Burnham: Brady = Montana?
By Jeremy Burnham
02.06.05 -- This article will sound funny coming from me. Just 24 hours ago, I wrote an article that offended a lot of Joe Montana fans who disagreed with me when I said that Steve Young was the best QB ever to play the game. However, instead of getting back into that topic, I want to bring up the topic I had been planing for Super Bowl Sunday for quite some time. That topic is Tom Brady being called the new Joe Montana.
I'm sure you have seen or heard someone do it by now. Everyone has chosen Tom Brady as the new QB to warship. "He's so calm. He's so cool in the pocket. He plays just like Joe Montana." My response to that is, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Now, I may not think Joe is the greatest ever to play, but he is on my list of the top two. There is NOBODY playing the game right now who has earned the right to be compared to Montana, and ABSOLUTELY not Tom Brady.
Now, don't get me wrong, Brady is cool. Brady DOES have a calmness to him that Montana also had. But that is ALL Brady has. Brady RIDES his team, Montana LED his. Brady plays well enough to win. He makes NO mistakes. He makes just enough big plays to win. But he does little more than that. Lets take a look.
In 5 seasons, Brady has a passing rating of 87.5. Not bad, but clearly not one of the greatest ever. Like I said, he plays well enough to win, but he has one of the most complete teams around him in NFL history. There are tons of QBs who would be winning Super Bowls if they were on the Pats. So, while again, he IS playing well enough to win, so did Trent Dilfer. Yes, you forgot about him huh? That one year with the Ravens he had quite a good year. At least, he didn't mess up. he played well enough to win the Super Bowl. He made just enough big plays to allow his defense to win. Oh my god! He's just like Joe Montana! Forget the fact that his performance on the field is mediocre. Forget that a lot of his games were won by the DEFENSE, not by him. Let's compare him to Joe Montana. Or maybe John Elway.
No one ever did that with Dilfer. Why? Because that would be crazy. I don't mean to insult the guy, I'm a big fan. He grew up in my hometown. I've even met the guy. He's a hometown hero to Santa Cruz. But he is NOT a great QB. He had a great team around him, and he didn't mess up. That's it.
Now, Brady is better than Dilfer, I know that. But it's the same idea. There are a number of people on that team who play bigger part of its success than Tom Brady. The Pats were not even in the top ten of NFL pass offenses. Their rush offense was ranked higher than their pass offense. They had the number 9 defense, to go with the number 7 offense that got a lot of it's boost from the running game. I'd say passing is NOT what is LEADING them to the Super Bowl.
However, I do admit that numbers DO lie sometimes. He does have something to him. He plays as well in huge games as he does at the start of the season. There is no choking this guy. Nothing gets under his skin. Something you can't say for Payton Manning or Big Ben. That is really something he shares with Joe Montana. But Montana was more than that. While stats aren't EVERYTHING, you have to have better stats than Brady does before you can be compared to Montana. Montana had 7 seasons with a higher passing rating than Tom Brady's best rating.
On the field, Joe Montana was magic. As long as he was under center, Niner fans everywhere knew they had a shot at winning. Even if they down. Even if the odds were against them and they were getting bashed all game and it was late in the 4th. If Montana was there, Niners fans still had hope that they could win. Not only did they have have hope, they KNEW they COULD. And quite often, they did. He led his team to an amazing 31 4th QT comebacks. Accuracy as great as his had never been seen before. Not only was he great in the way that numbers can't show, he was great in the way they could as well. He was great in every single way there is.
All across the board, Joe had 7 seasons better than Brady's very best. Montana had 2 years in which he led the NFL in passing, and 5 in which he led the NFC. Brady has 0 and 0. Comparing him to Joe is a JOKE. Without a doubt, Brady is one of the better QBs in the game today. Montana is one of the greatest to ever step foot on the face of earth. Brady impresses, Montana amazed. Brady is brilliant, Montana was pure magic. Brady is good, Montana surpassed greatness. There is NO comparison.
