Does anyone still think Manning is better than Brady?

Didn't realize it was so hard to figure out. Wasn't exactly a secret.

Good work, Detective!!

 

I did toss you a bit of a meatball there.

 

Look, I like Manning. I really do. But if you're given one chance at winning a big game, and everything else is the exact same (same team, same opponent, same game plan), are you taking Brady or Manning?
It's a simple question.
I'm taking Brady and I'm not even blinking.
And it's not because I'm some sort of Brady apologist. I was always team Bledsoe and have been critical of Brady for years. But he's one of the best QBs of all-time and even if you want to put Montana above him (Which is an entirely different debate given that Joe had without question the best WR of all-time on his team), Brady is No. 2 and it's not close.

 

43-8. Wilson can be as serious as he wants.

There are more components than just Manning is "cut that meat" and Wilson is the "follow your dreams". Commercial money still matters to Wilson until he signs the next contract. Wilson does take his brand very seriously because he also sees the big picture in who he is and what he represents. He's a non-white QB who is undersized and told at every level that he was too short, he shouldn't pass so much, etc.

Wilson diminishes that message if he shows up, hawking a flip phone with that stupid fake mustache that PFM had a dozen years ago in a spot.

 

Joe won two Super Bowls without Rice.

 

Ugh. I hate the "Montana had Rice" argument. Montana was well on his way to the Hall of Fame long before Rice emerged as an elite receiver.

But Brady vs. Manning? No question, it is Brady.

 

I'd like to hear the Elway vs. Brady debate for No. 2 behind Montana.

Brady never had to carry a team.

You could argue Montana carried the first Niners SB team. They had a losing record the year before. And 1981 was Montana's first full season as a starter.

 

You don't Brady has carried some of these Pats teams?

 

No quarterback has ever carried his team to a Super Bowl championship. You simply cannot get to that game, let alone win it, without talented teammates.

The QBs that "carry" teams typically hover around .500, sometimes sneak into the playoffs and occasionally win a playoff game or two.

 

I prefer Manning over Brady (just like some prefer vanilla to chocolate; they're both all-time greats and it's more personal preference than anything else), but saying Brady never had to carry the Pats really isn't fair. The 2006 Pats that lost in the AFC championship game had Reche Caldwell and the ghost of Corey Dillon as their biggest offensive weapons. Brady still threw for 3,500 yards and had a 24-12 TD to interception ratio, and they went 12-4.
In fact, it never really felt like Belichick fully took the clamps off of Brady until 2007. That's when he went from being an elite game manager to a truly elite quarterback in my book. That was the first time he showed, if given a top receiver (Moss) and allowed to air it out, what he could really do.

 

I never did believe Manning was better than Brady.

Manning almost surely has more touchdown passes inside the 5-yard line than any other quarterback in history -- maybe combined. He is an egotistical, stat-padding ass who even insisted he go back into a blowout game to continue padding his stats as his backup stood there and fumed.

I'm having a more difficult task of still believing that Joe Montana is better than Brady.

 

Fortunately, we have actual numbers to refute such stupidity.

Manning has 88 TD passes of 3 yards or fewer (16.5% of his total), Brady 74 (18.6 % of his total)
Manning has 125 TD passes of 4-9 yards (23.5% of his total), Brady 119 (29.9% of his total)
Manning has 127 TD passes of 10-19 yards (23.9% of his total), Btady 88 (22.1% of his total)
Manning has 78 TD oases of 20-29 yards (14.7% of his total), Brady 40 (10.0% of his total)
Manning has 118 TD passes of 30+ yards (22.2% of his total), Brady 77 (19.3% of his total)

Short touchdowns = Advantage, Brady. Long touchdowns = Advantage, Manning.

Are we done here?