Only recently a Hall of Fame wide receiver proclaimed that what makes a quarterback great—and possibly the best ever—is the amount of championships he has won. Such a comment came about because of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s exploits this past regular season. Calling a player great because of the number of rings he has might seem a tad misleading as football is a team sport, but let’s take that as our first guideline.
Champions of Champions.
Over a period of six seasons in the 1970s Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowl titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers. For an entire decade in the 1980s Joe Montana dominated the NFL and won four Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers. To date, Bradshaw and Montana are the only quarterbacks in NFL history to win four Super Bowls as starters. In the 1990s it was the turn of Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys, who became the first quarterback in NFL history to win three championships in a four year span. And so enter, stage left, Tom Brady, who equaled Aikman’s feat between the 2001 and 2004 seasons with the New England Patriots. But if championships are a guide then where does that leave Hall of Fame great Bart Starr? He might only have two Super Bowl titles to his name but in the years leading up to those two victories he quarterbacked the Green Bay Packers to three NFL Championships—that makes 5 in total. Surely that makes him the best ever . . .
Championships are all well and good, but in a team sport such as football where players are only as great as their supporting cast, it’s easy to find multiple Super Bowl winning players who are not really good enough to walk in Tom Brady’s shadow. So it might also be wise to take a look at the statistical achievements of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks to get a better understanding of where Brady sits compared to his peers.
Personal Achievements.
Terry Bradshaw threw 212 touchdown passes with 210 interceptions in his career with a passer rating of 70.9; in addition to his championship wins he was voted to 3 Pro Bowls, is a 2-time Super Bowl MVP, and once a league MVP. Take a look at Troy Aikman who had a higher career passer rating at 81.6, was voted to 6 Pro Bowls and is a one-time Super Bowl MVP. He threw 165 touchdowns to 141 interceptions. Joe Montana, over his 15 year career, was even better with a passer rating of 92.3 with 273 touchdowns to only 139 interceptions, 8 Pro Bowl selections, 3 Super Bowl MVP awards, and twice a league MVP.
After 11 seasons in the league, Brady’s efforts greatly mirror Montana’s. Brady has a current career passer rating of 95.2 and he’s thrown 261 touchdowns to only 103 picks (currently holding an active streak of 335 passes without an interception). He’s been voted to 6 Pro Bowls including the one following the 2010 season, is a 2-time Super Bowl MVP, and is sure to win his second career league MVP award this year as well. If you had to put somebody at the top based on career statistics Montana would lead the way with Brady snapping at his heels.
Yet both players are eclipsed by one man: Peyton Manning.
Behind every Great Quarterback . . .
Voted to a total of 11 Pro Bowl’s in his 13 year career, with 399 touchdown passes to 198 interceptions, Manning is a one-time Super Bowl MVP yet a 4-time league MVP. No quarterback has done so much in a career, or so much for one franchise, as Peyton Manning. The only blip on his career portfolio is two Super Bowl appearances and only one victory. Peyton Manning could have eclipsed Bart Starr’s record of 5 championships if only he’d been a New England Patriot.
Behind every great quarterback is not a solid running back, but a great coach. Manning has been cursed by a run of subpar head coaches and it shows with yet another playoff loss this past weekend against the New York Jets. If it were possible to take Manning out of the Colts offense, Indianapolis would struggle to make the post season. A knee injury took Tom Brady out of the Patriots attack for an entire season yet they still managed 11 wins in 2008 (although they missed the playoffs). The Patriots would not have won 11 games behind Matt Cassel if Bill Belichick wasn’t the head coach.
Tom Brady is an elite quarterback, a player destined to be enshrined in the pro football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility but currently, statistically, he’s lying third on the all-time list. On Sunday January 16th 2011 Tom Brady will face the New York Jets in the divisional round of the playoffs towards what he hopes will be his 4th championship ring. If he’s successful, you could pin the majority of that success not on Tom Brady the quarterback but on the shoulders of perhaps the greatest coach professional football has ever seen.
References:
ESPN Boston. “Tom Brady: Bill Belichick best coach” January 10, 2011
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl/news/story?id=6007586&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines
“List of quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl wins” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia 17 December 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quarterbacks_with_multiple_Super_Bowl_wins
“Tom Brady, QB for the New England Patriots at NFL.com”
http://www.nfl.com/players/tombrady/profile?id=BRA371156
“Peyton Manning, QB for the Indianapolis Colts at NFL.com”
http://www.nfl.com/players/peytonmanning/profile?id=MAN515097
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