NFL Network's Top 10 Mt. Rushmores

NFL Network's Top 10 series is always fun. The topics are interesting. The debates from an incredibly wide range of debaters are always entertaining. I caught the Top 10 Mt. Rushmores episode last weekend. It grabbed my interest so thoroughly that I had to bring it here. If Mt. Rushmores need explaining, it's the addictive practice of picking, in this case, the four best players/coaches in the history of a franchise. Here's how the NFL Network ranked the Top 10 Mt. Rushmores.

10. New York Giants
Bill Parcells
Eli Manning
Lawrence Taylor
Frank Gifford

9. Miami Dolphins
Larry Csonka
Jason Taylor
Dan Marino
Don Shula

8. Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts
Johnny Unitas
Raymond Berry
Peyton Manning
Marvin Harrison

7. Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders
Al Davis
Howie Long
Marcus Allen
Ken Stabler

6. Chicago Bears
Dick Butkus
George Halas
Mike Singletary
Walter Payton

5. Pittsburgh Steelers
Chuck Noll
Franco Harris
Terry Bradshaw
Joe Greene

4. New England Patriots
Bill Belichick
Tom Brady
Rob Gronkowski
John Hannah

3. Dallas Cowboys
Tom Landry
Roger Staubach
Emmitt Smith
Troy Aikman

2. Green Bay Packers
Vince Lombardi
Brett Favre
Bart Sterr
Don Hutson

1. San Francisco 49ers
Ronnie Lott
Jerry Rice
Joe Montana
Bill Walsh

It's a fun list filled with some very deserving players/coaches. I agree with very little of it. I don't agree with order of the teams.  I don't agree with all of the players/coaches included. The biggest problem that I have with the list is the exclusion of the Cleveland Browns. Disagreeing and debating lists like this is part of what makes them fun. It's opinion-based and everyone has an opinion. Here's how I'd rank the teams and the players/coaches that I'd have as the best in the history of those teams.

10. Minnesota Vikings
Alan Page
Cris Carter
Randy Moss
Adrian Peterson
-It pains me to not have Fran Tarkenton or Randall McDaniel on this list.

9. New York Giants
Lawrence Taylor
Mel Hein
Frank Gifford
Emlen Tunnell
-I think that every Giants Mt. Rushmore has to start with Taylor and Hein. That Hein wasn't even mentioned during the debate on the NFL Network episode is ridiculous. He's a center that won the NFL MVP award in 1938. A center! He played every minute of every game for 15 seasons. He's an easy pick for a Giants Mt. Rushmore.

8. Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts
Johnny Unitas
Raymond Berry
Peyton Manning
Gino Marchetti
Deciding between Marchetti and Jim Parker is tough. Either gets the nod before Marvin Harrison.

7. Dallas Cowboys
Bob Lilly
Roger Staubach
Emmitt Smith
Troy Aikman
-Removing Landry feels like Cowboys sacrilege but Bob "Mr. Cowboy" Lilly has to be on this list. I feel better about removing Landry than any of the other 3.

6. Pittsburgh Steelers
Chuck Noll
Jack Ham
Terry Bradshaw
Joe Greene

-I'm a big fan of Ham. The 1970s Steelers were built on defense so Ham replaces Franco Harris. The Steelers were terrible for the first forty years of their existence. Noll changed that in what seemed like a blink. 

5. New England Patriots
Bill Belichick
Tom Brady
Rob Gronkowski
John Hannah

-This one is pretty easy.

4. Chicago Bears

Dick Butkus

George Halas

Bronko Nagurski

Walter Payton

-I could replace Singletary with Nagurski, Gale Sayers, Sid Luckman, George Trafton, or Bulldog Turner. I'm going with Nagurski simply because I think that he personified the Bears and the NFL for about a decade. The Bears have had so many great players and great teams in their 99 APFA/NFL years that they could put a couple Mt. Rushmores on this list.

3. Green Bay Packers
Vince Lombardi
Aaron Rodgers
Reggie White
Don Hutson

-I'm replacing Brett Favre with Rodgers simply because I think that he is the more talented quarterback. As with the Bears, the Packers could put multiple Mt. Rushmores on this list. Favre, Bart Starr, Clarke Hinkle, Cal Hubbard, Johnny Blood, Curly Lambeau, Forrest Gregg, Ray Nitschke, etc. The Packers history is loaded with great players. 

2. Cleveland Browns

Jim Brown

Otto Graham

Marion Motley

Paul Brown

-It's comical that the Browns didn't make the cut. I have them at # 2 and they didn't even make the NFL Network's Top 10. Someone's missing something and I don't think that it's me. On the episode, Dave Dameshek (a Steelers fan) belly-ached about Otto Graham playing his career in the AAFC. Graham played four seasons in that "other" conference and six in the NFL. In those six NFL seasons he led the Browns to six NFL title games, winning three of them. That's substantial. I'd love to fit Bill Willis on the Browns Mt. Rushmore but I can't remove any of the above four. 

1. San Francisco 49ers
Ronnie Lott
Jerry Rice
Joe Montana
Bill Walsh

-There's no argument here with the 49ers place on this list or with the players included. 

***

Whenever it comes to football lists with a historical bend I tend to favor the old guys. I do this because I have such a tremendous appreciation and passion for the game's past. I do it mostly because so many people trivialize anything that came before the game that we now know as Super Bowl I.