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1st off shame on you for mentioning Marino and Favre as better than Elway, no way no how. Favre in his prime lost to an againg Elway.

Truth is it doesn't matter how he does it, as long as he does it. With every record that Brady breaks it goes to the entire team. Is this the best line of all time, maybe but I doubt it. I hate to say this, but Brady may go down as the GOAT at QB. I don't like it as much as anyone else, but stats + rings = hard to argue against.

It's odd how now that the Patriots finally went out and got Brady several weapons to throw to how he's done it with more than other players.

But you have to remember that Brady won his other 3 SB's with much less than he did now. He went to the title game last year with the equivalent of lunch meat for a WR corps.

Brady deserves to be mentioned with the all time greats of the modern era.

I'm not sure what to think about Tom Brady versus the best quarterbacks of all time. I'm thinking that them going undefeated and breaking all sorts of records may have been a fluke, so I'm not ready to crown him just yet, but if he keeps his production at a high level, he'll easily become one of the best of all time in my book.

Schwartz
I wasn't putting the QBs in any order. But since you mentioned it, I still think Marino is the Best to ever lace them up.

Big M
I agree. He deserves honorable mention.

BSchwartz, the Broncos beating the Packers had as much to do with Terrell Davis as it did with John Elway... and the fact that Elway finally had the supporting cast to get him the Lombardi. I was a Packers fan growing up in Bronco territory for most of my childhood, and Elway was a great QB... but it is mere conjecture as to how one rates Elway, Marino and Favre in relation to one another.

As for the blog, nice work Hllywd... I definitely see where you are coming from with this, but in the end every quarterback sinks or floats based on the protection he gets from his offensive line. Brady has consistently done more with less than most quarterbacks around the league; thus, it seems silly to "penalize" him when Pioli finally gets him some CERTIFIABLE STUDS to whom to heave the pigskin...

Oso
The other 3 were won by their defense.

Bigalke
That's my point. Before he had all that he has now, he was just a part of a team.

Meanwhile, as Kelly Monaco distracts me FURTHER...didn't think I knew, did you Hlly??? LOL
Let's just leave the debate this way: Brady=best for NOW; Montana, Elway, Marino=best for ALL TIME.
That settle things??

Great blog.

It's one of the conundrums of comparison-- it is skewed towards those achieving today because it's done largely on today's scales with no equalization factors brought in. When someone takes the time and energy to standardize everything, the comparisons become much more obviously balanced-- Gone with the Wind is STILL the highest grossing film of all time (Titanic is something like 6th or 7th), Walter Peyton is STILL a greater back than Emmitt Smith, teams playing in the AFL would demolish most of the teams playing today (and THOSE guys had day jobs!), etc.

Until one of the talking heads takes the time to do some research and weigh all the factors you mention (O-Line, receivers, staff, etc.), as much as many of us hate it, Brady will be the golden child. And none of them are going to do that-- it's entirely too much work and will take them off the air for too long...

And Joe Germaine has a ring?! Whose practice squad is he on, because he's not too good (And I say this as a die-hard Buckeye...)

Marino has nothing but records and a Superbowl loss to show for his career,so your telling me if you were a fan of the Dolphins you would rather sit through season after season of no Superbowl wins but great stats with Marino than 3 wins and possible the 4th this year with Brady,no comparison Brady is already better than him and he's still got a lot of years left.If he gets his 4th this year it will be arguable that he is the best quarterback ever.

buck-i-girl
Germaine was a back up with the Rams.

Callahan
That's exactly what the blog was about. INDIVIDUAL accomplishment. Marino never was surrounded with the pieces to do any better. No defense, no running back, and still got it done. He did a lot more with a lot less.

DC
Agreed. The latest. Not the greatest.

Man, I don't like that the Pats are the team of the to beat. That's just cuz the Bears and the Pats was in SB together And the Pats have gone on to become a dynasty. And the Bears are just... while you know that story.

But, you can not discredit what Brady has done. Just look at his accuracy . Its o of the best in NFL history. If you want to rate a QB the only stat that you can do that with is that.
And with that being said. If he wins the SB this year. I will dub him the greats QB of all time. Over Farve,Mario,and Montana. For the simple fact that none of them has a undefeated season. I don't care about the O-line. the QB is the single most important position on a football team.

Dre
I'm n ot taking anything away. I'm simply saying that other quarterbacks have done more with a lot less. He's accurate because he can take an hour to throw.

I would not put Favre and Manning in that mix, only one ring. I also would not put Marino in, no rings. Rings are what its all about, In my view anyway. The greatest of all time happens to be Montanna, but Brady is very close and he has plenty of time to pass him by.

Callahan
That's exactly what the blog was about. INDIVIDUAL accomplishment. Marino never was surrounded with the pieces to do any better. No defense, no running back, and still got it done. He did a lot more with a lot less.
Hllywd | 01/12/08

I beg to differ,he had a great receiving corp, they were even knicknamed
"The Smurfs".

Michiganfan
You can't be serious. If you are, you don't know what you're talking about. Marino NEVER had a 1000 yard rusher. They NEVER put a defense around him.The team was totally one dimensional. Defenses didn;t have to be aware of a run, so play action was useless. Read the blog. A ring is about the team as a whole unless you play tennis or golf. Brady's best year has been 28 touchdowns. This year he throws 50? Maybe he was dogging it for 6 years. Acknowledge Welker and Moss.

I heard Deion Sander say on Steven A. Smith's radio show the other day that this one season makes Brady better than Manning. I couldn't stop laughing. If you look at the two seasons it is obvious that Manning's was better. Tom Brady played almost every snap of every game. Peyton only played a about a possession each in the final two games that year. Plus Manning had a 1000 yard back. Maroney is capable of that, but he never got the ball to run it. The Pats ran up the score every game, and that is the only reason his stats are so good.