his numbers are middle of the road when you compare him to his peers.
Dude was an overrated QB.
On the Redskins message board, I said Eli Manning has had a better career than Elway at similar points, and those old idiots tried to take my head off. I posted their season by season numbers and how they ranked against their peers, and they were still mad even though the facts were in their face.
Elway was a great player, def a HOFer, but he benefited from a few things to keep his hype up:
a) dude had a lot of made for TV moments in his career which stuck in peoples minds, "The Drive" "Mile High Magic" etc.... and this all happened in the 1980s which is where the explosion of TV media took place. Its why famous people from the 80s are more revered than any other period in the 20th century, imo. Especially athletes.
b) He looks like the prototypical QB. Every QB since Elway has been compared to dude physically. Like every QB is supposed to be 6'4", 220 lbs, with a huge arm, and athletic enough to gain yards with their legs. I have no idea why this dude was chosen as the prototype over other QBs, but its him and no one else.
c) The myth that he carried the Broncos as a one man team. This shyt is what is keeping a guy like Karl Mecklenberg from serious HOF consideration, imo. Denver had a very good defense that kept Elway in games that he was pulling stupid hijinks early on so that he could have his made for TV moment and take most of the credit.
Its pretty sad that many would put Elway over QBs like Montana, Favre, Brady, Marino, Manning, Fouts, Staubach, and many other great QBs. Elway did not have a better career than an Eli Manning, yet when you say that people get emotional.