02.06.05 -- This article will sound funny coming from me. Just 24 hours ago, I wrote an article that offended a lot of Joe Montana fans who disagreed with me when I said that Steve Young was the best QB ever to play the game. However, instead of getting back into that topic, I want to bring up the topic I had been planing for Super Bowl Sunday for quite some time. That topic is Tom Brady being called the new Joe Montana.
I'm sure you have seen or heard someone do it by now. Everyone has chosen Tom Brady as the new QB to warship. "He's so calm. He's so cool in the pocket. He plays just like Joe Montana." My response to that is, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Now, I may not think Joe is the greatest ever to play, but he is on my list of the top two. There is NOBODY playing the game right now who has earned the right to be compared to Montana, and ABSOLUTELY not Tom Brady.
Now, don't get me wrong, Brady is cool. Brady DOES have a calmness to him that Montana also had. But that is ALL Brady has. Brady RIDES his team, Montana LED his. Brady plays well enough to win. He makes NO mistakes. He makes just enough big plays to win. But he does little more than that. Lets take a look.
In 5 seasons, Brady has a passing rating of 87.5. Not bad, but clearly not one of the greatest ever. Like I said, he plays well enough to win, but he has one of the most complete teams around him in NFL history. There are tons of QBs who would be winning Super Bowls if they were on the Pats. So, while again, he IS playing well enough to win, so did Trent Dilfer. Yes, you forgot about him huh? That one year with the Ravens he had quite a good year. At least, he didn't mess up. he played well enough to win the Super Bowl. He made just enough big plays to allow his defense to win. Oh my god! He's just like Joe Montana! Forget the fact that his performance on the field is mediocre. Forget that a lot of his games were won by the DEFENSE, not by him. Let's compare him to Joe Montana. Or maybe John Elway.
No one ever did that with Dilfer. Why? Because that would be crazy. I don't mean to insult the guy, I'm a big fan. He grew up in my hometown. I've even met the guy. He's a hometown hero to Santa Cruz. But he is NOT a great QB. He had a great team around him, and he didn't mess up. That's it.
Now, Brady is better than Dilfer, I know that. But it's the same idea. There are a number of people on that team who play bigger part of its success than Tom Brady. The Pats were not even in the top ten of NFL pass offenses. Their rush offense was ranked higher than their pass offense. They had the number 9 defense, to go with the number 7 offense that got a lot of it's boost from the running game. I'd say passing is NOT what is LEADING them to the Super Bowl.
However, I do admit that numbers DO lie sometimes. He does have something to him. He plays as well in huge games as he does at the start of the season. There is no choking this guy. Nothing gets under his skin. Something you can't say for Payton Manning or Big Ben. That is really something he shares with Joe Montana. But Montana was more than that. While stats aren't EVERYTHING, you have to have better stats than Brady does before you can be compared to Montana. Montana had 7 seasons with a higher passing rating than Tom Brady's best rating.
On the field, Joe Montana was magic. As long as he was under center, Niner fans everywhere knew they had a shot at winning. Even if they down. Even if the odds were against them and they were getting bashed all game and it was late in the 4th. If Montana was there, Niners fans still had hope that they could win. Not only did they have have hope, they KNEW they COULD. And quite often, they did. He led his team to an amazing 31 4th QT comebacks. Accuracy as great as his had never been seen before. Not only was he great in the way that numbers can't show, he was great in the way they could as well. He was great in every single way there is.
All across the board, Joe had 7 seasons better than Brady's very best. Montana had 2 years in which he led the NFL in passing, and 5 in which he led the NFC. Brady has 0 and 0. Comparing him to Joe is a JOKE. Without a doubt, Brady is one of the better QBs in the game today. Montana is one of the greatest to ever step foot on the face of earth. Brady impresses, Montana amazed. Brady is brilliant, Montana was pure magic. Brady is good, Montana surpassed greatness. There is NO comparison.
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