS for NodeFri, 02 Oct 2026 08:37:30 GMTFri, 30 Jan 2015 23:32:25 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 17:50:49 GMT]]>

@mudfly said:

You could be an amazing player......but until your team is great(or you make it great)....you aint great(by most standards)....

So....winning makes you great,,,,,nothing else....

@nickers said:

Uhmm no.. Teams go as they're QB goes.. take away Manning,Brady,Rodgers and even Roethlisberger.. none of those teams would ever sniff the playoffs...

I pretty clearly said "or you make it great".....bottom line, all the great QB's you listed won something....which is my point...

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475469https://brownsboard.com/post/475469Sun, 01 Feb 2015 17:50:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 14:24:52 GMT]]>Whatever it is that makes a great quarterback great just go the opposite of that for our choices since 99.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475424https://brownsboard.com/post/475424Sun, 01 Feb 2015 14:24:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 14:10:13 GMT]]>1st-start with a great line-if you build it he will come. 😁

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475419https://brownsboard.com/post/475419Sun, 01 Feb 2015 14:10:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 12:17:30 GMT]]>All good replies, besides Ghoolies usual Kosar hate haha. I think this is a very important and interesting topic to discuss. Ultimately, we all have varying opinions and ideas of what makes a successful QB, though I think we can all agree on at least a handful of basic qualities: confidence, intelligence, adequate arm strength, poise, great decision making etc.

And I think we can all agree, as Browns fans, that finding a QB who is good to great is far from easy and very much a crapshoot rather than an exact science.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475410https://brownsboard.com/post/475410Sun, 01 Feb 2015 12:17:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 11:15:05 GMT]]>

VesnaKociper said:

Close your eyes. Think about Bernie Kosar.

Ok, whatever the opposite of that is, THAT is a great QB.

Bullshit and you know it,Ghoulie...

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475409https://brownsboard.com/post/475409Sun, 01 Feb 2015 11:15:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 05:00:57 GMT]]>

@nickers said:

Uhmm no.. Teams go as they're QB goes.. take away Manning,Brady,Rodgers and even Roethlisberger.. none of those teams would ever sniff the playoffs...

The same could be said in the opposite.

Put those guys on the Browns for the last 16 years and we would still suck

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475393https://brownsboard.com/post/475393Sun, 01 Feb 2015 05:00:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 04:35:56 GMT]]>

@mudfly said:

Based upon history, Id say it's mostly great teams that make great QB's.

You could be an amazing player......but until your team is great(or you make it great)....you aint great(by most standards)....

And many of the great ones are considered such because of wins, not QB play alone.(which I think kinda sucks).

And lots of great ones dont get their due because they landed on shit teams and had zero help.(which I also dont like)...

So....winning makes you great,,,,,nothing else....

Uhmm no.. Teams go as they're QB goes.. take away Manning,Brady,Rodgers and even Roethlisberger.. none of those teams would ever sniff the playoffs...

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475392https://brownsboard.com/post/475392Sun, 01 Feb 2015 04:35:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sun, 01 Feb 2015 01:43:06 GMT]]>Based upon history, Id say it's mostly great teams that make great QB's.

You could be an amazing player......but until your team is great(or you make it great)....you aint great(by most standards)....

And many of the great ones are considered such because of wins, not QB play alone.(which I think kinda sucks).

And lots of great ones dont get their due because they landed on shit teams and had zero help.(which I also dont like)...

So....winning makes you great,,,,,nothing else....

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475361https://brownsboard.com/post/475361Sun, 01 Feb 2015 01:43:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:40:17 GMT]]>I'll have to say decisiveness. The ability to make the right decisions with the football quickly and consistently.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475359https://brownsboard.com/post/475359Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:40:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 22:45:24 GMT]]>brains.

original.jpg

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475352https://brownsboard.com/post/475352Sat, 31 Jan 2015 22:45:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 21:05:27 GMT]]>Take a guess-- Mystery Deflated balls, can get a flag if touched in pocket, tuck rule and can get any of his receiver's a flag?? Am I missing anything but he played for Michigan??

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475338https://brownsboard.com/post/475338Sat, 31 Jan 2015 21:05:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 19:05:14 GMT]]>Composure. Intelligence. Talent. Confidence.

A QB with all four of those things will do/have all of the things everyone has mentioned this far.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475325https://brownsboard.com/post/475325Sat, 31 Jan 2015 19:05:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 18:36:59 GMT]]>A great qb is the one that can excel at HIS job,

while he has an oline that can block well, and wr's

that can get OPEN, if need be, quickly....

and running backs that know how to be good running backs.

Archie Manning was a GREAT qb that never had the above.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475321https://brownsboard.com/post/475321Sat, 31 Jan 2015 18:36:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 18:08:29 GMT]]>A great QB is one that wins in the playoffs. When the pressure is the highest and the competition is the best. If a QB can't do that then he is not great IMO

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475279https://brownsboard.com/post/475279Sat, 31 Jan 2015 18:08:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 16:44:23 GMT]]>Karma?

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475278https://brownsboard.com/post/475278Sat, 31 Jan 2015 16:44:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:37:32 GMT]]>Ability to read defenses, spends a lot of time in game preparation, good leadership qualities, doesn't make bad throws into coverage, good clock management skills, confidence, takes charge in the huddle, I would sum it all up with Joe Montana.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475107https://brownsboard.com/post/475107Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:37:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:05:14 GMT]]>one that has the nads to audible

against the "scripted" plays of the staff - (IE Kosar - Belichek)

that would be old school and quite fun to watch if he were successful.

I always thought the good QBs have some game time feel for the defensive scheme while

the coordinators seem to be busy staging the next play - taking away a decent competitive edge of a capable QB.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475102https://brownsboard.com/post/475102Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:05:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to What makes great QBs GREAT on Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:50:13 GMT]]>"clutch" is something that for me doesn't exist.

]]>https://brownsboard.com/post/475099https://brownsboard.com/post/475099Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:50:13 GMT