Peyton Manning is a very, very good quarterback. But he hasn’t come close to proving himself the best quarterback ever. He hasn’t even proved himself to be better than his contemporary, Tom Brady. Brady had an off season after losing the prior season to injury. But, Brady’s resume is much more impressive than Manning’s.
He has played in four Super Bowls, winning three of them (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX). He has also won two Super Bowl MVP awards (XXXVI and XXXVIII), has been selected to five Pro Bowls (and invited to six, although he declined the 2006 invitation), and holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season. Brady has the sixth-highest career passer rating of all time (93.3) among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 career passing attempts. He was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year in 2005. He also helped set the record for the longest consecutive win streak in NFL history with 21 straight wins over two seasons (2003-04).
Manning has won four Most Valuable Player awards and was the MVP of the one Super Bowl he has been to before today. His stats are incredible. But the test of a quarterback is in the playoffs. The Colts have won at least 12 games every year since 2003, but this is only their second Super Bowl appearance. Two of those years, it was Tom Brady’s Patriots that knocked the Colts out of the playoffs.
In my opinion, Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, followed by Tom Brady and John Elway. For Manning to move up the list, he must win today, and then win at least one more Super Bowl.
And Drew Brees ain’t chopped liver. That boy can play.
