January 30, 2014

Brady versus Manning

The sports websites and airwaves are constantly full of the Brady v. Manning question. Anytime a sportswriter pens a story about Manning, the Bradyphiles go bezerk and in typical New England-I-think-I'm-Better-than-you fashion regale us with how Brady is superior to Manning. A person can never discuss Peyton Manning at all with one of these guys around, because it always has to be Brady or else. Now those of us with common sense will acknowledge we are in the era of great quarterbacks. We will rightly point out that the Patriot championships were due to a strong defense, something Manning never had in Indianapolis. Why does one have to be better? They are unique in their own way.

Bradyphiles always point to Championships as the end-all-be-all argument for the "greatest quarterback ever" somehow ignoring the greatness of Dan Marino (zero, zip, nadda Superbowl wins). Of course they also ignore the idea that if the number of rings is the only measure, than they must bow down before the greatness that is Terry Bradshaw (4). 

Now those idiots who claim Peyton Manning needs to win another championship to cement his legacy have no clue. Manning is now and will be one of the greatest quarterbacks in any era. There is no disputing this fact, whether he wins Sunday or not. If all we counted for greatness was the number of Big Games a quarterback won,  we would argue Eli is better than Peyton, and Ben Roethlisberger is superior to Marino or Brett Favre. Or even more ridiculous, that Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer were better than Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.

3 comments:

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

What the Bradyphiles leave out is the fact that their hero is a cheating scumbag.

diamond dave said...

Just to start an argument here I'll put in my personal favorite as all-time greatest - Dan Marino. Why the man who could only take his team to one Super Bowl and lose? Because of the impact he brought to the modern passing game. Because of the fact that the sometimes-ordinary Dolphin teams were made so much better and were always contenders with Marino at the helm. Because Marino was not so much blessed with great receivers as he was blessed for making good receivers look great. Because Marino's arm and legendary ability to get rid of the ball in an eyeblink struck fear and respect into even the best pass defenders. Because...oops, got carried away. Let the arguments commence.

Brady & Manning? Both have cemented their statuses as future HOFers regardless of what they do from here on out, short of raping children or some similar atrocity, and pretty much can lay out most of the same claims that I did in favor of Marino. Both are invaluable to their teams, particularly Manning who almost singlehandedly got the Broncos to where they are today. Both overcame near-career-ending injuries to return to top form. Brady may technically have the edge in championships, but even in his advancing age I think Manning is the better pure passer.

Having said all that, out of the two I still prefer Manning.

Scott said...

I was wondering if you had the address for Tom Brady Children's Hospital. I want to make a contribution...

Consider everything here that is of original content copyrighted as of March 2005
Powered By Blogger