Thirty years ago, a 21-year-old St. Louisan sat on a barstool and proclaimed: “There will never be a better quarterback generation than this one. Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, John Elway, are you kidding me?”
Ten years ago, a 21-year-old St. Louisan sat on a barstool and proclaimed: “There will never be a better quarterback generation than this one. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, are you kidding me?”
Today, a 21-year-old St. Louisan will sit on a barstool and proclaim: “There will never be a better quarterback generation than this one. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, are you kidding me?”
The evolution has been televised (and retweeted). The quarterback position, already always the most-important for its impact, has advanced to a level of absurdity. You only needed to see the final quarter and overtime of last weekend’s Chiefs-Bills game to understand what we’re dealing with now. Yes, Mahomes has won only one Super Bowl — and Buffalo pigskin-slinger Josh Allen hasn’t even played in one yet — but the new-age quarterbacks are just ... different. And they get better faster — and are better because they are faster.
Here’s thinking the current crop will exceed the accomplishments of passing predecessors. And while Amos Alonzo Stagg is probably rolling in his grave when these guys roll out of the pocket, modern quarterbacks are making impossible throws from peculiar angles with footwork out of “Footloose.”
It makes you wonder — what the heck will QBs be doing in 10 years from now? Or 30?
But in the present, we’re experiencing the future, and it’s entrancing.
The timing of all this is fitting. Roethlisberger is retiring. Rodgers, 38, is a free agent. And the ageless Brady will mull his future a couple weeks sooner than usual. There is a changing of the guard behind the guards, tackles and center.
For instance, in football’s “Final Four” this weekend, we’ve got Mahomes hosting his fourth straight AFC championship game (he’s only been the Kansas City starter for four seasons). The Chiefs host the Bengals’ Burrow, who authored the greatest college season a quarterback has ever had, now with the second-highest passer rating in the National Football League. He just turned 25, the same age as Allen and former MVP Jackson — and a year younger than Mahomes.
And who trailed only Brady for the most NFL passing yards this season? It was the Chargers’ Justin Herbert, who threw for 5,014 yards. He’s 23. Twenty-three! Only eight other quarterbacks have ever thrown for 5,000 yards in a season. Only two did it at a younger age than Herbert did. They were Mahomes and Marino, both 22.
And Herbert is 6-foot-6 and nearly 240 pounds. That’s a left tackle 30 years ago. And that’s a tight end 10 years ago (shoot, that’s a tight end even today). Josh Allen has a similar build. These guys are redefining their position, not unlike reigning National Basketball Association MVP, Nikola Jokic, the 7-footer who averaged 8.3 assists.
But no quarterback — perhaps athlete? — has changed sport more in recent years than Patrick Lavon Mahomes II. The son of a pitcher, he revolutionized throwing.
ESPN draft guru Todd McShay described Mahomes throwing at Texas Tech like a “shortstop hurling a baseball across the diamond,” and if there’s any town that can appreciate the confident franticness of a brazen shortstop, it’s Ozzie Smith’s St. Louis. As an NFL starter, Mahomes himself is a wizard.
As for Mahomes’ masterpiece last Sunday? So, every year it seems we experience the greatest game ever. But … I think the Chiefs-Bills playoff game was the greatest game ever.
Four scores in the final 1:54!
That included an Allen touchdown strike with 13 seconds left. And that wasn’t the final points of regulation.
Mahomes made “13 seconds” part of sports lexicon with his drive to set up a field goal.
And then led a touchdown drive in overtime.
People talk about the 1982 San Diego-Miami epic game with Kellen Winslow and Rolf Benirschke. And there have been other games with singular game-ending and legacy-defining moments. But nothing like this.
It was the first game, per ESPN, to ever have opposing quarterbacks with 300 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, zero interceptions and 50 rushing yards.
Ever.
Now, as for the greatest generation of quarterbacks, we could bask on barstools all day and debate. Similarly to “Saturday Night Live” casts, many people think the one from their era will always be the best. And yes, the modern class, combined, has just one Lombardi Trophy (then again, so does Rodgers and Drew Brees). But the way this new class plays quarterback, it could end up being the greatest.
And regardless, it’ll always be remembered as revolutionary.
