Super Sunday has come and passed, with the game more of a dub than anything else. A safety on the first play was probably one of the worst-case scenarios that could have happened other than Peyton Manning being captured before the coin toss. The Seahawks showed up and put the world on notice that they aren’t anything to mess with.
But after all that, now there are conspiracy theories about the game being fixed and players receiving outrageous amounts of money to tank. To those claims, I say — get a life and let’s move on to something that is being discussed more than ever, especially after Manning didn’t have his best game. Did that take away from his claim from being the best? Or is he even in the discussion?
Who is the greatest quarterback of all time? Is it Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Kelly or Manning? How do you even figure out who is the best? If we are going with Super Bowl wins, the greatest would have to be both Bradshaw and Montana, who both retired with unblemished 4-0 records in the big game. Of course, Brady and Troy Aikman both have guided their teams five times to the Super Bowl, but they only have five wins combined. Heck, Jim Kelly got his team to the Super Bowl four times, but he never got to kiss or hold the Lombardi trophy.
I do think Super Bowl wins are a huge factor in who is the GOAT, but I don’t think that is the only determining factor. We can’t forget stats, clutch plays, leadership and being a role model to the younger generation. But of course everyone is going to have their own criteria, which may or may not have any sort of bias. At the end of every year it seems this discussion is brought up, so I will give you my two pieces on it and who I believe is truly the greatest who has ever played the game.
It’s not Brett Favre. I never have been a fan of the ex-Packers signal caller, mainly because he always seemed to ruin the 49ers’ playoff run every year. He is joined in the top tier by Manning, Montana and Bradshaw, and I consider Bart Starr to be up there as well.
Love it or hate it, Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback who has ever played the game, and it truly has nothing to do with how many huge, shiny rings he has. It has a lot to do with what he has done with what he has had, especially this season. He truly is a disciple of Belichick, which means he is always making others who play with him better. This was very evident this year, as two of his top three receivers were gone and the other fought multiple injuries throughout the season.
It seems that every time in Brady’s life that he wasn’t supposed to flourish, he proved the doubters wrong. Being drafted in the sixth round makes him one of, if not the biggest draft steal every. He was often doubted in his college days at the University of Michigan, and even more so after he was coming back from his knee injury. With an ex-college quarterback as your leading receiver, I would say that Brady once again cemented his legacy as the best. The scary thing is that he still has a few more good years left in him. It will be interesting to see what he will be able to achieve.
