DEBATE - Tom Brady: Great Quarterback or OVER-rated?

Actually, I think Brady is one of the best Quarterbacks in the league. However, many disagree with me so we'll talk if hes as great as people call him now or....*gasp*...hes overrated.

Is Brady great or overrated?

He is neither great nor overrated. And that's not to say he couldn't become either of those. But right now, he's a consistently good performer on a talented team.

tony b.

I agree. He has done great things in the few years that he's been in the spotlight but he certainly isnt great. But I dont think that the average football fan feels that he is great. Therefore I dont think he is overrated. He is simply a very good quarterback... Period.

Brady is decent, but I wouldn't call him great. He has the ability to perform well under pressure and when it counts, but I believe that he's the product of the Belichick system. I think that if you take him out of that system, he's between an average to above-average QB. He's still 27, and has many, many years left in his career. As always, only time will tell if he can continue to propel the Patriots to greatness.

If anything, he's underrated. No one has been prepared to compare him to the great QB's until very recently and if he gets this third ring he has every right to be put in the same catagory as the best. What makes his achievements even better is the fact he hasn't had the top receivers some of the greats have had.

I agree completely - name one all pro receiver he has had in his short career. The great Super Bowl quarterbacks (by these I mean Montana, Bradshaw, Aikman) all had stars to throw to. He may not be flashy or possess the greatest stats, but he does the most important thing and wins. That being said, I would love to see McNabb get a little recognition of his own and upset the Pats.

He is a little short of being what I would consider "great." I would compare him to Troy Aikman, who had 3 rings but wasn't a league-leading QB. Yet Aikman found a way to win, albeit with more weapons than Brady had in Brady's 2 Super Bowl wins.

But it's hard to argue with two rings, and probably a third. Brady is not the least bit overrated IMO. He simply makes plays when his team needs them to be made. I guess he's a "victim" of the system he's in - he'll never put up the gaudy stats of a Manning, Marino, or Steve Young. But somehow he wins and wins, so maybe he is great after all.

I was listening to ESPN radio this morning, and they did a segment on how Bill Walsh rated the QBs of the NFL "Dynasties" of the 60's thru the present:

1960's; Green Bay Packers, Bart Starr
1970's: Pittsburgh Steelers, Terry Bradshaw
1980's: San Franscisco 49ers, Joe Montana
1990's: Dallas Cowboys, Troy Aikmen
Present: New England Patriots, Tom Brady

Walsh rated them as follows:

1) Montana
2) Bradshaw
3) Aikman
4) Brady
5) Starr

To me, football is the quintessential "team" game. Teams have won Super Bowls with the likes of Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson, while other greats such as Dan Marino have never won a ring.

Based on that, I'd say that Brady is neither over or under-rated. He's right where he should be: A very good, but not all-time great, QB.

If a Matt Hasselback or a Drew Brees or a Trent Green or even a healthy Chad Pennington were on the Pats this year, would the Pats be any worse?

Now why is Brady one of the best in the league?

Among other things, hes a WINNER.

But Brady is improving everyyear as a Quarterback. Going to his 2nd Pro Bowl this year(his first was back in 2001 and barely missing out back in 2002) check out his career stats out of 64 career games(excluding his non-existing rookie season where he attempted only three passes for a total of 6 yards):

Comp. Att PCT YDS Y/A TD INT
2001 264 413 63.9 2843 6.9 18 12
2002 373 601 62.1 3764 6.3 28 14
2003 317 527 60.2 3620 6.9 23 12
2004 288 474 60.8 3692 7.8 28 14
ALL 1243 2018 61.6 13925 6.9 97 52

Also, take note of this:

Seasons among the league's top 10(Rankings)

Pass attempts: 2002-3, 2003-5
Completions: 2002-4, 2003-6
Passing yards: 2002-6, 2003-6, 2004-10
Passing TDs: 2002-1, 2003-10, 2004-6
Adjusted yards per pass: 2003-8, 2004-8

Adding his two Super Bowl MVPs, and this being only Brady's 5th season in the NFL, what else may come?

Anyway, I don't think hes the best QB in the NFL though. ole Peyton Manning is the top dog of his position for sure. Here, in no specific order, is my Top 10 Quarterbacks in the NFL(At the Moment):

Brett Favre - Packers
Peyton Manning - Colts
Tom Brady - Patriots
Donovan McNabb - Eagles
Michael Vick - Falcons
*Drew Bledsoe - Bills
Dante Culpepper - Vikings
Marc Bulger - Rams
Trent Green - Cheifs
Chad Pennington - Jets

Honorable Mention: Aaron Brooks - Saints, Drew Brees - Chargers, Matt Hasslebeck - Seahawks, David Carr - Texans, Byron Leftwich - Jaguars, Steve McNair(when healthy) - Titans, Carson Palmer - Bengals, and of course..."Big Ben" Roethlisberger - Steelers.

*Okay, why did I put Bledsoe on my Top 10? While his 2003 season was mediocre, he had a pretty decent good season as he led the slowly-improving Buffalo Bills as would-be playoff contenders that didn't quite make it, but look out for them. Anyway, Bledsoe was in the Pro Bowl in 2002 so its not like hes over the hill. Besides being a consistently good Quarterback throughout his career, hes the only other "top" Quarterback at the moment that has 10+ seasons of NFL experience besides Brett Favre.

Now back to Brady, I think that one other reason why Mr. Brady is getting alot of attention is sorts why a guy like "Broadway" Joe Namath was back in his day....Brady is a superstar. Hes got the youth, looks, and a chick magnet. Of course my wild theory is that many male fans hate Brady because their female spouses have a secret crush on him. Hey, just a theory...

