Records or Super Bowls...The Manning/Brady Debate

Over the course of sports history there have been many great rivalries. Team rivalries such as Michigan/Ohio St, Red Sox/Yankees, and Lakers/Celtics come to mind. Individual rivalries such as Ali/Frazier and Navratalova/Evert were classics as well. The third kind of rivalry is between two individuals within the scope of a team game. Great ones include Magic/Bird, Chamberlain/Russell, and DiMaggio/Williams. This type is unique in that the two competitors do not have to match up directly against each other. The key is they are both great players on great teams that play each other in important games. The question then becomes how to you evaluate who is better? Do you look at their individual numbers or whose team wins? How are the numbers or wins skewed by the other members or the team?

The Brady/Manning comparison fits perfectly in this type of rivalry. They each play on one of the best teams in the AFC, have played each other numberous times over the years and are great QBs. They are similar ages, but have taken very different routes to where they are today. Peyton Manning was the number one overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. His father was an NFL quarterback and he was a top prospect since he was a sophomore in high school. He was handed the NFL Colt starting quarterback job from day one and has not relinquished it since.

Tom Brady was a somewhat unsung high school quarterback from Southern California, at least compared to Manning. He was the starting QB for two years at Michigan, but often had to deal with splitting time with the younger, more hyped prospect, Drew Henson. Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He did not start until early in the 2001 season when the starter, Drew Bledsoe was injured. He has been the New England starting quarterback since that time.

Peyton Manning is in his ninth NFL season. He has 259 career passing TDs with a lifetime 94.3 passer rating and over 35,000 passing yards. In 2004 he broke the single season passing TD record with 49. He is on pace to break every individual QB record out there. He has made six Pro Bowls. Manning has two MVP awards already and is a favorite this season to tie Brett Favre for the record with his third. In addition he has led his team to the playoffs the past four seasons, last year to the number one seed in the AFC.

Brady can not compare to Manning statistically, but only Dan Marino or Brett Favre can in the history of the game. Brady still has some impressive individual stats in his own right though. He has a career passer rating of 88.8 with 137 TDs and almost 20,000 passing yards. It is important to remember that he has been in the league two less years than Manning and a starter three years less. He has led the league in passing TDs and passing yards in different seasons and also made three Pro Bowls. Tom Bradys' true greatness though is not seen in regular season statistics, but through performance in the postseason.

Brady has an amazing 10-1 career record in the playoffs, with a 3-0 record in Super Bowls. He has two Super Bowl MVPs and engineered last second, game winning drives in two of his three Super Bowls victories. He has a 15-5 TD-INT ratio in the playoffs with two rushing TDs as well. He is the definition of clutch. Further proof of this can be seen in Bradys' days at Michigan. He had a 2-0 record in Bowl Games and a 2-0 record against Ohio St, who is Michigan's biggest rival biggest game of each season.

Manning has had trouble in big games over his college and pro career. When he attended the University of Tennessee he was winless against the University of Florida, their main rival. He did go 3-1 in his bowl appearances, but lost a blow-out to Nebraska in the 1998 Orange Bowl (National Championship Game). In addition, Tennessee won the National Title the year after he graduated. In the pros, Manning has a 3-6 record postseason record. He has a 15-8 TD/INT ratio, but that is misleading when you consider that he had nine TDs in two blow-out wins over Denver in 2003 and 2004 at home. In addition, last season the Colts were the overwhelming favorite to win it all and the they lost the Divisional Playoff game at home to Pittsburgh. Following the loss he called out his offensive line to the media on how they did not give him enough time and did not perform the correct protection schemes. That is something Brady would never do. He is notorious for trying to stay just "one of the guys." Proof of this is the contract he signed for six years and $60 million ($40 million less than Manning). He could have gotten more money, but did not want to cripple the franchise. He has had his offensive line in commercials with him and he has never called out a player for their play after a loss.

Their head to head matchups have been just as one sided as their postseason numbers. Brady is 6-1 vs Manning, with two wins in the postseason. Both of those wins were in New England under cold weather conditions. This is where the team aspect comes into play. No one would deny that Brady has had the better Head Coach in Bill Belicheck. Belicheck is an all time great. Tony Dungy is a good coach, but not on the level of Belicheck. In addition, Brady and the Patriots have had great defenses over the years, while the Colts have not. Manning though has had tremendous offensive skill players to work with. Manning has had the same offensive coordinator, wide receivers, and running back for the majority of his career, while Brady has gone through significant changes.

One thing that is true about both quarterbacks is that they are both warriors. Manning has started 144 consecutive games, while Brady has started 96 straight. They have similar dispositions on the field, to go with their matching competitiveness and desire. They are probably the two best QBs at running the two minute drill in the League today.

When these two QBs are compared people make sure to point out the Brady is only 29 and Manning is 30. Whatever they have done up to this point will only be a percentage of their entire careers. They each have about five or six years of prime seasons left where their legacies can change. I can't focus on it like that though. Who knows if Manning will ever win a Super Bowl? Marino never did. Elway only did once he got Terrell Davis and Mike Shanahan. You can't assume anything.

With that being the case you must look at Brady as having the leg up on Manning. Brady is along side of Montana and Bradshaw as QBs to win three or more Super Bowls. While Manning is putting up legendary numbers, until he does it in the big game there will always be doubters. This Sunday the sports world will all turn its attention to the Patriots versus the Colts at Gillette Stadium. The two players that will garner the most attention are the legendary QBs on each side. Will Brady continue his dominance in big games? Will Manning send a message to the world of greater things to come? In reality this game and match up will mean more in January if there is a rematch. For right now though this is as good as we got in QBs and sports.

• Frustrating note about writing a blog...I started this Thursday morning. By midday I saw that Michael Smith had wrote almost the same article on ESPN.com. To let out some of this frustration I will rip into part of his article. It pisses me off that he claims Brady and Manning will be the two best QBs of all time when it is set and done. THey have a lot of football still to play. I can rip into each of them to refute this but I won't. Instead I will say this...
• Joe Montana was 4-0 in Super Bowls. He threw 11 TDs and no interceptions in those games. He had a career passer rating of 92.3.
• Johnny Unitis called all of his own plays and threw a TD in 47 straight games.
• John Elway had 147 victories (all-time record) and an insane amount of 4th quarter drives to tie or win games. Not to mention two Super Bowl trophies...
• Brett Favre has played in 230 straight games. He has three MVPs and one Super Bowl MVP.

All of these QBs can make a claim to being the best QB ever. Lets at least let Manning and Brady finish their careers, and then we can debate where they fall in this prestigious group. The fact that Brady and Manning get to play against each other in their prime in big games though is something that not many other QBs get to experience.