Breaking down Brady: Best QB ever? Just wait and see

"He's the same guy now that he was then," he said.

Which is ...

"He's smart," said Fouts, "but he knows his system and helps assistant coaches working with him evolve that system. I'd love to spend time to see where he is -- just to see what he sees when he's looking at the defenses and calling formations and all those things."

Fouts knows where Brady is, and he knows where he will be.

"You can't ignore the success he's had at this point," he said. "If his career ended today you can't ignore what he's accomplished -- and it's mind-boggling.

"He's part of an organization that does all the right things over the years. They have a weakness at wide receiver, then, all of a sudden, they don't. They take a chance on one guy -- heck, two guys -- and Brady ends up throwing 50 touchdown passes. Unbelievable."

Fouts' favorite quarterback is Unitas because "he invented the two-minute drill, the three-step drop, the five-step drop and timing patterns." But go ahead and ask if Brady is at least in the neighborhood.

"Yeah," Fouts said, "I wouldn't argue with that."

The Hall of Fame writer

Jerry Magee has been covering football for the San Diego Union-Tribune since 1961 and is at his 40th Super Bowl. So he knows what he's talking about, and what he's talking about now is the greatness of Tom Brady.

"I'm an old timer, and to me the greatest of all time was Sammy Baugh," he said, "because he threw a fat football with unparalleled accuracy. How he did what he did with that football is amazing to me.

"Having said that, of the modern-day quarterbacks Brady has to be regarded as way, way up there. I like him better than Unitas because Unitas couldn't throw the ball like Brady. And I like him over Montana because I think Brady has a better arm and cerebrally is Montana's equal."

So that would leave Brady in there with Baugh and Graham, a remarkable achievement considering the guy is 30.

"I'm high on Fouts, too," said Magee. "He was the toughest football player I've ever been around. The best thing about Brady is how he stands in the pocket so solidly.

"He doesn't yield to the rush. He hangs in there and is so accurate ... he's going to be regarded as one of the two or three greatest when he's finished. Brady is living the life every man would like to lead."