After All: He's Only 40!

[the 'stache]

I don't think Brady is the greatest of all-time. Why do people continually confuse team accomplishments with individual greatness?

He's won five Super Bowls. Fact.
He's an all-time great. Fact.
He's a first ballot Hall of Famer. Opinion, but I can't see any way he's not.

He's the greatest of all-time. This is pure conjecture.

Football is a team sport. Brady is one part of a very successful Patriots franchise. But let's be honest, he's benefited tremendously from having one of the top three head coaches of the modern era, a Hall of Fame tight end for the past eight years, an owner who, time and time again, has shown a willingness to spend in free agency to make the team better, and, oh yeah, an historically great defense.

The names on the defensive side of the ball might not be sexy, and they have changed over time. But look where the Pats have finished in scoring defense the years they have won it all with Brady:

2001: 6th
2003: 1st
2004: 2nd
2014: 8th
2015: 1st

This year? They're 5th in scoring defense.

Say what you want about Brady. I don't dispute that he's a tremendous quarterback. Easily one of the best all-time. But if you take some of the other guys in the conversation, somebody like a Dan Marino, or even an Aaron Rodgers---give those guys the ridiculous wealth of resources that Brady has enjoyed--is it a stretch to imagine that they'd have just as many rings, if not more?

Tom Brady has a career 97.6 QB rating; he's thrown 488 TD passes against 160 INT, a career ratio of 3.05:1.
Aaron Rodgers, in the same era, has a career 103.8 QB rating; he's thrown 313 TD passes against 78 INT, a career ratio of 4.01:1. Brady is the only other guy with a 3:1 career ratio, and Rodgers is a full TD pass better.

What about Brady's performance during Rodgers' career as a starter, from 2008 on? Brady's QB rating while Rodgers has played is 100.8. Very close to Rodgers' 104.2, but still below it. Now, his TD to INT ratio is better, 291 TD to 74 INT, or 3.93:1, but it's still not as good as Rodgers'. And, you cannot simply compare the numbers from Rodgers first start forward against Brady, who'd already started six seasons in the NFL. Before 2008, Aaron Rodgers had only attempted 59 passes as Brett Favre's backup. Wanna say that "he learned so much from Favre?" Yes, he learned a good deal. But Favre was the ultimate gunslinger, making the impossible throws, but also making boneheaded turnovers. Rodgers is the anti-Favre. He's every bit as deadly, but he takes care of the ball much better than Favre ever did, even when he was winning three consecutive MVP awards.

Tom Brady, in his first MVP season, 2007, had Randy Moss, who went for 98 catches, 1,493 yards and 23 TD. He also had Wes Welker grabbing 112 passes. Gronkowski, though he has been dinged up from time to time, has been dominant. He's caught 76 TD passes in 102 career games.

Has Aaron Rodgers ever had a Hall of Fame receiver or right end? Nope. Jordy Nelson is very good, but he's not Moss. And Rodgers has never had that kind of weapon in the middle of the field.

Rodgers does every single thing that Brady can do, every bit as well. And he's absolutely lethal outside of the pocket, and as a scrambler.

But he doesn't have five Super Bowl rings. So, he's not the GOAT. Rodgers, in his third year as a starter, destroyed the Pittsburgh Steelers' #1 ranked defense in the Super Bowl, even though he lost the franchise's all-time leading receiver, Donald Driver, in the first half. He had Greg Jennings, James Jones who dropped a pass that would have been a 60 + yard touchdown, and Jordy Nelson, who was unproven. He also had James Starks at running back, who hadn't played all season.

Then, look at somebody like Dan Marino, who re-wrote all the passing records with absolutely nothing on his team besides Mark Clayton and Mark Duper. Give him the defense Brady has had, and that kind of a ridiculous mismatch at tight end. How many Super Bowls does he win?

If you want to call him a Hall of Famer, and all-time great, the greatest winner in the Super Bowl era--no problem. But when you start hailing him as the greatest to ever play the position, better-than-compelling arguments can be made that, while near the top, he is not the greatest all-time running away.

Originally Posted by samosa4u

However, we all have to admit one thing: Brady is the GOAT. Every time he wins, football fans complain about him cheating or doing something else, but then he does it again and again and again. Brady could win the Superbowl with one leg and football fans would still accuse him of doing something wrong.