Tom Brady vs. Joe Montana: It Is On Like Donkey Kong

Montana;)

JOEY MONTANA JOEY MONTANA

Therefore, Montana over Brad, over Young Tied with Manning(s) and Dilfer over Dan Marino and Jim Kelly.

Cop out? No, accurate. Have seen both, extensively, and they are both on that elevated platform of The Best.
See nothing that clearly delineates one over the other. Both got it done. Both looked good doing it. Cool that one grew up watching the other.

because of the QB/Offense friendly rules of this era, and because Brady associates with known cheaters as coaches, kind of invalidates some of his accomplishments

managed to put up 14,000+ yards in the 1940s, well before the NFL ruined the game.

I’d take Joe with one game to win or at his peak. Brady has a chance to do more with the last few years of his career.

Both benefited from great coaching and teammates. Joe lost twice in the playoffs to a Belichick coached defense. Brady never had to face Bill Walsh. Joe also had Jerry for 6 years.

Brady needs to win at least this superbowl, Brady’s career win % is better, if he matches superbowl rings with Montana, then the debate should begin.

I agree with ericalancanty, but even if that is the case place Montana in this era in which receivers can’t be touched or harassed as much as in Montana’s era he would put up even larger numbers. Really done more with less? Try doing more with smaller windows and more uncalled defensive pass interference. It is absurd to place Brady over Montana the only thing that Brady will be better than Montana is the possibility of rings. Other than that place Montana the player in this era and there would be no debate, so I say really Brady over Montana because he has less weapons try less passer friendly league and vicious hits that were legal no freaking TOM BRADY RULE hitting below the knee. Montana took punishment and was still had amazing numbers

and no, it’s not close. Like not within nautical miles close.

This is not a stats thing. When did Brady throw four TD passes in an epic fourth quarter comeback victory while taking 6 sacks and generally being pulverized by the Reggie White powered dominating 1989 Eagles line? How many pics has Brady thrown in Super Bowls? Because Joe threw zero in four victories including dominating performances and thrilling comeback wins. When when did Brady ever beat the likes of a 5000 yards passing back when that actually meant something Marino in a Super Bowl?

And it wasn’t even his Super Bowls or even his victores that defined Joe. In the NFC championship in 83 against a heavily favored Redskins team, he threw 3 td passes to erase a 21 point 4th quarter deficit, only to see the team screwed on a bogus pass interference call on Wright. Even in the 86 washout when the 9ers were horribly overmatched against a utterly dominant Giants team with one of the best defenses in NFL history, Montana puts up what should’ve been a 50 yard TD pass on the opening drive before Rice inexplicably fumbles the ball out of the endzone. The team loses that game either way, but that shows the kind of moxie he had.

Then you take Brady who manages in his ‘record setting’ ‘most dominant’ year to guide his offense to 14 points against something less than the best defense a Superbowl has ever seen (for reference New England scored 10 against the 85 Bears).

Let’s just say I’ve never understood these comparisons. But that might have to do with me actually having seen Montana play.

and he continued to play, well just think about that.

1st of all Montana hands down no question. What if the 9ers drafted Tom? Would we be so hard on this guy. I mean he is from Cal and his favorite team was 9ers and his favorite player was MONTANA. I mean we would be calling him the greates of all times b/c we would still have Steve M. as head coach and we would have like 5 more SB and be consider the greates franchise ever. We fucked up not him he was choosen 199 over all. We had our chance with him but over looked him, I just hope that he beats the fuckin Giants and ELI. Right now in todays NFL Tom Brady is the GREATES QB just like MONTANA was the GREATEST back in his NFL.

I’m sorry but as great as Brady has played I can never look at his achievements as equal because of “Spy-gate.” It’s the most under covered sports controversy in the of the last decade. In an era of football that is designed to prevent the old Niners/Cowboys dynasties the Pats dominated with “less than everyone else.”

Walsh was never accused by one of his former coaches of taping practices and no former Niner employee ever came forward to confirm that “spying,” had been around for a long time. The Patriots and Brady’s postseason dominance began declining the same year the spygate stuff broke and they’ve haven’t been able to get over the hump since.

I’m not saying by any stretch that Brady is the product of a corrupt coaching organization. He’s great at his job and has obviously gotten better at it the longer he’s been in the league. Those first three rings though… are tainted IMO. Every analyst marveled at how Belichick could cut whatever players he needed to and just substitute another cog into the wheel without repercussions. Goodell swept the cheating allegations under the rug and slapped the Pats with a ridiculously small one-time monetary penalty. It wasn’t good for the league to have it’s top franchise’s legitimacy called into question along with one of it’s poster boy QB’s. Which leads me back to discussing Brady…

Has there ever been a player in the History of the NFL that has received more preferential treatment than Tom Brady? They changed the rules of the game because he tore up his knee for one season. I’m paraphrasing a caller I heard on KNBR, “Leonard Marshall would’ve have been ejected from the game and possibly kicked out of the league for what he did to Montana.” And JIm Burt and half of the 1980’s Bear D-line wouldn’t be far off in today’s game. It’s a different era for a softer, pass happy league and Tom Brady has been on the biggest benefactors.

The most damning praise for Brady’s legacy has to do with the signature moment that created it: The Tuck rule. The Patriot Dynasty and Brady’s rise to greatness hinges on faulty interpretation of a ridiculous rule that is designed to once again protect quarterbacks and hinder the defense that is trying to get to them. Montana has signature plays in the biggest moments of the biggest games that involve him doing something positive for his team. Montana’s legacy was created because he was scrambling away from pressure and Dwight made a great catch. Brady’s legacy was born out of a group of referees looking at replays for 20 minutes. And if Vinateri doesn’t actually come through with the clutch kicks there’s no legacy to speak of.

If I had to credit Tom Brady for one thing he has done in a Super which Joe Montana has not… It would be throwing an interception.

You can argue Montana had better teams. But the year the Patriots had debatably their best team, Randy Moss, Welker etc they choked in the playoffs.

Statistically Brady is a good match to Montana. However, here are my key points.

1) Montana never lost a Superbowl, nor has he thrown an interception in a superbowl, Brady has done so for both, this factors in the argument that football now favors the offense.

2) Brady has never been required to score a TD to win Superbowl in clutch situations. All his Superbowls have been won on field goals or lack of the opposing team’s offense to win the game. You can even extend that to playoff wins in general. Most of the playoff games he has won have never required him to make a last second comeback.

3) Brady has never blown out teams in the Superbowl in terms of offensive scoring. Montana has.

I know this doesn’t count and is purely hypothetical and with no disrespect to Steve Young, but had Montana played his whole career in SF, arguably he would have been there in 94 for that 5th superbowl win. Montana has been perfect in the postseason and its unlikely that that will be challenged anytime soon.

Now that does not take anything away from Brady. I would say Brady statistically has had the better numbers in regular season in terms of %s and interceptions. But the 2008 year is a perfect example that none of that matters when it comes to the playoffs and keeping cool under pressure. Now if Brady wins a 5th we can open the conversation up again. But in terms of playoff and Superbowl performance and overall career, Montana wins.