Brady vs Montana

[Jesse]

I really can't believe this is still a debate at this point, but people are still out there arguing how much better Joe Montana was than Tom Brady is now. For the record, I believe, Brady IS the Greatest of all time, Montana is easily #2 and still way ahead of whoever you want to put at #3 (I say Staubach), so it's tough for me to debate against Montana being the greatest of all time without sounding like I'm diminishing his accomplishments. OF course, Montana ball-washers never seem to have a problem with diminishing Brady's accomplishments to make their point. I dunno, what do you think?

[duojett71]

Brady is the Greatest of all time hands down. Montana was amazing. Joe was an amazing leader and a class act. We are lucky we got to watch him play. Brady however has done something no other player or QB has accomplished and it will never happen again. You will never see a QB or any player win that many Super Bowls with a single team and it is doubtful any player will win that many with multiple teams. How many times have you seen Brady come back and win the game in the second half or the 4th quarter? He picks defenses apart. It's not that he is the greatest passer, has the greatest arm or is the greatest athlete...it's that he is a technician. He is smart and he is accurate. He has great vision. Sometimes he is sloppy...I will say that...but he usually overcomes it and adjusts. That Super Bowl win against the Falcons may be the greatest Super Bowl or Football game I have ever seen. Brady never panicked and showed how great he is in that game. The guy is the ultimate leader. I am a fan....but even if I wasn't I would still acknowledge he is the greatest. Montana is the only other QB in the conversation as the greatest and to me Brady surpassed him with the win over the Falcons two years ago. He may have been the greatest after the win agains the Seahawks.

[Jesse]

Food for thought:

Brady is now 6-3 in Super Bowls and, in his 3 losses, had the Patriots ahead late in the game only to watch his defenses give up touchdown drives to Eli Manning and the 6th seeded Giants, Eli Manning with a 9-7 Giant team and the Eagles with a back up quarterback.

Brady has now been to 8 straight Conference Championship games. Montana only went to 7 his entire career!

In 17 seasons, Brady led his team to the Conference Championship game 13 times!

Since beating the Rams in Super Bowl XXXI and beating them in Super Bowl LIII, the Rams have started 20 different quarterbacks. Brady missed only 19 games in that time.

Brady won the Super Bowl at 41 years old. Montana retired at 38 years old.

One year after DESTROYING Peyton Manning and the #1 offense in the league, the same Seahawk defense was shredded by Brady in the next Super Bowl. So much so, that a case could be made for Brady to have been MVP of the game even if the Seahawks ran the ball for the go-ahead touchdown and the Patriots lost.

Montana shredded a #1 Broncos defense in Super Bowl XXIV which is impressive, until you realize that it was the same core players and coaches that were shredded by the Redskins' back up quarterback and back up running back in Super Bowl XXII two years earlier.

Brady's defenses gave up game winning drives to Eli Manning (twice) and Nick Foles. Montana's defenses keep the #1 1981 Bengals offense scoreless in the first half of Super Bowl XVI, Marino's record-setting offense scoreless in the second half of Super Bowl XIX, the #1, no-huddle Bengals offense without a touchdown in Super Bowl XXIII and Elway's Broncos without a touchdown until the 3rd quarter (when the 49ers had already scored 41 points) in Super Bowl XXIV.

Brady never played bad enough to be benched in a playoff game, Montana was benched twice in the playoffs in games where he looked clueless.

Go back to that Super Bowl against Atlanta two years ago: EVERY throw Brady made in that 4th quarter had to be perfect..... and it was. To me, THAT is when it became a no-brainer that we were witnessing the Greatest Of All Time!

[duojett71]

As if I wasn't already convinced.....you bring up some great points Jesse. Many things you were talking about with the 49er's Defense during the Montana years I didn't even think about and didn't really remember. Brady has led his team to victory with mediocre to bad defenses....more so in the second half of his career.

[Jesse]

So...... even though I think we settled things on this debate 2 years ago, I know there were still people out there who said that Brady was a product of the system and would be nothing without Bill Belichik as his coach. Well, even if the Buccaneers lose next weekend, the fact is that Brady without Belichik took his team to the Conference Championship and Belichik's Patriots without Brady didn't make the postseason, in fact, they finished 3rd in their division with a losing record despite having a quarterback who previously took a team to the Superbowl (Cam Newton).

Just sayin'