NEW ORLEANS -- Controversy? Not even close.

Bill Belichick's decision to name Tom Brady his starting quarterback for Sunday was a no-brainer. It's doubling down on an 11 when the dealer is showing a five. It's calling Mike Tyson's manhood into question when you're looking for a quick lawsuit.

Drew Bledsoe (left) is a better passer but Tom Brady (right) is a proven winner.(AP)

The bottom line: Brady has produced as a much more effective quarterback than Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe is a much better passer than Brady, but not a better quarterback. There's a big difference between the two, ladies and gentlemen.

Jeff George is one heck of a passer. But George is not much of a quarterback, as evidenced by his losing record as a starter in this league. George has one of the strongest throwing arms of the past decade, but he could not corral that talent and turn it into Ws on Sundays.

Bledsoe, too, has had that problem. Brady has not.

Sure, Bledsoe would put up much better statistics than his smaller counterpart, but there's one stat that stands out. Bledsoe was 0-2 as a starter for the Patriots during the regular season. Brady went 11-3. Wins and losses are the two most important statistics a coach looks for in a one-game season. Guess what? There's just one game left, and it's a doozy.

Not only has Brady given owner Robert Kraft more Ws during the regular season, he showed his mettle when he took his team down the field over and over late in an overtime victory against the Raiders two weeks ago, in the face of the best that Mother Nature had to throw at him. Brady is a winner. That's all you need to know about Belichick's decision to name him the starter for Sunday.

Remember how horrid the offensive line was during the first two games this season? Did that same offensive line suddenly jell in the fourth game of the year? Did someone make an early trip to a New Orleans voodoo shop to get an anti-QB-sack curse antidote?

That antidote was Brady, who simply didn't know any better than to drop back and quickly release the ball. He was the perfect unknowing suspect in offensive coordinator Charlie Weis' masterful plan.

Is Brady a better passer than Bledsoe? Absolutely not. The former certainly cannot make the same throws the latter can. Bledsoe's pure passing talent cannot be challenged by many in this league. However, simply being a terrific passer does not equate to victories.

Belichick needed to choose the guy who will give him the best chance to win his first Super Bowl as head coach. Is the Patriots' offense a more polished machine with Brady steering the wheel? Absolutely. This is hardly a knock on Bledsoe but rather an immense compliment to a young man who doesn't know any better than to win.

Bledsoe has shown a penchant for holding the ball too long. The result is too often a sack or a broken play. Bledsoe tries to wait to use that cannon of an arm. He waits for the big play and waits and waits and.... bam! Bledsoe was sacked 100 times during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. While Brady has been hit 41 times this season, his sacks didn't seem to be as debilitating as Bledsoe's.

The Patriots are better with Brady because he drops back and fires to his quick reads. Brady is an offensive lineman's best friend. His quick release saves them the hassle of getting grilled by reporters' weekly inquiries regarding the inordinate number of times their quarterback was forced to run for his life.

Brady instead gives his team a fresh breath of life.

In fact, it's difficult to imagine Bledsoe leading the same charge against the Raiders two weeks ago. Shady call or no shady call, Brady did what he needed to do to adjust on the fly and follow Weis' plan to the next round of the playoffs. He doesn't think too much, which is exactly what a coach loves to see from a young guy. Give him the directions, push the right buttons and let him steer the car to the end zone.

The final reason that there should be little controversy in Belichick's decision is the mistake factor. Brady does not make many mistakes. Belichick knows the Rx for winning it all. He has seen it with the Giants and the Patriots during their last trip to the Big Easy for the Super Bowl. Belichick knows that defense and running games are the No. 1 ingredients to making a winner. What such a team needs from its quarterback is to not make mistakes and recognize and capitalize on the big play when it arrives.

Belichick saw Phil Simms do it in the 1986 season, Simms and Jeff Hostetler in the 1990 season, Bledsoe in the 1996 season and Vinny Testaverde in the 1998 season. Testaverde and Bledsoe both had the luxury of solid defenses and Curtis Martin. Simms and Hostetler had even better defenses, superior offensive lines and one of the best ground games in the NFL.

There are quarterbacks and then there are passers. Lately, Brady has been both. Bledsoe has not been for quite some time.

It was a no-brainer, Bill.