Who is the most successful weak armed QB?

[SixtiesFan]

Mike Phipps had a career record of 38-31-2 as a starter, and never struck me as having a particularly strong arm.

To me, the answer to this question is Fran Tarkenton. I remember reading Tarkenton said that in his prime he could throw the ball about 59 yards in the air. He retired having won more games as a starting QB than any other QB in history.

Late in his career, from 1974 on, the results of injuries and various injections (see the MMQB interview with him this week - http://mmqb.si.com/2014/12/05/nfl-fran- ... n-iii-rg3/) limited him to throwing the ball about 10 yards in practice, and about 40 yards on game day, mostly due to adrenaline. If Chuck Foreman, Ed Marinaro and Rickey Young hadn't come along to catch all those dumpoff passes, I don't know what he would have done.

The film I've seen on Tarkenton late in his career showed him to often overthrow on long passes (the 1975 Playoff against Dallas in particular), and I wonder if he kind of over-adrenalized when he saw Gilliam running open, and overthrew him, not having been able to actually practice the timing of any long passes during the week. Also I wonder if with an overthrown long pass he wanted to send a message of sorts to the defense that his arm wasn't dead, just so they would have to defend the deep pass and not just crowd the intermediate zones.

In Super Bowl XI, with the score 10-0 Raiders and six minutes left in the first half, Tarkenton threw 50 yards downfield to Ahmad Rashad, who had gotten behind the defenders. Rashad dropped the pass and it was in his hands.

A forgotten play from Super Bowl XI.

[JohnH19]

Alex Smith has won a lot of games but he may have the weakest arm of any current starter.

Edit: Peyton Manning's arm may be worse than Smith's and I don't think Tony Romo has a great arm but it's not the weakest.

[SixtiesFan]

I can't tell you how many times I've seen a supposedly weak armed QB throw a long bomb.

[conace21]

Surprised no mention of Drew Brees here.

I think Brees had above average arm strength, which was particularly impressive considering the arm injury he suffered in his last game with San Diego.

Tom Brady had success early in his career despite below average arm strength. But he bulked up and improved his mechanics and lower body strength. The third down pass to Randy Moss late in the Super Bowl travelled over 80 yards in the air, considering Brady was on the right hashmark and Moss was near the opposite sidelines. That's a Jeff George/John Elway type throw.

[rhickok1109]

This is a more complicated question than it seems at first glance, because there are really two kinds of arm strength. Using a baseball analogy, there's the arm strength of an outfielder who can throw the ball 350 or more feet and the arm strength of a pitcher who can throw the ball 98 miles an hour. The two aren't interchangeable, though they can coexist in the same player.

For example, Montana wasn't great at throwing the deep ball, but he had the arm strength to zip short passes quickly into small windows. Brees is very similar. Jeff George could throw the ball a mile, but he never mastered the art of throwing the ball fast and straight into small openings on short passes.

One reason the Rams prospered by alternating Van Brocklin and Waterfield was that they were so totally different. It was like using a fastball pitcher for one inning, a knuckleballer the next inning, and so forth. Van Brocklin was basically immobile and a great deep passer while Waterfield was very mobile and a very accurate short passer who could put a lot of zip on the ball when necessary.

Among current QBs, Rodgers is the best because he has both kinds of arm strength. Monday night, he made a perfect 60-yard throw to Jordy Nelson, and he's made many throws like that throughout his career, but he can also stick the shorter throw. Remember his TD pass to Jennings in Super Bowl XLV, when the Pittsburgh safety was sure he had an interception, but the ball went past him so fast that he never touched it?

[JuggernautJ]

"I don't throw darts at balloons. I throw balloons at darts." -- Joe Montana

Compared to several of the "Big Arms" playing when he did Joe had, at best, an average arm (although I like the differentiation made by rhickock, above).

But "arm strength," Montana vs Elway or Marino... no comparison.

[NWebster]

Yeah, I discussed this in a separate thread a while ago, what's interesting is that the guy who throws the ball the hardest doesn't always have the best deep ball. In the modern game I think Colin Kapernik is the best example, he clearly puts a lot of mustard on the ball but the trajectory is just too flat so his deep ball doesn't allow a wideout to run underneath it. Some of the prettiest deep balls were Warren Moon, above average but not awesome arm, Bradshaw - hey, the guy was a javelin thrower, and Johnny U - who did have a great arm before he put on that Charger Jersey anyway. But Jeff Blake threw a great CATCHABLE Deep ball, without having the greatest arm ever.

[ChrisBabcock]

In the modern game I think Colin Kapernik is the best example, he clearly puts a lot of mustard on the ball but the trajectory is just too flat so his deep ball doesn't allow a wideout to run underneath it.

I remember Vick during his Falcons days was the same way. Rocket arm but horribly inaccurate. I think that's why the WR numbers were so low on those teams. Alge Crumpler and Warrick Dunn caught the most passes if memory serves me right.

[Reaser]

I think the word you guys are looking for is velocity. My college coach said "velocity" roughly a 100 times a day. When he called me at home my Sr. year of High school, when I got off the phone my parents asked me what he said and my one word response was, "velocity".