Montana and Bradshaw Safe At The Top

There they sit, two very different individuals, only sharing a couple of years together in their respective careers, but together in perhaps the most exclusive of clubs. One owned the 70s, the other owned the 80s.

And I'm here to tell you that they will stay in that exclusive club long after the current crop of QB gems is retired.  Tom Brady was the last good chance to have a third member in the club, but with the loss, he would have only been a conditional member. The same can be said of Big Ben. That one loss stands out.

Now, even if Brady gets back to a 6th game, and wins it, he might not receive an invitation.  To play in four and win four is something remarkable. Granted it's a team game, and you have to get a few lucky bounces, but someone has to sit at the front of the formation and lead the troops. It takes some damn big balls to make that happen.  Mr. Brady wasn't up to the task. The safety, the pick, and the off-target throw to a wide open Wes Welker showed once and for all that he did not belong on top of Olympus with these two legends.

Fans of teams with great QBs, including myself, are kidding themselves if they think a dynasty is coming the likes of which these men guided.  I love Drew Brees, but I'm not unaware that the best chance he had at getting his 2nd probably ended in San Francisco this year. At his age, it will be near impossible to win even two more, much less three. 

Aaron Rodgers may have a shot, but he's already 28, much older than people realize and between now and his last throw, three rings will be hard to obtain. Again, this season was the Packers best shot, better than last year when they won it, and they came up short.

Peyton Manning may never play again, and isn't worth discussing at this point to join this club.

Matthew Stafford? Matt Ryan? Cam Newton? Joe Flacco? Do any of these names inspire confidence that they could rattle of a 4-0 SB run in a 10-12 year period? Not for me.

People will point to Eli, sitting at 2-0, to be the next. While the kid has done well, I cannot see that happening. Free agency will gut that team before long. It always does to SB winners. People will point to young talent as the corps of that team, but Fewell isn't staying as DC past next year, and Coughlin will retire by 2014 at the latest.

It is too hard in this day and age to reach four Super Bowls (legitimately) and win them. 

Unless some genius front office man comes up with a model that can consistently produce a dominant on-field product in the era of salary caps and FA, nothing will change. This is significant because the teams that these two men led stood above their peers. This is no longer the case in the NFL on a multi-year basis.

The two Immortals will remain at the top together and alone, for quite some time.

<---- Belichick wishes he was him.

Good point. Chuck Noll is in an even lonelier spot, isn't he?

i would say its montana at the top.. then everyone else

These guys are definitely 1 and 2 with Montana at 1 as the greatest SB QB's of all time.  Now of the two, Montana is the only one that is in the greatest QB of all-time conversation when it comes to career numbers including the SB.  Bradshaw's numbers are not that impressive, but in the SB he never had a passer rating under 100, won two MVP's and as you already stated, was 4-0.

That being said, it is pretty tough to compare guys from different eras.  The rules were different, so you have to wonder what would Bradshaw's and Montana's numbers look like with today's NFL rules which clearly favor passing and QB's numbers being inflated.  You also have to wonder if Manning and Brady's numbers, just to name a few, would be as impressive had they played in the 70's?  We will never know.  Fact is that the rules of the game all the way from on the field to off the field (free agency) are different.  So comparing these guys is really tough.

As far as I am concerned, Dan Marino has to be in the conversation of GOAT.  He may never have won a SB, but he also never had the teams that any of these guys did.  Just my opinion.

Montana has a seat that Brady won't be able to reach most likely. (Would need 5 rings).

Bradshaw? Brady gets one more and Bradshaw slides to 3rd faster than Brady down that water slide.

Only thing that has Bradshaw over Brady right now is the 4th ring. If Brady gets it, down to the Bronze podium Terry.

I FAMULUSLY AGREE WITH THE OP!

Matthew Stafford? Matt Ryan? Cam Newton? Joe Flacco? Do any of these names inspire confidence that they could rattle of a 4-0 SB run in a 10-12 year period? Not for me.

I don't even think Matt Ryan will come close to winning 4 post season games in his career let alone 4 Super Bowls.

Montana has a seat that Brady won't be able to reach most likely. (Would need 5 rings).

Bradshaw? Brady gets one more and Bradshaw slides to 3rd faster than Brady down that water slide.

Only thing that has Bradshaw over Brady right now is the 4th ring. If Brady gets it, down to the Bronze podium Terry.

Wildcats,

I will agree with you that Brady's regular season stats are better than Bradshaw's.  But you really cannot compare them since they played under different rules for defenses.  In other words, Brady's numbers should be better.  Matt Hasselbeck has a higher QB rating for his career than Bradshaw.  Do you think he is a better QB.

The problem I see for Brady is that the rules were the same in the Super Bowls and his numbers should be better across the board than Bradshaw's.  But Bradshaw's Super Bowl stats are much better than Brady's.  Bradshaw never had a QB rating of less than 100 in the Super Bowl, even though his career rating was only 70.  Brady has only topped the 100 rating mark twice now in 5 Super Bowls and been in the 80's twice.  Same amount of TD's.  Only area where he has Bradshaw is he has thrown fewer picks.

