Former QBs are Arguing Tom Brady is Not the GOAT. How are We Still Having This Conversation?

A lot is being made today of this clip of Trent Dilfer saying he's "not impressed" by modern day quarterbacks because it's "super easy" to play the position because they don't get hit the way they used to and you can't reroute their receivers the way you could back in the day. And I get it. He was talking to an older group of QBs  and wanted to say nice things about them. In that way you'd tell some Greatest Generation guys what badasses they were because they had it so much tougher than the pampered simps of today. And in that way, there's no lie in his words. Early NFL Films footage on the mayhem inflicted on guys like Ken Stabler or Roger Staubach is all the proof you need. The sort of ultraviolence that gets you flagged, fined and suspended in the 2020s used to get you a new contract and a bonus. 

That said, he can't possibly believe Tom Brady isn't the best there has ever been. Even grading on the curve of how much physical abuse these guys took on a weekly basis decades ago, his record of success towers over his peers - past or present - to the point it blocks the sun. No matter how much you want to show respect for the QB Greatest Generation. 

But what is David Carr's excuse? He of the 23-56 career W-L record. The man with 65 touchdowns and 71 interceptions, just compared Brady, not to some quarterbacks from a bygone era, but one of his contemporaries. And found him lacking. 

And predictably, Carr dug in to weather the Category 5 shitstorm that made Twitter landfall. A lot of the wind coming from an astonishing number of people who agree with him:

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Now, to be fair to Carr, he did say one thing I do agree with:

Far be it for me to argue with a man publicly declaring Bill Belichick as the coaching GOAT. But here I am. 

Really, out of a sense of gratitude as much as anything else. Because arguing the Brady vs. Manning thing has become a part of my past. Something I was done with. Then my fellow Barstool NFL writers came to me with Carr's Tweet. They asked me to suit up and ride once again. "No," I said. "I put all that behind me. I'm through with that life. I've moved on. I think you fellas oughta move on, too." 

But they kept insisting. It's important, they said. I was as good as they come, and Brady needs me. So I sipped a belt of whiskey. Slowly opened my laptop. And after a long drag on my cigarette, with the butt still on lips said, "I'm getting too old for this shit …" And here we are. 

First, let's see how good this steel beauty feels in my hands. I haven't fired it in anger since August of 2021:

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Even when you give Manning credit for winning their last two postseason meetings - which I do, since the Lombardi he went on to win after the last one in 2015 counts just as much as all the others - those wins were like closing the gap toward the end of a race where you're losing by 10 laps. 

In their careers going head-to-head, Brady was 11-6. Meaning if you made a composite of the two over their entire careers and plugged them into 2021's 17-game season, Brady's 11 wins would probably win half the divisions in the league. Against a guy most of the country argued is the better quarterback while he was still playing. 

Furthermore, in their matchups, Brady posted a 92.8 passer rating, to Manning's 87.7. 

And before you give me that tired "But Manning didn't get the benefit of playing in New England" cliche, consider difference in pure talent they had around them. 

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… And, it should be pointed out, at least half of Manning's games over 13 seasons were played in hermetically sealed, climate controlled comfort. Look at their career numbers through these lenses, and the chasm between them becomes vast enough to make Evel Knievel piss his cape. 

But the postseason is where all attempts to compare the two become laughable. Via Pro Football Reference:

One has the record for QB wins that will never be broken. The other has the record for QB losses that will never be broken. One has  a record seven rings. The other has a record eight playoff one & dones. Even the passing stats, which is supposed to be the strength of the Manning argument, are either close or Brady has the edge. But where it counts, where success is measured, they're not in the same universe.

Welp, I gotta admit, I'm a little rusty. Using muscles I haven't used in a while, and I'm gonna be sore tomorrow. But it felt good to be back in the action. Especially updating those postseason numbers to include his games from his last three games.

So thanks to both Dilfer and Carr. It's starting to come back to me. And I'll be ready the next time someone is feeling brave and foolish enough to ride against the one true GOAT.