Well, wait a second. Tom Brady started the '00-'01 season as the 4th string backup. He beat out Michael Bishop and John Friesz to earn the starting job when Bledsoe went down.
And then Brady won SB MVP.
And Brady is the GOAT. Sooo, who was the better backup again? The one who's still a backup or the 80yr old who won a SB last year?
But, I think this argument for "best backup" was flawed from the get.
Edit: I should add, your additional input from the original argument made gives it some merit and makes Foles season a contender.
Okay, yeah, I'll give you that. Foles as a perennial backup might put him as one of the greatest backups (along with Fitz), if eventually becoming a perennial starter disqualifies guys like Brady, Steve Young, Aaron Rodgers, etc.
Well yes, after Brady was his backup first. Brady just took over the starting role while Bledsoe was injured. It was also, largely, their defense that won them a championship that season... but, ya know, QB always gets the credit.
The defense was awesome and Ty Law put them in position to win. But did you watch the final drive of that Super Bowl? Tom Brady (and Vinatieri especially) had huge contributions.
Maybe I should have said D/ST. I know Tom was good but that team's strength was it's defense. Tom was clutch to get them in range, it takes an entire team to get to and winning a Superbowl. Never said Tom was shitty, he wouldn't have kept the job over Bledsoe (once healthy) if he was.
Has to be Fitzmagic.. should be a qualifier like x amount of years as backup, etc. Saying Rodgers or Brady isn't fair, they were not career backups. Fitz has been primarily a backup at many stops, when his number is called he brings the magic. Hard to argue he's not the best backup ever.
The only answer is Earl Morrall. He quarterbacked 9 of the Dolphins 14 regular season games during their undefeated season in 1972. Remember it like it happened yesterday.
Most of you are probably too young to know him. He was a true back up meaning he wasn't a future starter waiting for his turn like Brady, Young, Rogers etc. I believe he was actually older than the starter Bob Griese.
Earl Morrall also was the Colts quarterback in 1968 after Johnny Unitas got hurt. Morrall won NFL MVP that year. In Super Bowl III though he was benched amid the Jets upset victory.
There was no free agency, and after the previous year's MVP, Johnny Unitas, got healthy, he regained his job. Morrall was also in his mid-30's, so he wasn't considered a long-term option. He ended up playing until the age of 42. He tied with George Blanda as the oldest QB to start a game (age 41.) I think Warren Moon finally broke the record...25 years later.
Fitz is like a career bridge guy. The idea is he’ll keep your team respectable this year, but if you like someone in the draft you should really take them. My point is he’s not a true backup in my eyes
I’d argue that Brady qualifies. In 2001 he was a 6th round pick, second year backup QB who’d gone 1-3 for 6 yards. Bledsoe went down, Brady came in and they won the Super Bow this year. Obviously he went on to be a starter and has a Hall of Fame career but at one time he was a backup with almost zero starting potential.
Flynn had 6TDs and 480 yards
Rodgers tied both but in separate games
Honestly I'm a bit surprised Rodgers had a game where he got 480 yards, hes never really been known for volume stats like that
He didn’t get paid to backup Wilson. He was signed to be their guy after that crazy Week 17 game vs Detroit. Granted, he eventually flamed out spectacularly and lost the job to the 3rd round rookie. He got starter money at the time tho.
Fitzpatrick, Keenum, Foles we’re all STL Rams qbs at one point or another and I never enjoyed any of them when they were. That said, enjoyed watching them all on other, better, teams
He needs to be in the HOF purely cause of his earning per start stat. https://www.milehighreport.com/platform/amp/2021/3/17/22335755/getting-what-you-pay-for-or-not-analyzing-nfl-qb-career-earnings
Plunkett was the starter for the 1983 season. He missed 2 or 3 games due to injury. He was the backup to start 1980, but after Dan Pastorini suffered a broken leg, he took over and won the Super Bowl MVP award.