Only thing that has Bradshaw over Brady right now is the 4th ring. If Brady gets it, down to the Bronze podium Terry.

Not true.  Bradshaw won 4 rings in 2 back-to-back SB without losing any in between.  Even with 4 rings, Brady cannot say he hasn't lost a SB, something that both Montana and Bradshaw can say.  

Jim Kelly can say that he lost 4 consecutive Super Bowls.

And Bradshaw cant claim he never had a losing season.

Bradshaw's record as a whole is SIGNIFICANTLY worse than Brady's (Brady +99, Bradshaw +56).
Brady already has more postseason wins.

Brady would likely pass him in SB career numbers (tied in TDs now).

I'm not even a regular season numbers guy so I won't reference all of that because winning is what matters.

Fact is if Brady gets to 4, he'll have matched what Bradshaw accomplished in hardware while dominating him in every area around that.

Heck Bradshaw couldn't even make the playoffs many years he was a starter.

4th ring is the difference. Once Brady gets there, it's not even worth someone's time to have to refute an argument for Bradshaw.

Looks like we still have one Brady ball washer who has not gone into hiding.

I don't even think Matt Ryan will come close to winning 4 post season games in his career let alone 4 Super Bowls.



Matt Ryan is already the best quarterback in the history of the Falcons


It's been a lousy history....

Matt Ryan is already the best quarterback in the history of the Falcons

True.

Looks like we still have one Brady ball washer who has not gone into hiding.
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It's his whole life, his identity, he's desperate to convince anyone who is not a Brady jock remora that Brady is worthy too, despite his two Epic FAILURES in the Super Bowl. What? Nooooo, ... that never happened!

 

4th ring is the difference. Once Brady gets there, it's not even worth someone's time to have to refute an argument for Bradshaw.

Only you would say this, because you're comparing apples to oranges when comparing two different eras in football.  Defenders wouldn't even think of doing to Brady today what Joe "Turkey" Jones did to Bradshaw.  Brady would have quit after 5 years of it.  You could mug a receiver all the way down the field. 

Stats have become inflated due to the new rules in place.  Think of it.  In 2004 P Manning breaks Marinos record, and two years later Brady breaks Mannings record.  It took 20 years to do this and only after rules were put in place to 1) protect the quarterback and 2) rules favoring the offense and QB/WR.  So you can sit here and argue stats all you want.  Those of us with enough gray hair on our head remember when the game wasn't a fantasy sports driven game. 

So you can sit and argue stats all you want.  Bradshaw still took less years to accomplish getting those 4 rings and he still wouldn't have lost a SB. 

You can argue they need a deep threat.  They had that in 07 with Moss and still loss.  You can sit here and say he was one dropped pass to Welker from winning the SB, he was also one Lee Evans dropped pass from sitting at home while the Ravens played.  It took him 5 years to get back to the SB after 07.  Is Brady going to become like Brett Favre, trying to get that 4th ring?  The competition in the AFC is becoming more brutal and Brady is getting older, you can't argue that. 

Brady would likely pass him in SB career numbers (tied in TDs now). 

They have thrown the same amount of TD passed in the SB, but Bradshaw did it in one game less.

I'm not even a regular season numbers guy so I won't reference all of that because winning is what matters. 

I agree.

Fact is if Brady gets to 4, he'll have matched what Bradshaw accomplished in hardware while dominating him in every area around that. 

As I said, it is tough to compare two guys from eras that have very different rules.  We will never know how Brady would have done in the 70's or Bradshaw in today's era.

Heck Bradshaw couldn't even make the playoffs many years he was a starter.

And Bradshaw cant claim he never had a losing season.

Bradshaw's record as a whole is SIGNIFICANTLY worse than Brady's (Brady +99, Bradshaw +56).
Brady already has more postseason wins.

These are all true statements.  But Brady took over a team that was ready to win, a lot like Big Ben did.  Bradshaw took over a franchise that was awful up until the 70's and he was part of the team that started all of the Steelers success.  The Pats had at least been to recent Super Bowls and were a good team when Brady took them over.  Not the case for Bradshaw.  Don's be surprised if Brady doesn't make the playoffs a few times towards the end of his career.

4th ring is the difference. Once Brady gets there, it's not even worth someone's time to have to refute an argument for Bradshaw.

Once he gets there is a pretty big assumption.  He hasn't won a Super Bowl in 7 years now.  He may never get back.

You can argue all day long about who had better toys around them.

Fact is,

Bradshaw/ Montana 4-0

Aikman 3-0

Brady 3-2



SB passer rating
Montana 127.83
Bradshaw 112.80
Aikman 111.93
Brady 94.52


Tom Brady will never be considered with these guys.

Tom Brady will never be considered with these guys.

Tom Brady is the greatest short yardage passer of all time.  Pats fans can have that one.