We may never see this Again when it comes to Qbs

I think the idea that the 00s/10s were decades of some golden age of never-before-seen QB talent is a thing of fiction. Things like no longer being able to go to the head of the QB when tackling, not being allowed to launch yourself at someone, much stricter enforcement of roughing the passer, being penalized cuz your body fell on the QB when sacking him, targeting penalties, and penalties for hitting a "defenseless" receiver are all things that have massively helped passing numbers get artificially inflated since the mid-00s.

I think the 80s was the beginning of the NFL really having top tier QBs in large numbers. You had an absurd top tier of Montana, Marino, Elway, Fouts, and Moon, followed by very capable guys like Esiason, Danny White, Cunningham, Krieg, Deberg, Anderson, and Kosar.

In the 90s we had Young, Kelly, Aikman, Favre, Warner, Manning, and Bledsoe emerge while Montana still led a new team to the AFC CG and Marino, Elway, and Moon continued to perform well.

Ppl are just quick to lavish praise on modern athletes without taking into account how much they've benefited from advantageous rule changes, being able to study more advanced film and techniques while growing up, and having access to more advanced nutritional supplements and sports medicine technology.

These cats whose careers started after 2000 grew up getting to learn from all of the 80s and 90s greats. The greatest QBs the great 80s QBs got to see were guys like Blanda, Tarkenton, Unitas, Bradshaw, and Griese. Of course there's gonna be a generational advantage due to the 00s/10s QBs getting to study QBs who spent their entire careers in a pass-friendly league. The 80s guys grew up learning from QBs whom were nearly exclusively in run-first offenses with, maybe, the exception of Tarkenton.