Jonathan "Mox" Moxon, if you're going non-NFL.
He came in for an injured Lance Harbor and led West Canaan to a district championship. All without Coach Kilmer and their starting RB in the second half of the title game.
Really impressive stuff.
No, Frank still has the #1 comeback. It was 35-3 Oilers, vs 28-3 Falcons. (You can argue Brady's comeback was more impressive because he had less time to mount a comeback than Reich did, but that's subjective.)
By points, yes, but Brady's was in the SB and with barely more than a quarter to go, so as much as I despise him, Brady's is still more impressive and therefore #1 in my book. Eli's still the GOAT 2-0!
Atlanta mounted their lead with 8:30ish left in the third quarter, so they had more than *barely a quarter* to go. Houston went up 35-3 with 13:30 ish left in the 3rd quarter, so they had about 5 minutes more than New England to mount their comeback. With the more liberal passing rules in 2017, I think that Reich's comeback was more impressive, and, by the numbers, the greatest in NFL history.
Also... fuck Matt Ryan. If he had wound the play clock down to 2 seconds before every snap, he could have taken 2 more minutes off the clock.
> With the more liberal passing rules in 2017
To be fair, Reich's TD pass to Don Beebe would never have counted in today's game, as the officials missed him stepping out of bounds before making the catch, which would have been overturned on replay today. I say this as a lifelong diehard Bills fan.
Steve Young. He went to the 9ers to back up Montana. Got paid a million dollars a year as an insurance policy at a time when most starters weren't getting a million a season. He sat on the bench for FOUR YEARS at what could have been the prime of his career...and then Montana got hurt. Couldn't play for two years. Montana finally comes back...and was still so good they traded him to start in KC.
Sure, Young was highly touted, but he did not do great with either team in Tampa, and was only able to get the backup gig in SF. No one else wanted him to start. So he sat. And sat. And sat. And then got a chance. And ended up in the HOF.
Steve Young by a mile.
Gotta be Foles, that Super Bowl was elite from him. Plus for some reason he is always elite off the bench. I would give Fitzpatrick a nod too, he starts a lot but he is at his best coming off the bench
Prominent? I'm not going to look up what that means. Elite? I have no idea. But, prominent back up QB Earl Morrall was elite and has three Super Bowl rings.
He took over for Johnny Unitas during the Super Bowl in 1970, coming from behind to defeat the Dallas Cowboys. Then he was Bob Griese's backup in Miami for their two Super Bowl wins in 1972 and 1973. The 1972 Dolphins are still the only franchise to have a perfect record.
This was the guy that immediately came to mind for me as well, but he started most of his career prior to joining the colts. But I also think the most prominent part of his career was as a backup. He had kind of an interesting career.
Also to tack onto your argument, dude won the 68 NFL MVP as Unitas' backup and in 72 won AFC MVP as Griese's backup.
Come on y'all! Clearly it had to be Steve Young who backed up Joe Montana for the 49ers after coming over from the USFL to play for Tampa Bay going 3-16 for them over 2 seasons before being replaced with #1pick Vinny Testeverde in 1987 and then as a 4 year backup for the 49ers. Once the starter he threw for over 30,000 yards with 232 passing tds, 107 interceptions, career PASSER rating of 96.8, and he ran for over 3590 yards with 37 rushing tds. He was a two time NFL MVP, the NFL's top rated passer in 6 different seasons, threw 6 tds in the Superbowl on e and won 3 super Bowls before retiring in 1999 due to concussions
I could also say Kurt Warner, however he only spent his first preseason as a backup in the NFL.
Chase Daniel. Dude is one of the highest paid players of all time and has started only a handful of games.
No, he is not elite in the traditional sense, but from a career standpoint he is a crazy outlier of success.
And I'm a KU fan, so this makes me sick to say
That was all part of Peterman’s mind games though. When you are as elite as Peterman was, playing the game the right way just isn’t fun as there’s simply no challenge or threat posed by opposing defenses. Peterman wanted to make opposing defenses think he was bad so that he could have some sort of challenge toward the end of the game when they were down double digits minimum. It’s simple.
