Good/Great Quarterbacks who had weak arms

craig44

everyone thinks of the greats who had off the charts arms: Elway, Favre, Marino, Mahomes, Allen etc. Who are some guys you remember who were great QB's (past and present) who had/have weak arms?

I can think of guys like Chad Pennington, late career Drew Brees, Tua, Peyton the last couple of years. I also dont remember Joe Montana having a cannon.

who do you guys remember.

stevek

Interesting point, but IMHO, no NFL QB including the backups, ever had a weak arm.

Now some do have cannons for an arm which others don't have. However unless they can control it, then it's useless. Brady, Montana, etc of course no cannons there. But superb accuracy, command of the playbook, and courage to take brutal hits in the pocket to complete a pass. That's the key to greatness.

craig44

@stevek I agree, compared to the average person, the "weakest" armed professional QB will have a rocket. let me rephrase. contrasted to the strong armed/average armed professional QB, which good/great QBs have had weak arms?

I still think Pennington, after the shoulder injuries was as weak an arm as I have ever seen. perhaps some old timers were similar?

coinkat

There is a difference between a strong arm and the ability to consistently deliver the ball for the receiver to make the play. I'll take the QB that knows how and where to through the ball.

stevek

@coinkat said:
There is a difference between a strong arm and the ability to consistently deliver the ball for the receiver to make the play. I'll take the QB that knows how and where to through the ball.

I'm not saying Montana couldn't throw a long pass, he completed a number of them to the great Jerry Rice. But Bill Walsh, a coaching genius, used Joe in his West Coast offense whereby the main strategy is the ability to easily complete short passes, which sets up the other plays. Joe was masterful at that.

coinkat

Make no mistakes about it... a great receiver can and often does make a QB. Montana was also very effective with time management.

craig44

I never got to see Bart Star or Unitas. I wonder how their arms were viewed? I know that Bradshaw was considered to have a howitzer.

LandrysFedora

Bob Griese

GroceryRackPack

Virgil Carter...Bob Avellini...Joe Kapp...Frank Tripucka...Terry Hanratty...Greg Landry...Pat Hadden...Craig Morton...Earl Morrall...Jim Plunkett...Don Strock...David Woodley...Norris Weese... Bobby Douglas...Gary Danielson...Ron Jawaroski...Lynn Dickey...David Whitehurst...Marc Wilson...Vince Evans...

I could keep typing for another 6 weeks on this topic...

I've Had An Explosive Sinus Headache Since Thursday...

stevek

Ron Jaworski did not have a weak arm.

His nickname was the "Polish Rifle". Do you think he got that nickname by having a weak arm? LOL

BTW - I was at this game.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/q5cySTJtqIg?feature=share

JG123

Brees did not hae a weak arm and was Pinpoint accurate. But one quarterback that sticks out to me as having a weak arm but great game management skills. Trent Dilfer. Another would be Jeff Garcia.

GroceryRackPack

@perkdog

hey ya Perkdog...

Here ya go from yesterday...

Cliff Stoudt & Terry...

Basebal21

Rivers and Peyton had average NFL arms at best but they had accuracy, elite timing, and elite vision. Brady didnt exactly have a cannon either. The strongest armed QBs are generally not very good over all. You have the Vicks, George, Joe Milton now, Richardson now, etc where guys think they can just make any throw at a 120 mph and throw a bunch of picks or are inaccurate/bad timing.

In a lot of ways its kind of like baseball. The guys that throw 100 mph as teens never really learn how to pitch just like the QBs that can throw missiles never really learn timing. Theres that sweet spot of usable/good arm strength where they still learn the other things and you end up with someone special instead of someone just throwing lazers all over the field

coolstanley

I heard Pat Haden had a cannon.