If Cary Grant were alive today, perhaps he could star in a NFL version of "North by Northwest" where he clings to Johnny Unitas' nose hairs as depicted on the Mt. Rushmore of quarterbacks.  Joe Montana would be trying to look up Eva Marie Saint's dress, and John Elway would have that goofy grin whilst watching Joe in action.  I guess the scene requires that we pretend Joe Montana is temporarily Joe Namath, but that man doesn't even belong in Canton, let alone this exclusive club of four.  So who gets that last spot?  Manning and Brady could ultimately be the dynamite in this equation, but for now, let's try to decipher between Dan Marino and Brett Favre. 

The question was posed, is Brett Favre better than Dan Marino?  Now I've never been a Brett Favre guy.  Being a fan of a team from the AFC North, that isn't a fanboy reaction.  In fact, Brett suffered the worst beating in Monday Night Football's history against those Ravens, a 48-3 beatdown.  My cynicism towards Favre is more so rooted in the fact that everyone this side of John Madden has placed him on the mountain - no questions asked.  I also could have gone without every obstacle in his life becoming public record.  Bear in mind, this disdain was before the TD record fell.  And before he yardage record fell.  And before the attempts, and games started, etc.  gave the Favre fans even more ammunition.  I have always seen him as a guy who has seemingly been as directly responsible for his team's losses as he has been for his team's wins.  To boot, his one Super Bowl title is greater than that of most NFL quarterbacks, but equivalent to names like Namath, Dilfer, Brad Johnson, and McMahon.

That said, it's also more than names like Tarkenton, Kelly, and Marino.  The latter of the three is the poster boy for the stat gatherer who never won the big one.  Of course, history has granted Marino a pass.  Those Dolphin defenses weren't much to write home about; moreover, give the Dolphins a Thurman Thomas, and we would be talking about Marino in the same vain as Montana. 

In terms of who's better, an even fight typically goes to the elder statesman, especially at quarterback where eras are hard to compare.  But as every one of Marino's records fall, the fight is becoming less even.  As a supporter of statistical analysis in baseball, I'm inclined to look at the numbers and settle this thing once and for all.  Football though, is a ame of infinite possibilities.  Every at-bat starts at home plate, but not every drive starts at the twenty.  Every runner must head toward first.  Once the ball is snapped, football is a free for all.  It's hard to say unequivocally that one is better, just using raw numbers.  But we've charged ourselves with the task of deciding on Marino or Favre, thus we will finish the task.

Tale of the tape:

Marino: 59.4% Comp%, 61361 yds, 420/252 TDInt, YPA 6.6, Sac% 3.1%, Playoff games 18

Favre: 61.4% Comp%, 61405 yds, 440/286 TDInt, YPA 7.0, Sac% 4.8%, Playoff games 20

I chose some of these numbers because I wanted to look at rates as opposed to raw stat agthering ability.  A quarterback's effectiveness is derived from his efficiency.  Favre looks like the more efficient QB, but you do see the "gunslinger" in Favre when measuring the TD/INT ratio.  Marino has a better sack percentage which means fewer third and longs.  Also, Marino may have thrown balls away to avoid those sacks, thus lowering the completion percentage.  See?  There are too many variables at play.

Looking at the numbers, the edge goes to Favre, as I don't think Marino's era was that much less pass happy than it is today.  As far as intangibles are concerned, everyone can embrace or ignore certain criteria.  I think something should be said for Marino playing the bulkload of his career with Marks Duper and Clayton.  For Favre, the gunslinger is remembered for performances like his long pass to Greg Jennings in overtime, yet set the yardage record on a seven yard pass to Donald Driver.  His early career involved receivers like Sharpe, Brooks, Rison, and Freeman.  All are good, but that cycle of new people requires time for timing.  I'm no expert on mechanics, so I won't even delve into that portion of the argument.  When all is said and done, I think that despite my early digust, I need to learn how to chisel Brett Favre's boogers.

Of course Brett's face would be made of cheese.