John Brodie Highlights

A forgotten QB who was a legend for the 49ers. Played for a lot of bad 49ers teams, but still played at a high level.

[@matt75hooper]

Brodie threw a GREAT screen pass. He also hid the ball (Play Action) better than anyone in his era. He also threw a fabulous "corner pattern" ball. One of the most difficult of throws. Great QB.

[@matt75hooper]

I love the music in the beginning......Like tanks crossing a battlefield lol...The NFL has great 'highlight' music....Men at war.......Playing football with my kids & friends on Thanksgiving I would hum those old tunes from yesteryear football as my team marched the ball down the field. Great fun......it drove the kids crazy until I heard them humming it right back at me in later years lol.

[@matt75hooper]

AWESOME !!!!! Brodie should have been elected to the Hall of Fame 40+ years ago. 30K+ yards & 200+ TD's , 30 TD's in a season in an era when of outdoor stadiums. Wind, rain, snow, nasty. An era when QB's could be pummeled & receivers could be harassed down the field.... NFL needs to right this wrong. Brodie completed more passes in the NFL than Sonny Jurgenson !

[@yusufu9]

I think he's not in the HOF primarily because his performance over his career was uneven. Two sensational years, 65 and 70, with one All-Pro and two Pro Bowls. But in some of the other seasons the Frisco fans let him have it for inconsistent play. He also threw more interceptions than TDs. A very good QB and an even better all-round athlete, but I don't think he's up there with the truly elite QBs of his era, which had quite a few.

[@matt75hooper]

@@yusufu9 Brodie has better numbers than many QBs in the Hall of Fame. Brodie sued the League in 1970 which almost held up the merger. The suit was over a deal he made to leave SF for an AFL Team. Houston I believe. Big $$ money. The merger stopped that deal. He sued & the NFL had to pay him $900k. Huge money back then. The NFL was pissed. Thats why he is not in the HOF. 31K yards & 200 TDs back then were great milestones.

[@yusufu9]

@@matt75hooper His career passer rating is somewhat low (72.3) and that's because of the career inconsistency I commented upon. Jurgensen, whom you mentioned, is a Dead-Ball era leading 82.6, ahead of many Hall of Famers from the Live-Ball era!! Brodie's typical ranking in all-time lists is not amongst the HOF elite. Should Gabriel, Meredith, Frank Ryan, or Earl Morrall be in the Hall? They have higher passer ratings than Brodie and each won more. Again, I'm not down on Brodie, who on his day was an excellent QB. But I really don't see a case that his performance on the field was of the career brilliance normally expected for entry into the HOF pantheon. Quite a few QBs were thinking of jumping to the AFL for the big bucks at the time, and to suggest that the NFL is blocking Brodie from the Hall would require a conspiracy like control over all the writers who have a vote. Incidentally, Brodie probably could have had an even greater sports career had he chosen golf.

[@matt75hooper]

@@yusufu9 We both agree QB Ratings back then were surpressed compared to the hyper inflated offensive stats of today. Throwing 50 times per game today in a 74* Dome vs. Outdoors in wind & rain is huge. Not to mention the 'hands off the QB' MODERN ERA. Namath.....Watterfield....Blanda....Baugh....and several others in the HOF had even lower QB Ratings than Brodie. Jurgenson was fabulous. One of my favorites all time. He played for better teams with far fewer & better coaches & completed less passes in the NFL than Brodie.

[@yusufu9]

@@matt75hooper Brodie's 49er teams were generally better than Sonny's Eagles and Redskins in the 60s and start of the 70s, and he also went through a carousel of mediocre coaches until late in his career, with Lombardi (for one season) and then Allen, who didn't like offense very much! Brodie's big problem, which was regularly commented upon back then, was that he threw too many interceptions. The magazine Pro Quarterback often scored him low on "Pressure", while praising his "Accuracy" and "Arm Strength". If there was a Hall of the Very Good, Brodie would certainly merit entry, with the likes of Gabriel, Anderson, and others.

[@johnhunter2294]

Brodie was a great player and a fine broadcaster; he also had a great sense of humor. Once, he was asked why a million-dollar quarterback had to hold the ball for field goals and extra points. He responded, drily, "Well, if I didn't, it would fall over."

[@TheCOWBOYRANCHER]

A true hall of famer. The Niners have had arguably the greatest QBs in history with Montana, Young, Brodie. Then you have the average good QBs like Kap, Garcia, Smith and game manager Jimmy g. Not a lot of teams can flex having great QBs except Packers, Patriots and Cowboys.

[@snapfinger1]

Great senior pro golfer too.

[@WalkingRoscoe]

That Mr. Sam Spence. A classic. Just like Mr. Brodie.

[@botison617]

It's funny how you watch these great players and you think they have the talent and the potential to win a championship super bowl or whatever but just fall short of it they play their hearts out and definitely deserve it or in the hall of fame

[@dukewilson14]

Yeah the teams that Brodie was on weren't that great. Did make the playoffs late in his career.

[@markduncan8988]

Dick Witcher passed away very recently. When John Brodie hit Wicher for the game winning TD against the Vikings to get the Niners in the playoffs was my first memory of 49er greatness. I was 7 years old. What a ride it's been! RIP Dick Witcher.

[@matt75hooper]

@@markduncan8988 I remember that game. G Washington fumbled an easy TD on a bomb......I was howling mad.

[@markduncan8988]

@@matt75hooper I don't remember the drop. I used to have a poster of Gene Washington in my room. He was a hell of a receiver. I am 56 years old now and have been a Niners fan since that 72 season. I always get a kick out of people intimating that I became a fan after Joe Montana. I am from Albany, New York so there is no geographical reason for me to be a fan of the 49ers. But I always say "Joe Montana?", I was a fan since John Brodie was the QB". Then I follow that up with "I was a fan during the OJ Simpson debacle", I was calling for his arrest back then". This usually gets a big laugh. Feel free to use it. Go Niners!!! PS Brodie makes that pass to Emanuel Sanders in the Super Bowl. Hell, Scott Bull completes that throw. Brutal

[@ldfreitas9437]

@@dukewilson14 I would say he was on some really good teams in '57, '59, '60, and '61. There really weren't any playoffs yet, just playoffs for teams tied for first in the two conferences until the 1967 season, and Tittle was a starter in '57 and '59. Those four teams were second place teams in the Western Conference. He was on good teams in '65 and '66, and also '68. He missed just about all of '63 with a broken arm from wrapping his car around a tree after leaving the Palo Alto Country Club. Missed the Super Bowl by one game in '70, and I'm sure if that game had started at 1pm instead of 2pm, the 49ers would have won and then taken care of the Colts the following week.

[@ldfreitas9437]

Brodie was the best pure passer the 49ers ever had, with Tittle second, and Montana third, then Young.

[@antjuansampson3877]

I asked a 49ers fan, had he ever heard of Gene Washington and John Brodie He looked like he was in his late 20's. He said he has heard of Gene Washington but not of John Brodie. WHAT!!!!!!😮

[@kaybevang536]

One of the most consistent QBs before the Joe Montana and Steve Young era