A chat Steve Sabol had before the start of the top 10
It is a shame that Frank Gifford did not make the list. He was one of the premier all purpose backs of his era not to mention the greatest Triple threats of all time. I would put him up with other Giants greats who made this list such as Mel Hein and Lawrence Taylor. Why did he not make the list?
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
Let's start off with this: A lot of people are already asking why we at NFL Films "left off" a certain player from the list, greats like Frank Gifford, Marvin Harrison and Warren Sapp to name a few.
The simple answer was, it wasn't up to us. Here's why:
We selected a blue ribbon-panel of 85 football experts and asked them to assign a grade from 1 to 10 to every player on our ballot, 10 being the highest possible grade. We collected the ballots, tallied the scores and ranked them to determine the countdown. So really, we're just the messengers of what the panelists decided.
Corey, New York 8:04 PM ET
How is Barry Sanders so low? I understand the whole "Not winning the Superbowl" argument, but I strongly believe Barry did the most with the least of any of the great RB's in history.
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
Running backs always stir up a great debate. And believe me Corey, I know how you feel. Two of my favorite runners of all-time didn't even make the list: Joe "The Jet" Perry and Hugh "The King" McElhenny.
javi, dallas, texas 8:08 PM ET
Why is Joe Montana in the conversation for number 1? In my opinion he isn't even in the top 5 QBs.
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
A lot of people might argue, especially with quarterbacks, about the impact of the system on the player's greatness. As in, Did Montana make Bill Walsh's offense a success or did Walsh's scheme allow Montana to be great? But one thing you can't argue with is Super Bowl rings, and Montana's got 4 of them.
Dan, Long Island 8:15 PM ET
What was the most important factor in deciding the greatest player of all-time?
Paul Camarata, NFL Films producer
Dan - the one thing we could tell as the ballots came in was that almost every panelist had his own formula. . .this was clear simply because no two ballots were the same. There was even one voter who didn't give out ANY 10s on his ballot. If you tune into NFLNetwork tonight at 10 pm/ET after tonight's series finale, you can hear how four of our panelists filled out their ballots, when Peter King, Ernie Accorsi, Mike Lombardi and Jarrett Bell join Steve in a roundtable discussion of the entire Top 100 list.
Matt Reaser, Tumwater, WA 8:24 PM ET
Hey Steve, the presentation of this show is amazing! Love the footage, etc...couldn't expect anything less with NFL Films involved. I do have to ask about Steve Largent though, surely a better WR than Michael Irvin, and definitely would have thought a top 100 player. Also, of course Kenny Easley wouldn't be put on a top 100 list, since he can't even get enough respect to be put in the HOF, but for anyone who watches the film and knows how to break it down, he's one of the greatest Safeties of all-time, just some thoughts you have on him would be appreciated. Finish with a statement of my own, Ed and Steve Sabol for the Pro Football Hall of Fame!!
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
Thanks for the kind words Matt. It's probably little consolation to Seahawk fans that their favorite team wasn't the only one that didn't have a player make the Top 100. The Jaguars, Panthers, Saints and Texans also didn't have a player on the list.
Paul Camarata, NFL Films producer
Rest assured that the series won't end without a Steve Largent appearance. Tune in at 9 to see how.
Ben, FLA 8:35 PM ET
Where do you see Jim Brown landing?
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
The interesting thing to me about Jim Brown is that about 10 years ago we produced an NFL Films Presents feature that called him the Player of the Milennium. That's high praise. Whether or not the panelists agree with it remains to be seen.
John, London 8:38 PM ET
I have to ask you what your opinion is on Ray lewis being ranked at 18, i know that LT will be named by many as the best D player of all time, but can anyone argue against Ray lewis being the best Linebacker and D player of all time, NOSTALGIA ASIDE. he is the only player to my knowledge that has as many ints and sacks as he does ( 29ints, 30+ sacks i believe). and there is not a person alive or before who makes player around him believe and play better.also at his age he is still responsible for several game changing players, or even game saving plays. And to top it all off, he plays the game how it should be played, hard and with respect. so thoughts?
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
John we weren't shocked when the votes came back and Ray was in the Top 20. But as you mention, he's still active and playing at a high level. If this list is done again ten years from now, I don't know if anyone will be surprised to see Ray's ranking be even higher than it is today.
Greg Hammel, Santa Barbara, CA 8:42 PM ET
Do you think it is appropriate to consider Super Bowl victories when evaluating great QB's like Marino, Bert Jones, & Archie Manning? You put Archie Manning on those great 70's steelers teams and they win half a dozen SB's. No one has ever doubted the greatness of a Sayers or Merlin Olsen because they did not win a Super Bowl.
Paul Camarata, NFL Films producer
Greg - the voters seemed to take championship success into account with quarterbacks but only as one of many factors. For instance, Fran Tarkenton made the list at #91 despite going 0-3 in Super Bowls. Dan Marino had no rings and one SB appearance and still was ranked #25.
Tony, Go Bucs! 8:47 PM ET
So... why is John Lynch not on this list????? C'mon! This guy was FEARED!!!! He should at least be in the 90's!!!!
Steve Sabol, NFL Films
We've heard the same question from lots of Bucs fans, though they were also excited to see both Derrick Brooks and the first draft choice in team history, Lee Roy Selmon, make the list.