Best. Quarterback. Ever.

This stemmed from an emailed conversation with a friend and fellow football fanatic yesterday. I could put something different together today, but I won't. So there.

Hmm. How to decide the best quarterback ever? Isn't that like deciding the best kind of cheese?

You have your usual suspects of the retired: Montana, Elway, Marino. Elway only won the big one when Terrell Davis played and he had a running game. Marino never had the run support. Montana was surrounded with possibly the best offense in a new West Coast offense that no one knew how to scheme against. All three showed heart and poise. Elway's helicopter in the Superbowl epitomized grit. Marino was faster than Billy the Kid. For Montana, the game moved in slow motion. All were joys to watch.

I never saw Staubach, Stabler or Bradshaw play outside of highlight reels. And if you're only showing highlights, Archie Manning and Mark Rypien could be all-time greats. I'm not qualified to judge them, so I won't.

Jim Kelly didn't get a nod? System Q? So were most of the others. You can have a Formula One race car, but if you can't drive the thing, it crashes into a wall. Just sayin'.

Then you get into the modern arguments. Michael Vick (Jesus Jr.) was supposed to revolutionize the position, evolving what was known as a thrower's game into a scrambler's paradise. Um... no. Again, I never saw much of Fran Tarkenton (or Elway in his fleet-feet days), but I'm giving the best scrambling Q award to Randall Cunningham. Again: always a joy to watch. Once, he quick kicked for 70+ yards. Another time, the Eagles needed a kickoff runback touchdown to win the game; who was back there? Cunningham. Really.

And where's Steve Young? The man did everything that was asked of him and then some. Yes, he inherited the Niners, but he could've potentially gotten a ring or two that Montana had if he wasn't waiting to get into the game. Case in point: the Niners let Montana go. And no one complained.

No love for Kurt Warner? Another system product, sure, but he could thread the ball through tiny windows. Then again, if you want to know why he did better in St. Lou and Arizona then he did in the big apple, look at who was catching the ball. More appropriately, trying to catch the ball. Class act, brought two epically crappy organizations to a total of three superbowls and won one.

Brett Favre - unquestionably has the enjoyment factor. I remember his "toke a doobie" audible, where he looked to his wideouts, puffed an imaginary joint, then threw a bomb for a touchdown. Classic moment. Legendary in Green Bay as the all-time cold weather Q, though he's soiled that reputation quite a bit. He'd be better if he'd hung it up two seasons ago before the Jets debacle. Not interested in his incredible numbers this year before the fade; a season is 16 games. You want to be MVP of Sep-Nov, more power to you.

Weren't the big two Brady and Manning? And now, where's Brady? Moss backpedalled, which didn't help his performance this year, but he still had Welker. Undeniably a great leader who has the knack to rally his troops. But is he the same jackass as Belicheck? Wasn't it him running up the score as much as the coach? A three-time SB winner who brought the word "dynasty" back in the salary cap era - that's gotta count for something. Great touch. Hot wife.

And now Drew Brees enters the discussion, though it's a bit premature for "best ever" status.

Which is exactly the same thing I have to say about Manning. I expect he'll be renowned as the best quarterback to ever play the game. It's not merely his commitment to film study and game mechanics. He drops deep bombs with angelic precision. He knows opposing defenses better than their coordinators. He reads blitzes and almost always makes the right call. His Achilles heel has been a penchance to choke in big spots, but I doubt this was his last Superbowl run. Time will tell if the Colts were Barry Switzer's Cowboys, but I doubt it. Manning will keep the offense churning, and so long as the defense doesn't cank them out of the playoffs, they should have another 3-5 shots at rings with him at the helm. Dude never takes a real hit.

My claim that he's a stat hog remains. I don't care for his ubercompetitiveness, but that's the way he is. I think the Colts should've run the ball much more - Addai was on his way to a SB MVP until Peyton decided he didn't want to share the glory. I couldn't've been happier to see the pick-n-collapse, even if there was a debatably illegal block in the quarter-back during the return. He lost his cool. And the team followed suit.

When Manning hangs it up, I imagine he'll have a second ring (three seems a bit much), most-if-not-all of the passing records, a first-ballot trip to Canton, and a commentator's desk. He's a freak of nature who was bred to be the ideal quarterback and overperformed expectations. He's that good.

For the time being, I'm going to give the Greatest Quarterback Ever trophy to Joe Montana for one reason: he made it look easy. Marino, Elway, Favre, and the lot - they usually looked like they were striving to achieve their goals. Montana was smooth and effortless. Not the strongest arm, not the quickest delivery, not the best mover. I can't promise if you threw any of them under center on their counterparts' teams, they would or wouldn't have performed as well. I was never a Niners fan. But I always respected Montana.

I realize people say "fears" now instead of "respects." What quarterback would you fear coming on the field down by 5 points with 30 seconds left to play? Sure, that designation fits Manning, Brady, even Favre to some point. Players may not have feared Montana. They often resigned that it was over.

When Manning retires, I'll most likely transfer the "Greatest" title to him. He'll need at least one more ring to prove he can still win the big one. Until then, he's the Terminator of quarterbacks: a robot programmed to dissect and decimate opposing defenses. And as much as I don't respect his stathogging, I must recognize his talent.