As far as this year goes, it's a little obvious who is the better quarterback, statistically. Tom Brady with the 38 TD's, 4 interception, 3,059 yards, and rating of 134.0 are phenomenal after week 11. Peyton's numbers so far are 16 TD's, 11 interceptions, 2,549 yards, and 87.2 rating are more like the average quarterback. In a season when dudes like Romo , Favre , Brady and Roethlisberger are putting up ridiculous numbers, Peyton is just gliding along. Unusual for Peyton, who is usually leading the pack with his numbers. Let's look at some hard data, and just do a little comparing. I apologize if this post seems partial towards Peyton, but I'm a Colts fan.
Tom Brady is in his 8th season as an NFL quarterback, and it's definitely his best. Look at the success he's having. Peyton's best season, his 7th, looked like this:
--49 TD's (NFL Record) - Definitely going to be taken by Brady this year
--4,557 passing yards, with a percentage of 67.7%
--10 Interceptions
--Passer rating of 121.1, which I believe is the NFL record, but if it's not, fine.
In 2004, Peyton's "Best Year," we'll dub it, he had three games with five or more touchdowns. This has only been accomplished by Dante Culpepper, and now Tom Brady as of last night's game. Brady will most likely have another game with five touchdowns, maybe even all five games remaining, with the way he's going.
It is often said that without Marvin Harrison , Peyton wouldn't be as good as he is today. That's obviously false because Reggie Wayne is now a Pro-Bowler and one of the top three in receiving this year. Dallas Clark was one of the league leaders in receiving AS A TIGHT END before his injury. Without Peyton's arm, none of these guys would be the receivers they are today. Patriots and Tom Brady fans always point out that Tom Brady has never had a receiver that's any good to throw to, and therefore never had anyway to show how good he is with the football. Now I'll give it to them mostly. He hasn't had a receiver with 1000 yards in a season since Troy Brown in 2001. Deion Branch had 998 in 2005. Well, now he has Randy Moss and, if you look at the stats, he is certainly being utilized. Moss has 1052 yards (34.4% of Brady's passing yards) and 16 TD's (42% of Brady's passing TD's). Is Randy Moss good? Yeah. He could possibly be the greatest receiver of our time. Do I believe that the Brady/Moss duo is the best ever? No. They won't play long enough together to become that. Now, as for the legitimacy of Brady's success with Moss, I wish that Moss was 5'10 like the rest of the receivers and just be good. It's a little ridiculous that I've only seen a few catches that Moss has made this year, and every one of them is Brady throwing into double, triple, or even quadruple coverage and Moss just outjumps the rest. I'm sorry but that's not the sign of a good quarterback, but the sign of a quality receiver who is tall and can jump high. Peyton on the other hand has amazed and astounded with his precision throws that could thread the eye of a needle. Brady has a bombing arm and can throw HARD, but Peyton can throw where he wants to every single time. Oh, and as for the single-season TD record, Peyton threw the majority to three guys: Harrison for 14, Wayne for 12 and Stokley for 10. Good luck getting two more Patriots receivers this year to have 10 touchdowns.
As for Super Bowls, Brady has two MVP's and Peyton has one. I'm a pretty firm believer that without kicker Adam Vinatieri , however, the Patriots would have one Super Bowl under their belt, and maybe not even that. They won all three Super Bowls under Brady by three points. Let's look at those Bowl games.
XXXVI Rams - Patriots
Final Score 20-17 Patriots
MVP Tom Brady
145 yards, 1 TD, game winning drive in last possession (sound like last years MVP at all?)
Winning play - 48 yard field goal by Vinatieri as time expired
XXXVIII Panthers - Patriots
Final Score 32-29 Patriots
MVP Tom Brady
354 passing yards, 3 TD's, 1 Int, Super Bowl record for completed passes (32)
Winning play - 41 yard field goal by Vinatieri with 0:04 remaining
XXXIX Patriots - Eagles
Final Score 24-21 Patriots
MVP Deion Branch
Brady stats - 236 yards, 2 TD's
Final score for Patriots - V
Pats go ahead by a rushing TD from Dillon in 4th quarter, Vinatieri field goal to go up by 10, McNabb touchdown to cut lead to 3
Looking at these stats, and if you want to look at the box scores of the games (which dictate fairly even games throughout, each team returning scores the entire game), Tom Brady knows how to control a playoff game. Looking at his stats now, he knows how to control a postseason. If you ask me, the only warranted MVP was the second one, and that was obvious. Super Bowl XXXVI MVP was Adam Vinatieri. The guy had two field goals, and one was an almost impossible winning field goal that put him in the books forever as the greatest "clutch" kicker of our time. So, naturally, I'm glad we have him. Heck, he beat the Ravens for us last year. Literally, he was the only one to score!
If we look at best teams of all time, the '72 Dolphins are the only ones to go perfect in a season, so no matter how many points they scored or didn't score, they are the best. So far, the 2005 Colts and their record of 13-0 during a phenomenal season are the next. The 2007 Patriots are looking to be the best of all time. Personally, I don't see anyway for them to be stopped, that is until the AFC Championship if they play the Colts, the only team so far to keep them under 30 points this season. Other than that, I strongly believe the 2007 Patriots will be the best of all time. I foresee Tom Brady absolutely crushing the single-season touchdown record, and if he and Moss replicate this season for a couple more, they could be breaking some records of their own.
I'm a Colts fan through and through when it comes to the best team, I'll always pick the Colts. Tom Brady is a good quarterback, and if he has two or three more seasons like this, he could contend for the best quarterback to ever play the game. But truthfully, until he has a consistent run of leading quarterbacking like Peyton has had, I don't think he will be as good as Peyton. Peyton has two MVP trophies on his shelf, Brady none, probably one after this year. They both have played with injured teams and still ended victorious. They have similar lifetime ratings, Brady 92.2-Manning 94.7. Overall though, if you look at lifetime achievements, you have to give it to Peyton. Brady owns the postseason. Last year, Peyton owned the postseason and this year Brady owns the season. We'll see how it plays out in the end.
To end this really long, clustered and seemingly pointless post, I think Peyton is better. Brady is good in the postseason, and now with Moss, he's become a god among mere mortals. But this is one season. Peyton has been the Zeus of football since his rookie year, breaking records nearly every year he's played. Give him one more ring, the argument is tough. Give him two more, it's over. Give Brady a few more rings and it'd be settled. Either way, I think Peyton is still better, but damn... in the words of Jermaine to Bret of the Flight of the Conchords, "Brady, you got it goin' on."
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