re: Joe Namath was a very, very overrated quarterback in the 60's and 70's...

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Ok so lets compare him to the qbs of his era, where he still wasnt even top 6

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Top 6 in what? More statistical categories? Namath also wasn't like most other QBs in his era. When he was in his prime, most NFL teams consisted of a balanced running game with passing thrown in to keep the defense off balance. Namath and the New York Jets were the first team in the history of the game to make passing their offense. And these weren't simple underneath routes he would throw. Namath was known for throwing the ball 20, 30, 40, 50 yards down field on a consistent basis. And this was in an era where that kind of offense was made difficult due to the rules of the game at that time.

He was the first QB in the history of the game to throw 500 pass attempts in a season and the first QB in the history of the game to throw for 4,000 yards in a season. It would be almost 15 years before another QB (Dan Fouts) would break 4,000 yards.