It is rare to see my all time favorite - Bart Starr - considered an all time great QB. He was an extremely accurate passer that did what a great QB needs to do - win. His teams won the first 2 Super Bowls (he was MVP in both)and 3 NFL titles before they had Super Bowls, as well as one other appearance in the championship game. Couple this with the fact that he played in an era when the QB called the plays. I think the more recent player that reminds me of Starr is Aikman. Almost never lead the league in any statistical catagory, but leads in the most important catagory - championships.

Exacto-mundo, Don Marco.

With one of the lowest payrools in the NFL I have to say Tom bRADY is one of the best qb's in the leauge, and hes only 27 years old.

I would say that Brady is a great QB. I don't know if I would say he's a great PASSER, but being a quarterback involves so much more than passing the ball. The guy is just cool, like how Montana was cool. When you take a guy like Manning (who is my second favorite player behind the Bus), when things go wrong he gets the "Manning face" when he looks all upset and bewildered. When things don't go the Patriots' way, you don't see Brady looking upset.

He's been great on the Patriots, but I wonder if you put him on another team how successful he'd be. He's in a very good situation.

The kids only 27 and hes ot 3 rings man. enough said.

Brady is a good quarterback, but I do think he is a little overrated. When I was watching the Super Bowl with my dad he said that Brady is the best quarterback in the NFL. I said how do you figure? and he said it was him who brought them to the Super Bowl, giving him sole responsiblity. I personally think Peyton Manning is 3 times as good and that he would have led the Colts to the Super Bowl if they had a decent defense. If New England had the Colts defense, they wouldn't have made it and they wouldn't have won. Personally, his team helps him out a lot.

Fact is, Brady is a HOF lock like 5 years into his career. 3 championships and two Super Bowl MVPs. Undefeated in the playoffs. Amazing.

True!

I would take him over any other QB in the NFL today.

I would agree in part and disagree in part. He's in a low-risk, avoid mistakes type of system. But he still has to make plays when called upon. He does that and then some. But Brady is not glamorous like Favre, Manning or Marino. He's more of an Aikman or Montana-type: efficient and mobile when necessary. At least mobile enough to sense the pocket collapsing.

I don't view Brady as a true 'system' quarterback because of his field presence. Certainly not like obvious system QBs like Jeff Garcia and Kurt Warner. It's obvious that Garcia can only function in a West Coast offense. Kurt Warner is (or was) only truly effective on artificial turf in a quick read, 3 step drop system, with a versatile RB and 2 go-to WR. Look at Warner in NY - Barber is nowhere what Faulk was and NY's WR are a joke compared to Bruce & Holt.

Brady is a damn good quarterback, and that's the bottom line. Someone said he isn't the best pure passer, which may be true, he's not Joe Montana, but he can command a football team (as opposed to, say, Drew Bledsoe).

Plaw, I just can't agree with your assessment of Bledsoe, being an avid Bills fan. I supported Drew when he came, and he had a great year in 2002, but we all saw in 2003 that he has a.) lost the speed of the game b.) can't think in the pocket c.) has terrible consistency.

He could throw a perfect spiral for 35 yards into triple coverage to Moulds and have him come up with the ball, and the next play, a short route to Lee Evans wide open on a screen play and he'd miss him but about 7 yards, his pass would hit the turf like a dud.

While he worked to improve his mobility in the pocket, he wasn't able to develop along with the O-line, which, while starting terribly, finished 2004 as probably the most improved portion of the team. Bledsoe had time. He couldn't even get it done against Pittsburgh's 3rd team.

Lastly, if we look at it from the weakest link POV, we can see the QB position is out for sure.

Defense - Solid outings, with Terrence McGee beginning his shift to a speed corner. Nate Clements and Troy Vincent were also strong (after Vincent moved to FS). Takeo Spikes showed in the Bengals game why is his one of the best OLB's in the league, and arguably can read the quarterback better than 98% of the backs in the league. The Bills defensive line was a run-stopping machine with big Sam Adams rejuvenating his career.

Run Offense - Even with the Bills oft-mediocre offensive line, the transition from Travis Henry to Willis McGahee proved that McGahee is going to be a star.

Receivers: Lee Evans as a deep-threat. Eric Moulds, former Pro Bowler, is still here. And Mark Campbell had a decisive year until his knee got wrenched.

Pass Offense: Duh.

Then again, whatever Brady would be good if he was outside of New England's system.....he would be pretty decent. I mean look at Joe Montana in Kansas City. Not exactly the Ole Joe we knew(but thats kinda unfair since his injuried slowed him down).

I think by the time hes done, Brady will pull very good statistical rankings that will only cushion him along with his Pro Bowls, Super Bowl MVPs, and of course, the rings when his bust goes on display at Canton, Ohio in the future.

QUESTION - which first-time eligible QB in 2006 deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame more? Warren Moon(Career leader in professional football in Passing Yards plus 9 Pro Bowls) or Troy Aikman(3 Super Bowl rings?)

Warren Moon. About Tom Brady, when you win 3 super bowls in 4 years, it's hard to say you're overrated.

I contend that Aikman & Brady are very similar. They never put up gaudy Marino/Manning-like stats, but they won. Both Troy & Tom won Super Bowls in 3 of 4 seasons. That's mighty impressive. For that reason, I would give Aikman the nod over Moon. But that's not to take away from Moon b/c he had a great career even BEFORE coming to the NFL. But the knock on Moon is that he never consistently won the big games or brought his team back in the 4th quarter regularly.