Super Bowl week has us thinking about some of the best fictional quarterbacks of all-time. Check out these 12 awesome quarterbacks...
It’s Super Bowl week, and that means we’re being swarmed with stories about the big time players that will ultimately decide the outcome of our country’s most watched event. This year, one of the biggest stories is Peyton Manning. He’s already one of football’s most celebrated players, and as if he needed to further make his case for greatness, he’s come back from a career-threatening injury to make the playoffs for a 12th time, leading his team to the brink of Super Bowl glory. It is truly the stuff of legends, if not something straight out of popular fiction.
Manning, to steal a color commentator’s go-to cliché, is a pro’s pro, a film room warrior who has earned the respect of anyone that has had the honor of calling themselves a football player. As a way of forming a bond with his new teammates, Manning insists that they watch his favorite movies so they could "get on the same page” with him and “repeat lines and quotes.” Though he doesn’t list any football movies as his in favorites, we imagine Manning’s seen every last one, even that one movie with The Rock.
As we attempt to analyze some of our favorite fictional quarterbacks of all-time, we’re keeping in mind the traits that have made Peyton’s career a smashing success and even mixing in a few on-screen rivals that would make for an epic gridiron showdown!
Time to Kickoff:
Joe Pendleton
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
In the film adaptation of Harry Segall’s stage play, Pendleton goes from boxer to quarterback. Like Manning, Pendleton is leading his team to a Super Bowl before he has an accident that gets him sent to heaven and then brought back in the body of a rich, old man. Pendleton’s played by Warren Beatty, who I’m sure would be just as good at endorsement ads as Peyton is.
Paul Blake
Necessary Roughness (1991)
When a Texas university is forced to field a team using only players from the actual student body, the coach calls on Paul Blake, a 34-year old former high school stand out to lead his team. The movie is essentially the college version of The Replacements and Blake is a poor man’s Shane Flaco. But really, who could live up to Keanu Reeves? Anyway, Blake has to adjust to life as a college student and playing with boys who are trying to become young men, just as the 37-year old Peyton Manning has to get the job done with 22-year old rookies as his targets.
Matt Saracen
Friday Night Lights (TV Show)
Saracen is QB2 until an injury to starter Jason Street sends him out onto the field and into the spotlight. He’s a tough, dedicated kid who fights hard to retain his title as starter, and even has that Peyton Manning accent. He can air the ball out and manage a game well enough to lead the Panthers to a State Championship.
Vince Howard
Friday Night Lights (TV Show)
The RGIII to Saracen’s Andrew Luck, Vince Howard is one of those extremely versatile athletes who can kill you with not only the passing game, but also, unlike Peyton, his ability to scramble and run. Sometimes a bit cocky and hotheaded, but Howard leads his rag tag East Dillon Lions to Coach Eric Taylor’s second Texas State Championship victory.
Jonathon Moxon
Varsity Blues (1999)
On Dawson’s Creek, James Van Der Beek played Dawson, an un-athletic sap and his father, Mitch, was a beefy football coach. When ‘Beek took a break from filming the teenage dramedy, he stepped into the polar opposite role in Varsity Blues as the clipboard QB shot into the starting job after his teammate goes down with an injury. His clashing with his head coach causes him to call a few Manning style audibles and he even has a football-obsessed daddy, too. So many similarities! Maybe the real ratings behemoth should have been “Peyton’s Creek.”
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon (1980)
I’d like to think that Peyton Manning could step up and save the world like fictional New York Jets QB and fellow tow-head Flash Gordon. We don’t really get to see his football skill set, but I’m sure he’s got that cool demeanor that Manning shows in the pocket. Which rock band could we get to sing “PEYTON-AH-AHHHHH!”?
Ronnie “Sunshine” Bass
Remember The Titans (2000)
It would be a travesty if Remember The Titans was left off any list that has to do with football movies. The real-life Ronnie Bass has come out and said many of the scenes in the movie were fictionalized. But even so, it’s one of those movies from any genre that you can’t help but click away from on a rainy afternoon. Though “Sunshine” wasn’t the stud, do-it-all quarterback that could lead the team by himself, he was a crafty, serviceable player that would even kiss one of his own players to build some unity in the locker room. That’s the sign of a true leader.
Paul Crewe
The Longest Yard (1974, 2005)
Crewe is definitely not as respectable as Manning. Nor does he sport a mustache like Burt Reynolds. We know Peyton would never be caught point shaving or driving drunk, but by the end of the film, Crewe becomes the type of leader that you want to play for, just like Manning is. Crewe can also hatch-up some brilliant plays and is reliable for that late game winning touchdown drive. For the later incarnation, we also have the Adam Sandler/Peyton Manning SNL connection. Too bad Sandler wasn’t around for Peyton’s memorable guest turn.
Of course there are also some great fictional quarterbacks that would make for an impressive rivalry with Peyton Manning:
Willie Beamen
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Beamen is brash, cocky and confident. So much so that Beamen went off and shot a music video after only a handful of starts. Sure, Peyton became an endorsement hound during his career, but that was well after he became an all-pro. Beamen, like Peyton, enjoys an audible or several. But it’s his attitude and risky style of play that would make him an excellent on field rival for Peyton Manning.
Alex Moran
Blue Mountain State (TV Show)
Moran has plenty in common with Willie Beamen. He rode the bench, amongst other things (wink, wink), at fairly BSM well. When Moran wasn’t partaking in booze-filled Goat House parties or commanding the huddle with a few cheerleaders in the bedroom, he definitely wasn’t in the film room. He was probably off sleeping his hangover away somewhere. He’s the anti-Tim Tebow, the guy Peyton Manning replaced in Denver. Despite his willingness to stick to the bench, Moran actually turned out to be a pretty damn good quarterback when he got the chance to start.
Shane Falco
The Replacements(2000)
Outside Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, the filming location for The Replacements, there is a bronze statue of Peyton Manning’s hero, Baltimore Colts Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas. Someday, to compliment Unitas, the city will erect a golden statue of Keanu Reeves as an ode to Shane Falco and it shall be glorious. Falco, a washed up college quarterback turned marina dweller, was called up to the big leagues after a players lockout forced the owner of the Washington Sentinels to hire replacements.
After an up and down strike-shortened season, Falco gets booted as the quarterback in favor of the returning star, then ultimately returns during the final game, kisses his babe cheerleader girlfriend on national television and leads his rag-tag group of nobodies to a memorable upset victory. Not bad for a replacement. As much as we hate to admit it, Falco’s role as the stand-in mimics Tom Brady’s struggles in college and his early pro career when he was given one shot to shine and never let it go.
Reno Hightower
The Best of Times (1986)
While we’re on the subject of Tom Brady, a young Kurt Russell in The Best of Times bears a striking resemblance to the Patriots signal caller. Russell’s Reno Hightower has the flowing hair, boyish good looks and unwavering confidence of Tom Brady. Oh and he has a receiver drop a sure touchdown in the team’s biggest game. Sound familiar?
There you have it. If Peyton is able to pull off the Super victory on Sunday, maybe he’ll get his own movie. As for who we’d cast in that role, that’s a whole other debate for a different day.
Enjoy Super Bowl XLVIII