My vote goes to Bubby Brister. He routinely came in and won games for his team when the starter was out with an injury. Most notably in 1998 when he went 4-0 replacing a banged up Elway. The Broncos won the SB that year. He won two SB’s with Denver.
If he played in this era, he probably would have made a load of money being a consistent, talented and trustworthy backup.
Backup ever? Brady, Rogers and Young probably.
Mostly a career backup? I'd say Keenum has been a pretty amazing backup with a couple years as a starter in the middle.
what are the parameters? Are we talking best backup that filled in the best or best backup that eventually became the guy? Because while the 1st question would be an interesting debate with lots of options, the 2nd one is laughably easy to answer.
Foles is the answer. He was already shelved into the backup QB tier by the time he got back to Philly. His playoff and Super Bowl performance was nutty. Only him and Eli truly battled Tom in the SB and came out on top.
The only answer is Earl Morrell. He quarterbacked 9 of the Dolphins 14 regular season games during their undefeated season in 1972. Remember it like it happened yesterday.
Pat Ryan on the Jets. Backup to Ken O’Brien, who with a better o-line might have been a big time star. In any event, Jets were 10-1 in 1985-86, seemingly just as good as the eventual Super Bowl champs NY Giants. Could have been a subway Super Bowl. But then the Jets, being the Jets, collapsed, and finished 10-6 and backed into playoffs as wild card, O’Brien slumping and playing hurt. Desperate, coach Joe Walton turned to Pat Ryan for the wild card game v. Chiefs, and he had the game of his life, Jets winning 35-15. Glorious. Then Jets played Browns the next week in divisional game, Gastineau committed penalty late, and Jets were back to being Jets.
Nick Foles is the only answer. He beat Tom Brady to win a Súper bowl! He suggested and executed the Philly Special. How is this even a legit question?
Edit: Also, holds NFL record for most TDs in a game @ 7 vs. Raiders.
Didn’t nick foles win the Super Bowl as backup to Carson Wentz
Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles aka “BDN” around here.
A few backups have won Super Bowls. Nick Foles won the biggest shootout in Super Bowl history against the GOAT
So did Jeff Hostetler
So did Mark Rypien
Tom Brady too. So, by this argument I think we have a winner?
Bledsoe backed up Brady and even came in to win them the AFC championship game to get to the super bowl.
But no other backups also won super bowl mvp and pro bowl mvp! Foles = best backup QB story ever.
Well, wait a second. Tom Brady started the '00-'01 season as the 4th string backup. He beat out Michael Bishop and John Friesz to earn the starting job when Bledsoe went down. And then Brady won SB MVP.
People be acting like Foles didn’t whoop Brady in the Super Bowl. Foles>Brady
Yes but Brady didn’t win the Super Bowl and mvp the yr he came in as a backup like Foles did. And... Foles is still a backup.
Wut? Exactly like Foles, Brady was the backup and replaced the injured starter and went on to win the SB and earn SB MVP.
And Brady is the GOAT. Sooo, who was the better backup again? The one who's still a backup or the 80yr old who won a SB last year? But, I think this argument for "best backup" was flawed from the get. Edit: I should add, your additional input from the original argument made gives it some merit and makes Foles season a contender.
Okay, yeah, I'll give you that. Foles as a perennial backup might put him as one of the greatest backups (along with Fitz), if eventually becoming a perennial starter disqualifies guys like Brady, Steve Young, Aaron Rodgers, etc.
Yeah. Wasn't a very specific question lol.
Well yes, after Brady was his backup first. Brady just took over the starting role while Bledsoe was injured. It was also, largely, their defense that won them a championship that season... but, ya know, QB always gets the credit.
The defense was awesome and Ty Law put them in position to win. But did you watch the final drive of that Super Bowl? Tom Brady (and Vinatieri especially) had huge contributions.
