Tom Brady is now the greatest quarterback of all-time

Tom Brady can now be considered the greatest quarterback of all-time

With an improbable comeback win in Super Bowl XLIX now under his belt, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady can officially lay claim to being the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

Brady is now tied with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl wins by a signal-caller with four, and when you look and the career numbers he has put up, the competition between those three isn’t close. But more than that, what he did this season was remarkable, and easily the greatest feat of his career. Winning a championship with easily the worst roster he has ever taken to a Super Bowl has put Brady on another level.

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While most of the discussion about Super Bowl XLIX has centered around Seattle’s goal-line play-calling, Brady’s brilliance late in the game has been completely overlooked. The Patriots trailed 24-14 when they took over at their own 32 yard line with 12:10 remaining in the game. Seattle had all the momentum and New England hadn’t done anything on offense in the second half. All of a sudden, Brady turned the game on it’s head with a nine-play, 68-yard drive in 4:15. It was capped off with a gorgeous four-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola.

After the Patriots forced a three-and-out, Brady and co. took over at their own 36 with 6:52 left, trailing 24-21. Again, the former sixth-round draft pick was sublime as he orchestrated a 10-play, 64-yard drive in 4:50. It was capped off with a three-yard touchdown pass to Julian Edelman. That would turn out to be the game-winning drive.

On those two late possessions, Brady completed 13-of-15 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. He was at his best when he needed to be, just like he has been throughout his entire career.

As I have said before, the fact that the Patriots even made it to Super Bowl XLIX was amazing and showed just how great Brady and head coach Bill Belichick are. Offensively, the only players other than Brady who grade above “solid” are tight end Rob Gronkowski and right tackle Sebastian Vollmer. New England has some nice supporting pieces, but no playmakers who scare opponents. Yet somehow, the Patriots averaged 29.3 points per game this season (fourth in the NFL) and managed to score 28 points on Seattle’s vaunted defense.

Brady now holds the record with six Super Bowl appearances as a quarterback, which is one more than John Elway. He has four wins, tying him with Bradshaw and Montana, and also three Super Bowl MVPs, tying him with Montana for the record. And while Montana is the guy he is most often compared with, the San Francisco 49ers great always had better supporting casts than Brady has. It’s really hard to compare guys from different eras, but Brady didn’t have a receiver like Jerry Rice for most of his entire career, nor has he had the stability a running back like Roger Craig brought for Montana. In fact, other than Corey Dillon’s 2004 season, Brady has never had a top-level running back to hand off to.

Montana was an amazing quarterback who was at his best in big moments, just like Brady. I get that it’s hard to compare the two because they played at different times and today’s NFL is far more geared towards quarterbacks. That said, I don’t see how anyone could say that Montana was clearly better than Brady. With that in mind, if you compare Brady to his contemporaries it’s no contest.

Feb 1, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws a pass in the court quarter of Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Brady and Peyton Manning are really the only guys of the Golden Age of Quarterbacks who are on the same level. Everyone else is playing catch-up to those two titans. I am on the record as saying Manning is the greatest regular season quarterback of all-time, but in the postseason he can’t come close to matching up with Brady. Manning is 1-2 in Super Bowls and has a postseason record of 11-13, while Brady is 4-2 in Super Bowls and is 21-8 in the playoffs. Additionally, while Manning is the NFL’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns (530), Brady is fifth (392). Manning is second in passing yards (69,691), while Brady is fifth (53,258). Manning also accrued those stats over three more seasons than Brady has played.

Still not convinced? Brady has lead the Patriots to 12 division titles in 13 seasons as the starting quarterback (I’m not counting 2008, in which he only played one game), which means he’s made the playoffs in every year but 2002. He has two MVP awards, led a team to an undefeated regular season, put up with Randy Moss for three-plus seasons and is third all-time in game-winning drives. Brady also went a record 10 years between Super Bowl victories, which is a record for a quarterback and shows his impressive longevity.

I’m not a Patriots fan but you have to give credit where it’s due. New England has only really had a world-beating offensive roster in one season (2007), other than that Brady has had to work with less-than-stellar talent around him. Wes Welker was a phenomenal slot guy, Rob Gronkowski is a freakish tight end and Randy Moss was one of the best receivers we’ll ever see. Other than that, Brady has had to make do without elite playmakers around him. In that time the Patriots have had plenty of Pro Bowlers on defense, but few at the skill positions. For me, that is what separates Brady from the rest of the pack.

It’s easy to root against a guy like Tom Brady. After all, he’s good-looking, wealthy, wildly successful, has dated movie stars and married a supermodel. But there is no denying that he has been at the top of his profession for more than 14 years now. While comparisons will always be subjective, after watching Super Bowl XLIX I have no doubt that he is the greatest quarterback of all-time.

Next: Where do the Patriots rank among each franchise all-time?

Tom Brady can now be considered the greatest quarterback of all-time

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