Chris Myers: Interviews Joe Montana

Source:Chris Myers– interviewing Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Joe Montana.

“A look at the past Chris Myers Interviews. Chris Myers interviews Joe Montana from CMI Chris Myers Interview”

From Chris Myers

If you judge quarterbacks by their size or their physical abilities or their numbers, Joe Montana doesn’t stack up very well except for his numbers. But if you judge quarterbacks by how well they play in big games and how they do when the game is on the line and how they play the game, then you are going to have an impossible time finding a list of quarterbacks who you could even compare with Joe Montana as far as great quarterbacks. The list would be like two quarterbacks at least as far as I’m concern. John Unitas and John Elway and perhaps Otto Graham as well and that’s about it.

Some QB’s have a nice run 5-6 years where they do well and then you can say they are one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, Rich Gannon comes to mind with the Oakland Raiders. And then there are quarterbacks who may have a short run of greatness, but accomplish so much in that period that it lands them in the Hall of Fame. Terry Bradshaw comes to mind with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it’s hard to find many if anyone who were as great as Joe Montana for as long as Montana in the history of the NFL.

When I think of Joe Montana I think of the QB who played for the best team and the best head coach of his era. The San Francisco 49ers playing for the best offense and playing with a great defense where he for the most part didn’t have to win games on his own. Joe Cool was a possession passer who would beat you with play after play, pass after pass. And when the defense got tired of that and came after Joe, he could go deep on the defense with wide receivers like Jerry Rice or John Taylor.

And earlier Joe had Freddie Solomon and Dwight Clark. So if you want to play press coverage against Joe and the 49ers, now you are at risk of giving up the deep pass against the 49ers. Because their West Coast offense always had the deep threat in guys who would look for the big play. Especially against press coverage which is what made this offense so great because it forced defenses to defend the whole field. Short, middle and deep and Joe was the best at running this offense.

What separates Joe Cool from anyone as far as quarterbacks again except for John Unitas and John Elway, you could make a very good case for any of these three quarterbacks as the best all-time, is they all played a long time, but they were all great quarterbacks for a long time and how well they played in the big games for as long as they did. A lot of quarterbacks hang around and stay in the league for a long time. But it’s the special quarterbacks that are not just in the league forever as it may seem, but they are great QB’s for so long. Winning so many games and championships and that’s the type of QB Joe Cool was.

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CBS Sports: NFL 1966

Source:Getty Images– the game that kicked off the Super Bowl in America.

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“LOS ANGELES – JANUARY 15: Green Bay Packers’ Elijah Pitts #22 runs with the ball during Super Bowl I against the Kansas City Chiefs at Memorial Coliseum on January 15, 1967 in Los Angeles, California. The Packers defeated the Chiefs 35-10. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)”

From I’m A Sportsphile

1966 was a huge transition year for the NFL because it was the first season of the Super Bowl to decide who was the pro football champion of America, not the world. The championship game between the Green Bay Packers of what eventually became the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference, and the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League that would become the American Football Conference.

It was the first year of divisional play in the NFL where the Eastern Conference and Western Conference was broken up into four team divisions. Pre-1966 the NFL Championship was played between the Easter and Western Conference’s regular season champions. No playoff games at all before the Championship, unless there were ties for first place in the conference’s.

Big year for the NFL because they won the first Super Bowl and was at the beginning of the end of the NFL-AFL rivalry as they became of league by 1970 with the NFC and AFC. So the NFL was certainly in transition in 1966-67 and becoming a much larger national league.

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