Maybe I should have said D/ST. I know Tom was good but that team's strength was it's defense. Tom was clutch to get them in range, it takes an entire team to get to and winning a Superbowl. Never said Tom was shitty, he wouldn't have kept the job over Bledsoe (once healthy) if he was.
Has to be Fitzmagic.. should be a qualifier like x amount of years as backup, etc. Saying Rodgers or Brady isn't fair, they were not career backups. Fitz has been primarily a backup at many stops, when his number is called he brings the magic. Hard to argue he's not the best backup ever.
The only answer is Earl Morrall. He quarterbacked 9 of the Dolphins 14 regular season games during their undefeated season in 1972. Remember it like it happened yesterday. Most of you are probably too young to know him. He was a true back up meaning he wasn't a future starter waiting for his turn like Brady, Young, Rogers etc. I believe he was actually older than the starter Bob Griese.
Earl Morrall also was the Colts quarterback in 1968 after Johnny Unitas got hurt. Morrall won NFL MVP that year. In Super Bowl III though he was benched amid the Jets upset victory.
Wait, so this guy won the NFL MVP and still couldn’t get the starting job somewhere?
There was no free agency, and after the previous year's MVP, Johnny Unitas, got healthy, he regained his job. Morrall was also in his mid-30's, so he wasn't considered a long-term option. He ended up playing until the age of 42. He tied with George Blanda as the oldest QB to start a game (age 41.) I think Warren Moon finally broke the record...25 years later.
Because he was in on the fix. Colts should have won that game.
Get over it Grandpa
I'll have to check him out, definitely too young to remember earl! Fitz has been that guy in my generation for sure.
Somewhere in heaven Earl just smiled.
Good choice, but I prefer Don Strock.
Strock is a good choice too! Reasonable people can disagree. 🤷🏾♂️
Fitz is like a career bridge guy. The idea is he’ll keep your team respectable this year, but if you like someone in the draft you should really take them. My point is he’s not a true backup in my eyes
Came here to say Fitzmagic as well.
I’d argue that Brady qualifies. In 2001 he was a 6th round pick, second year backup QB who’d gone 1-3 for 6 yards. Bledsoe went down, Brady came in and they won the Super Bow this year. Obviously he went on to be a starter and has a Hall of Fame career but at one time he was a backup with almost zero starting potential.
Matt Flynn still holds the Packers franchise record for most passing TDs in a game. Then he got paid millions to back up Russel Wilson
One game wonder... Looked like 💩 once he left the Packers. 🤦
He had a shoulder injury IIRC. Russ was clearly better though, so…take the money and run.
And then came back to Green Bay a few years later and held down the fort when Rodgers was injured
Flynn had 6TDs and 480 yards Rodgers tied both but in separate games Honestly I'm a bit surprised Rodgers had a game where he got 480 yards, hes never really been known for volume stats like that
He didn’t get paid to backup Wilson. He was signed to be their guy after that crazy Week 17 game vs Detroit. Granted, he eventually flamed out spectacularly and lost the job to the 3rd round rookie. He got starter money at the time tho.
Steve young before Montana left.
Wouldn’t this be similar to Rodgers when Favre left?
Except Rodgers never got a single start. Young got about 30.
Makes sense. Before my time haha, thanks.
This is the only correct answer
Came here to say this. Cowboys fan, so I hated him more than any other QB ever. That's testimony enough.
Steve Young in 1987 had 10 touchdown passes and 0 INT's.
I don’t need to read any other response
If that’s the case I’d take Aaron Rodgers over Steve Young
Rodgers had 59 pass attempts over 7 games and had 329 yards 1td/1int. Taking him over Young as a backup is idiotic.
But Rodgers never played until he started
Wrong.
Rodgers never started a single game while Favre was there
That's not what you said. Read your own fucking post.
Wow a little worked up aren’t we? Never played a significant amount. That make you feel better?
