Over the past three seasons, I’ve never seen the Seattle Seahawks defense picked apart the way it was in yesterday’s classic Super Bowl.
The New England Patriots won their fourth world championship in 14 years last night, thanks to Tom Brady’s stat line of 37/50, 328 yards, and four touchdowns. Despite the early unwarranted red zone interception to Jeremy Lane on the Pats second drive of the game, Brady was near-perfect, dinking and dunking to his receivers, most notably Shane Vereen, while dominating the time of possession battle between the two teams. Might I add, Brady’s second interception was in large part due to an outstanding play by linebacker Bobby Wagner on a third and nine, early in the third quarter.
After Brady, Julian Edelman was clearly the runner-up for MVP, compiling nine receptions for 109 yards and one touchdown. Edelman was insignificant before emerging in the NFL as a seventh round pick in 2009 out of Kent State University. He’s adopted the nickname “Minitron” since, and has become one of the better receivers in the league, coming off a near 1,000 yard year after achieving that accolade the season prior.
Before Edelman, slot receiver Wes Welker was Brady’s primary target, as he became a three-time receptions leader in just five seasons with New England. Before Welker joined the team in 2006, he was known as the undrafted Texas Tech receiver who’s ceiling would be as a punt returner. Dare I say, Brady made not only Welker, but Edelman as well? I mean, where would they be without him?
Peyton Manning has only won one Super Bowl win in his illustrious career, and has had luminary receiving weapons during his tenures in both Indianapolis and Denver. For the Colts, future Hall of Famers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne were at his disposal every week, and in Denver, the same level of talent was at his exposure.
Brady has never had any of those weapons, and in his even more glorious 15 year career, he was never fortunate enough to have any of those game-changers, as seen in this list of every single player who’s caught ten or more touchdowns from him:
Deion Branch (24)
Troy Brown (15)
Kevin Faulk (10)
Christian Fauria (13)
David Givens (12)
Daniel Graham (17)
Rob Gronkowski (39)
Aaron Hernandez (18)
Randy Moss (39)
David Patten (16)
Ben Watson (17)
Wes Welker (34)
The only player that rivals Brady’s greatness is Joe Montana, who had the greatest receiver of all time in Jerry Rice. Rice won three of the four Super Bowls with Montana’s 49ers, even being named MVP of Super Bowl XXIII. Although Brady had seven-time Pro Bowl receiver Randy Moss on his side for three seasons, Brady is now 4-2 in the big game, all the successful wins without the use of Moss. Take away Rice from Montana, and does Joe have four rings? Seriously.
Here are both Montana and Brady’s career statistical comparisons:
Montana
Pass attempts 5,391
Pass completions 3,409
Percentage 63.2
TD–INT 273–139
Passing Yards 40,551
QB Rating 92.3
Brady
Pass attempts 7,168
Pass completions 4,551
Percentage 63.5
TD–INT 392–143
Passing yards 53,258
QB rating 95.9
Tom Brady is not only the best quarterback of all time, but he is the greatest player of all time as well, with all due respect to the legendary Jim Brown. Sure, Dan Marino didn’t have a stellar defense throughout his career, but if you’re that gifted of a quarterback, there’s no excuse as to why you couldn’t hoist at least one Lombardi Trophy. He got the Dolphins to the playoffs ten times in his 17-year career. You simply have to finish the job. Marino couldn’t.
Brady holds 12 NFL records as well, most of which are in regard to the playoffs. Montana and Brown hold none. Here are Brady’s:
- 29 career playoff starts
- 29 career playoff games
- 9 career NFL conference championship appearances
- 6 career NFL conference championship wins
- Most career Super Bowl touchdown passes
- Most career Super Bowl passing yards
- Most first half pass completions in single Super Bowl
- Most pass completions in single Super Bowl
- 12 career division titles
- 21 career playoff wins
- Most career postseason passing yards
- 53 career playoff passing touchdowns
Brady is 37 years young, and is pushing back the aging process. There’s no reason he can’t do at 45 what he did at 25.”
He goes to sleep at 8:30 p.m. He doesn’t really drink, and sticks to a diet 12 months a year — a diet so strict he considers ice cream made from avocados a “treat.”
His work ethic and training regimen are noteworthy, and those two things will be vital in preventing the one thing that can derail his dream playing into his 40s: injuries.
Mark Leibovich of the New York Times asked Brady about his interests beyond football, and he got this response:
“I’m not a musician, not an artist,” he said. “What am I going to do, go scuba diving?”
The day Tom Brady hangs up his cleats is the day I go into mourning, because the Patriots will lose a lot of their magical competitive spirit. Richard Sherman recognized Brady at the end of the game because he respects the fire that burns within Brady to win. Any of the great athletes do and secretly wish one day they can be on his team.
Who would’ve thought that the 199th overall pick in 2000 would prove so many to be dead wrong.
Cheers to you, #12.
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