If you are talking THROWER, how can you not include Lynn Dickey? I know you are certainly old enough to have witnessed him so his exclusion is just foul play sir. [grin1]

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

The greatest Green Bay Packers player for me has to Don Hutson. He redefined not only the receiver position, but the passing game and doesn't get the credit he deserves.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

ooooooh - I HOPE that wasn't intentional hahahahaha.

I agree Hutson is right there with the others I mentioned, but I only went with the ones I actually saw - even I am not old enough for Hutson.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker 

Yes I think I have to agree. If greatest has anything to do with how dominate a player was in relation to the rest of the league at the time, then Hutson makes a good case for being the greatest packer and possibly even greatest player ever. If you look back at what he did when he did it, nobody else came close. If you look at Starr, Favre, and Rodgers, similar players accomplished similar things in their respective eras. It took Rice to break many of Hutson's records, and while most would consider Rice the greatest WR of all time, Rice didn't dominate like Hutson did.

Nobody dominated like Hutson though, and its unlikely anyone ever will again. Though, the counter argument to this is that it is more telling of the general quality of play (or lack thereof) at the time Hutson was playing.

He definitely does not get credit for what he did for the game, which was essentially define the modern passing game that exists today.

Originally Posted by: earthquake 

I'm just curious, Smokey (or anybody else in here), were you around back then - the Bart Starr era - as a player I mean, or did you mean watch replays of them in the present era?

I was ...... He was GREAT in a lot of ways, and absolutely, that - the Lombardi era - was the greatest period for the Packers as a team in terms of overall domination and star players in comparison to the rest of the league. And of course, it's difficult to compare players from different eras for a lot of reasons. Just the same, I don't think Starr was quite on the level of Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers (projecting a decent number of additional great years for him). Since QB is the most important position, it would have to be between these three for who was the BEST EVER PACKER, but I'd put Hornung right up there too.

You know, "greatest", "best", and "favorite" really could be considered three entirely different things. My favorite was Ray Nitschke - I wonder how much guys like him and Butkis would be able to get away with under today's damn rules.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker 

Don certainly was the greatest WR but he was also an outstanding DB and a pretty good K. He had 8 ints in 1943 in just 10 games in an era when they didn't throw the ball.

I guess that means he is the best overall player ever. A few years ago I may have been the first to say this. I got waylaid by Smokey talking about the modern QB's and Zero got the honors. Darnit.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

I'm just curious, Smokey (or anybody else in here), were you around back then - the Bart Starr era - as a player I mean, or did you mean watch replays of them in the present era?

I was ...... He was GREAT in a lot of ways, and absolutely, that - the Lombardi era - was the greatest period for the Packers as a team in terms of overall domination and star players in comparison to the rest of the league. And of course, it's difficult to compare players from different eras for a lot of reasons. Just the same, I don't think Starr was quite on the level of Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers (projecting a decent number of additional great years for him). Since QB is the most important position, it would have to be between these three for who was the BEST EVER PACKER, but I'd put Hornung right up there too.

You know, "greatest", "best", and "favorite" really could be considered three entirely different things. My favorite was Ray Nitschke - I wonder how much guys like him and Butkis would be able to get away with under today's damn rules.

Originally Posted by: texaspackerbacker