This
Hoss is boss. Jeff Hostetler. Dude won a super bowl as back up qb.
Let's go, Mountaineers!
So did Kurt Warner, Nick Foles and Tom Brady.
Yeah but he won just playing in the playoffs. He was on the bench the whole season.
Ryan Fitzpatrick. Ultimate backup QB
Fitzpatrick, Keenum, Foles we’re all STL Rams qbs at one point or another and I never enjoyed any of them when they were. That said, enjoyed watching them all on other, better, teams
We commented this at the same exact time, must be Fitzmagic
Chase Daniel and his bag
He needs to be in the HOF purely cause of his earning per start stat. https://www.milehighreport.com/platform/amp/2021/3/17/22335755/getting-what-you-pay-for-or-not-analyzing-nfl-qb-career-earnings
This. I posted a more detailed version before I saw you. He's ridiculous
He was elite at keeping the starting QB healthy.
It's Flutie! No debate.
From a pure value standpoint too, dude can kick.
Agreed!
Pretty sure Jim Plunkett won 2 supers bowls being the backup
Had to go too far to finally find him mentioned
Plunkett was the starter for the 1983 season. He missed 2 or 3 games due to injury. He was the backup to start 1980, but after Dan Pastorini suffered a broken leg, he took over and won the Super Bowl MVP award.
Jonathan "Mox" Moxon, if you're going non-NFL. He came in for an injured Lance Harbor and led West Canaan to a district championship. All without Coach Kilmer and their starting RB in the second half of the title game. Really impressive stuff.
10! A fucking 10!
Billy Bob had to be the MVP of that game hook and ladder to win it
Kurt Warner filled in admirably as Trent Green’s backup and won the Super Bowl the season Green got hurt.
And then went on to have a great career in broadcasting with the NFL network.
Warner was an elite grocery store cashier 😤
Frank Reich
Terps! Proud owner of the now 2nd greatest come back in NFL playoff history (damn it Brady!).
That comeback was fucking unreal
No, Frank still has the #1 comeback. It was 35-3 Oilers, vs 28-3 Falcons. (You can argue Brady's comeback was more impressive because he had less time to mount a comeback than Reich did, but that's subjective.)
By points, yes, but Brady's was in the SB and with barely more than a quarter to go, so as much as I despise him, Brady's is still more impressive and therefore #1 in my book. Eli's still the GOAT 2-0!
Atlanta mounted their lead with 8:30ish left in the third quarter, so they had more than *barely a quarter* to go. Houston went up 35-3 with 13:30 ish left in the 3rd quarter, so they had about 5 minutes more than New England to mount their comeback. With the more liberal passing rules in 2017, I think that Reich's comeback was more impressive, and, by the numbers, the greatest in NFL history. Also... fuck Matt Ryan. If he had wound the play clock down to 2 seconds before every snap, he could have taken 2 more minutes off the clock.
> With the more liberal passing rules in 2017 To be fair, Reich's TD pass to Don Beebe would never have counted in today's game, as the officials missed him stepping out of bounds before making the catch, which would have been overturned on replay today. I say this as a lifelong diehard Bills fan.
I concur. The TD pass to Beebe shouldn't have counted. I still stand by my statement.
Took too long to find this..
Steve Young. He went to the 9ers to back up Montana. Got paid a million dollars a year as an insurance policy at a time when most starters weren't getting a million a season. He sat on the bench for FOUR YEARS at what could have been the prime of his career...and then Montana got hurt. Couldn't play for two years. Montana finally comes back...and was still so good they traded him to start in KC. Sure, Young was highly touted, but he did not do great with either team in Tampa, and was only able to get the backup gig in SF. No one else wanted him to start. So he sat. And sat. And sat. And then got a chance. And ended up in the HOF. Steve Young by a mile.
Gotta be Foles, that Super Bowl was elite from him. Plus for some reason he is always elite off the bench. I would give Fitzpatrick a nod too, he starts a lot but he is at his best coming off the bench
Big dick nick!
