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Originally Posted by DomCasual
Is any fanbase objective when it comes to their own players, though?
I do wish Elway had played under a different coach for most of his career. I love that old games are starting to show up, in their entirety, on YouTube. But it kills me to rewatch some of those 80s Broncos teams. Dan Reeves was a decent man. But he was Schottenheimer West, when it came to the offense.
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Depends on who you’re talking about. I think KC fans have a lower opinion of Alex Smith than probably any other fanbase. And he took them to the playoffs yearly. Mahomes? Well, yeah, he can do no wrong in the eyes of most. Although I’m not sure the average KC fan says anything about Mahomes that isn’t echoed by national analysts. There just isn’t much to criticize at this point in his career.
Elway, on the other hand, had a bunch of seasons with more INTs than TDs, and weaker stats in general than a lot of his peers throughout his era. In 84, Marino threw for over 5000 yds with 48 TDs/17 INTs on 564 attempts, and completed 64%. The next year, Elway threw 22 TDs with 23 picks, under 3900 yds, and completed 54% on over 600 attempts. And that was the only season he reached 20 TDs in his first decade. Marino may have had better receivers at the time, but not that much better. Even when Elway had Shanahan and a loaded roster, he couldn’t touch those numbers. He was also outplayed by guys like Favre and Young in the 90s.
And yes, I realize that Marino’s 84 season was an outlier for that era, but there were a lot of QBs putting up better numbers, and not all of them were in great situations (including Marino).
Elway may have been one of the most talented QBs ever, but he didn’t consistently produce at an elite level. I think people got sucked up in the media hype. He was crowned the greatest QB prospect ever, so people fell all over themselves to glorify every play he made and to justify why he wasn’t living up to the expectations they set.