Tom Brady is widely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, and rightfully so. In his 16-year NFL career, Brady has thrown for 58,028 yards (fifth all-time) and 428 touchdowns (third). He's also made 11 Pro Bowls (tied for 14th in NFL history and second among QBs) and his four Super Bowl victories are tied with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for the most ever.
Still, according to Brady himself, he actually does not belong among the list of the greats. Appearing on Westwood One prior to the Super Bowl, here's what Brady had to say about the subject (transcription via the fine folks at WEEI):
“That is a hell of a question and I wouldn’t put myself in there. I think there’s some incredible players that have played the position and a lot of guys do things differently to get the job done. You see different styles, different techniques. When you look at me being a fan of Joe Montana -- nobody ever did it better than Joe Montana. In a way he was like the Michael Jordan of football. The style and the grace and the beauty of what Joe’s style was, it never looked hard for Joe.
“Another one of my idols, Steve Young, who was one of the most gifted players to ever play. You look at Troy Aikman, the efficiency with the way he played. You look at Aaron Rodgers and the way that he’s playing and you can’t imagine another quarterback could play as flawlessly as a guy like Aaron Rodgers. Then you watch Russell Wilson play and you never could imagine someone could get out situations and make plays out of nothing like Russell Wilson. Then you watch Cam Newton play. You’re blown away by the different styles of all these different players that make this game so spectacular.
“I think of myself as kind of someone who has got to think my way through the game, has to understand coverages, anticipate things. I have to work my butt off all week and work really hard to get to the game feeling confident with what I am trying to accomplish and get down the field to score some points. I guess for me because I have to work so hard at it and try so hard at it, that’s part of enjoying it for me, but I look at other players and say, ‘Gosh, I wish I could make it look as easy as they make it look.'”
This should be sufficiently confusing for the Patriots fans that are sure to chime in in our comments section.
It seems likely that Brady's just being humble here, but it's definitely interesting to see what kind of names he puts on his own all-time list, being that it's so often a topic of discussion about his own career. And it's quite an eclectic list of players Brady chose.
Montana, of course, has those four Super Bowls. Young won one himself, and when he retired, he had the highest quarterback rating of all time. Aikman won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys but his numbers don't quite compare with the rest of the guys on the list. Rodgers is now the owner of the NFL's all-time best passer rating and has a Super Bowl to his name as well. Wilson has a Super Bowl and his QB rating is second only to Rodgers'. And Newton was the MVP this year and can do the kind of things on the field that Brady can't with his ability to take off and run.
