[GTripp0012]

I firmly believe if you stuck young (25 year old, for sake of argument) John Elway on the field in the modern passing environment, didn't let him go to school or come up through the development ranks with modern coaching, and made him play 1970-80's style football against modern pass defenses, he'd probably get benched a couple weeks into the season for a veteran like Matt Hasselbeck or something.

But you could say that about a lot of the all-time greats. The game is played entirely differently now.

I think it's important to keep greatness in context. Rex Grossman faces far more challenges as quarterback of the Redskins than Sammy Baugh did and handles them probably a lot better than Baugh would have. But Grossman also had way more access to coaching and resources coming up through the ranks as a kid. Baugh pretty much invented the pass as a weapon for attacking defenses. Big difference. Grossman wouldn't have resources to become a polished pro quarterback if it wasn't for all-time greats like Baugh who came before him. Without our predecessors, life would be one big experiment of trial and error. Emphasis on error.