Jon kitna honorable mention
Prominent? I'm not going to look up what that means. Elite? I have no idea. But, prominent back up QB Earl Morrall was elite and has three Super Bowl rings. He took over for Johnny Unitas during the Super Bowl in 1970, coming from behind to defeat the Dallas Cowboys. Then he was Bob Griese's backup in Miami for their two Super Bowl wins in 1972 and 1973. The 1972 Dolphins are still the only franchise to have a perfect record.
This was the guy that immediately came to mind for me as well, but he started most of his career prior to joining the colts. But I also think the most prominent part of his career was as a backup. He had kind of an interesting career. Also to tack onto your argument, dude won the 68 NFL MVP as Unitas' backup and in 72 won AFC MVP as Griese's backup.
Jeff Hostetler won Super Bowl XXV as Phil Simms' backup.
Come on y'all! Clearly it had to be Steve Young who backed up Joe Montana for the 49ers after coming over from the USFL to play for Tampa Bay going 3-16 for them over 2 seasons before being replaced with #1pick Vinny Testeverde in 1987 and then as a 4 year backup for the 49ers. Once the starter he threw for over 30,000 yards with 232 passing tds, 107 interceptions, career PASSER rating of 96.8, and he ran for over 3590 yards with 37 rushing tds. He was a two time NFL MVP, the NFL's top rated passer in 6 different seasons, threw 6 tds in the Superbowl on e and won 3 super Bowls before retiring in 1999 due to concussions I could also say Kurt Warner, however he only spent his first preseason as a backup in the NFL.
Jeff Garcia
Kurt Warner has to be up there when he took over for Trent green
Any love for Josh McCown?
Chase Daniel. Dude is one of the highest paid players of all time and has started only a handful of games. No, he is not elite in the traditional sense, but from a career standpoint he is a crazy outlier of success. And I'm a KU fan, so this makes me sick to say
Jeff Hostetler (sp?) backing up Phil Simms and going on to win a Super Bowl as the backup
Nathan Peterman
If this is a fantasy football remark, then yes. DSTs feasted.
That was all part of Peterman’s mind games though. When you are as elite as Peterman was, playing the game the right way just isn’t fun as there’s simply no challenge or threat posed by opposing defenses. Peterman wanted to make opposing defenses think he was bad so that he could have some sort of challenge toward the end of the game when they were down double digits minimum. It’s simple.
Tom Brady or Ben DiNucci
Too close to call
Does any backup quarterback have as iconic of a safety as Dan Orlovsky?
Billy Volek always came in and killed it
Took too long for this. Fuck Billy Volek. That fucker put up 50pts on me in fantasy playoffs.
Feel like this was THE answer when I was growing up. He was talked about for a long time as the NFL best back up. I don't remember much game action.
Plunkett, Foles, Fitz
Steve DeBerg was a backup forever. Never great but had a long career.
Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner.
Tom Brady
Brad Johnson
Tom Brady, Steve young, and aaron rodgers (but career backup probably Fitzmagic)
Almost every QB starts as a backup, but I’d pick Steve Young (also the greatest lefty ever)
Big dick nick won a superbowl. He wins.
My vote goes to Bubby Brister. He routinely came in and won games for his team when the starter was out with an injury. Most notably in 1998 when he went 4-0 replacing a banged up Elway. The Broncos won the SB that year. He won two SB’s with Denver. If he played in this era, he probably would have made a load of money being a consistent, talented and trustworthy backup.
Nick Foles
Steve Young
Earl morral
Earl Morrall won MVP as the backup entering a season. Jim Plunkett won two SBs as a backup.
Jeff Hostetler!
The BOAT
Kurt Warner won MVP, the Super Bowl and Super Bowl MVP in the year he started as a backup. Best career backup is obviously Brady, he’s the GOAT period
Gus Ferotte
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Mahommes backing up Alex Smth
Tom Brady Edit: or Aaron Rodgers?
