The New England Patriots dramatic last minute victory over the Seattle Seahawks in SuperBowl 49 on Sunday has now sparked the debate, is Tom Brady the best quarterback of all time?
Brady, with arguably his greatest performance ever, took the plaudits and the SuperBowl MVP award home after the victory, passing for four touchdowns in the win.
With a start in the match Brady took the record for most SuperBowl appearances as a player and soon equalled his hero, and the man he is in competition with for the title of ‘best ever quarterback’, Joe Montana, with his 11th SuperBowl touchdown.
That came early in the fourth quarter with New England down ten points, to cut the deficit to three, and soon Brady had overtaken his idol with touchdown pass number 12 to receiver Julian Edelman with two minutes and two seconds remaining.
This marked Brady’s fourth game-winning drive in his sixth SuperBowl, with his ability to produce in the most high pressure situations setting him apart from other great quarterbacks.
Montana and Terry Bradshaw’s benchmark of four SuperBowl victories as a quarterback has now been equalled by Brady, and once he returns from his post-season holiday he will surely set his focus on breaking that record next season.
One factor in Montana’s favour over Brady is that, like Michael Jordan in NBA Finals, Montana never lost in any of his four SuperBowl appearances, going a perfect 4-0.
However, in two of those appearances Montana was passing to the widely accepted greatest NFL wide receiver in history, Jerry Rice.
But Brady, in comparison, has had very few weapons of note to throw to in his career as Bill Belichick, head coach of the Patriots, has always been an exceptional defensive mind.
It is therefore remarkable that Brady has had consistent success throughout his career and has done so much with so little surrounding him ability-wise, without even a truly great running back to speak of.
In his career Brady has only had two seasons with a true superstar to throw the ball to, Randy Moss in 2007 and 2009 – Brady tore his ACL in the first game of the 2008 season – which produced one of the unluckiest SuperBowl losses in history in the first of those two seasons.
That game in 2007 saw David Tyree make a near-impossible one-handed catch by clutching the ball to his helmet in mid-air in the final few minutes before the New York Giants went on to score the game winning touchdown in the final minute.
On Sunday, under the guidance of Bill Belichick from the sidelines and their leader on the field, Brady, the Patriots came back from their ten point deficit to take the lead, before they thought lightning was about to strike twice.
That previous loss occurred in the same stadium eight years ago, and this produced another miraculous moment, as Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson’s pass was tipped it bounced off both the Seattle receiver and Patriot defender without hitting the ground before the receiver, Jermaine Kearse, finally caught the ball five yards from the goal-line.
Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch ran the ball to the one yard line on the next play before unknown Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler made the game-winning interception with twenty seconds remaining to extend Brady’s legacy even further.
Many are still undecided in the Montana/Brady debate, but one thing is for certain, if Brady is to capture another ring before his career finishes, it will surely swing the argument in his favour.
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