[QUOTE=storyteller0910]
With all due respect, this makes absolutely no sense. So in order to be a top flight quarterback, he has to play on a bad team? Hypothetically, if he’s the best quarterback ever, he’ll keep his teams in playoff contention on his own merits. Frankly, all this stuff about how Brady has good players around him and a good coach, and therefore can’t be considered really great, is ridiculous.
Joe Montana threw to the best wide receiver who has ever played. His second WR was first Dwight Clark and then John Taylor, both of whom were at least as good as Willie Welker, and his tight end (mostly Brent Jones) was a much more dangerous downfield receiver than Ben Watson. Montana’s halfback was one of the great under-rated multipurpose backs who ever played, and certainly a better player than any running back Brady has had so far. His fullback was (with Moose Johnston) one of the guys who changed public perception of the fullback position; he was a dangerous receiver and as good a run blocker as most offensive lineman. And Montana played for most of his career behind an offensive line that was good, athletic, and mean - guys like Bubba Paris, Guy McIntyre, and Randy Cross. And where Brady’s coach is of course brilliant but is primarily known for defensive acumen, Montana’s coach for the bulk of his career was the guy who invented modern offensive football.
Terry Bradshaw played with three Hall of Fame offensive skill position players (Swann, Stallworth, Harris), behind an excellent offensive line, and with a defensive routinely mentioned among the best there ever was. His coach was Chuck Noll.
Johnny Unitas was throwing for most of his career to Ray Berry and John Mackey. His offensive line included Jim Parker, who a couple of people will tell you was the greatest offensive lineman ever. His coaches were Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula.
Those three guys are most commonly mentioned as “the greatest ever.” All three had coaches just as good as Belichek (and certainly Walsh was more of an asset to a quarterback than Belichek is). And all three actually had far more offensive talent at their disposal than Brady has now (this was certainly the case before this year, but I’d say it’s pretty clearly the case even now. Matt Light is a good football player, but he’s not Jim Parker. Ben Watson is a good football player, but he’s not John Mackey. And Randy Moss is a tremendous weapon, but he’s not Jerry Fucking Rice).
Thing is - Brady’s really, really good. It’s not the weapons; it’s him. In the Jags game this week, there was a play where the Jaguars coverage was just brilliant. Every receiver was covered, and well. Ben Watson ran a pattern into the endzone; feinted toward the sideline, then turned back toward midfield. The defensive back barely bought the feint at all; he turned with Watson. Because Watson knew he’d be cutting back and his defender did not, Watson had an head start of maybe one half of one second. But that’s all that was needed, because Brady had anticipated the break and put the ball on a rope. Watson turned around and the ball was in his hands. There aren’t ten quarterbacks in football who could have made that throw, just physically; there aren’t five who would have, given the circumstances involved. And there aren’t any who can and do make three or four similarly perfect throws, without mistakes, in every game.
By the way - if your idea of entertaining football viewing does not include a pass like the one I described above, I don’t understand you one bit.
[/QUOTE]
Geez, nice speech; overreact much? You could’ve saved a few paragraphs had you avoided the strawman you built regarding the false dilemma/inaccurate characterization of a QB having to be on a shitty team to pass my HOF muster.
All I’m saying that it’s more difficult to ascertain the extent of Brady’s greatness when he’s locked in a precision system like NE’s. I feel the same way about Montana (and I was a big 49ers fan up until that York fucker). Let’s see Brady do it without a net.