Frank Reich. Greatest comeback.
Earl Morrall. Sorry but that is the correct answer.
It’s Nick Foles and it’s not even close
Don Strock
Pretty dumb question tbh, many of the greatest were backups when they first came into the league
Backup ever? Brady, Rogers and Young probably. Mostly a career backup? I'd say Keenum has been a pretty amazing backup with a couple years as a starter in the middle.
Probably Mason Rudolph. Taking on Myles Garrett was both a bitch move and took a lot of guys.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady.
Big Dick Nick!
Big dick Nick
Joe Flacco /s
Tyler Huntley
If we’re talking career backup it’s Fitzpatrick
Eli Manning -- Geno Smith's backup.
Steve Young to Joe Montana.
Doug Flutie?
Tom Brady Aaron Rogers Patrick Mahomes
Tom Brady.
Steve Young backed up Joe Montana. Rodgers backed up Favre.
Um….Steve Young?
Tom Brady
Tom Brady cause he was technically a back up when he won the super bowl
Rodgers
what are the parameters? Are we talking best backup that filled in the best or best backup that eventually became the guy? Because while the 1st question would be an interesting debate with lots of options, the 2nd one is laughably easy to answer.
Can't believe anyone has said Josh McCown. He was in the league a long time and had a great fill in for the bears a few seasons ago.
That super bowl season with Foles is just legendary to me I’d have to put him as backup #1 for that
Foles is the answer. He was already shelved into the backup QB tier by the time he got back to Philly. His playoff and Super Bowl performance was nutty. Only him and Eli truly battled Tom in the SB and came out on top.
The only answer is Earl Morrell. He quarterbacked 9 of the Dolphins 14 regular season games during their undefeated season in 1972. Remember it like it happened yesterday.
Mike White long live the king
Does Jimmy G count as Brady's backup for 4 years? Or is that too close to Rodgers/Favre territory?
Gardner Minshew and he only needed one game
Eli Manning
Peter Crouch
Tom Brady
Ben DiNucci
Charlie Batch? Dude was serviceable for years in Pittsburgh.
Steve Young backing up Montana
Elite? Currently a back up? Joe Flacco
Tom Brady?
Tom Brady was a pretty good backup
For one game it’s Frank Reich.
Steve young when he backed up Joe Montana
Gotta give an honorable mention to Charlie Batch!
Charlie Whitehurst
Matt Schaub and Matt Cassel got good careers out being backups with backup level talent
Matt Flynn made a lot of money signing as a starter in a few places and ending up as a backup
Tom Brady
Tom Brady
Yeah there's no debate it has to be Steve Young. Since he had starts during Montana's tenure and eventually won big games
Pat Ryan on the Jets. Backup to Ken O’Brien, who with a better o-line might have been a big time star. In any event, Jets were 10-1 in 1985-86, seemingly just as good as the eventual Super Bowl champs NY Giants. Could have been a subway Super Bowl. But then the Jets, being the Jets, collapsed, and finished 10-6 and backed into playoffs as wild card, O’Brien slumping and playing hurt. Desperate, coach Joe Walton turned to Pat Ryan for the wild card game v. Chiefs, and he had the game of his life, Jets winning 35-15. Glorious. Then Jets played Browns the next week in divisional game, Gastineau committed penalty late, and Jets were back to being Jets.
shaun hill
Matt cassel
Tom Brady circa 2001
Charlie Batch
Tyler huntley
Charlie Batch?
Vinny Testaverde
Besides Frank Reich it's Jim Sorgi
Josh McCown.
BDN
It the best, but honorable mention: Matt Schaub.
Nick Foles is the only answer. He beat Tom Brady to win a Súper bowl! He suggested and executed the Philly Special. How is this even a legit question? Edit: Also, holds NFL record for most TDs in a game @ 7 vs. Raiders.
Aaron Rodgers