6. Tom Brady– The first half of the list comes to an end today. Who I’m about to discuss now shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. He has the most appearances out of any other football player ever to be on this list with this being his ninth. I felt the title of this was perfect, what more can I say? It’s time for a GOAT viewing. Tom Brady once again is back and checks in as my sixth best player right now entering the 2019 season, the third quarterback revealed so far and my second-best quarterback overall.
Writing this guy off is a thing that people love to do. I love the way he thinks because he thrives more off the haters and negative talk. I remember the interview he gave CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson after their playoff win against the Los Angeles Chargers and he said it himself: “Everyone thinks we suck, and we can’t win any games, so we’ll see”. He may have not had the greatest season last year, but he showed up when he needed to and that was on the biggest stage in January when it mattered the most. What stood out to me was the final game of the regular season against the New York Jets and how laser focused he looked as the playoffs approached. Then, came the game against the Chargers in the divisional round and he carved them up. He had the cleanest jersey on the field because the offensive line did such a great job of protecting him. His best moment of the season in my opinion came against the Kansas City Chiefs in that epic AFC championship game because when you needed him to make a big-time throw, as always, he delivered. The best pass I saw him make was a dart over the middle to Julian Edelman. You don’t have a safety up top, that’s basically asking for him to throw it to the middle and he did. As he’s gotten older, the one thing that’s stood out has been his footwork. He’s a lot craftier now than he was early on in his career. I understand he’s never been that mobile guy, but he’s always been able to move around within the pocket. Next to Drew Brees, he’s the absolute best when it comes to spreading the football around. You can think he’s looking one way; he’ll fool your defense completely and let it fly. Who said the drop off was coming once he hit his 40’s? Let’s look at what he’s accomplished since he joined the 40 club. In 2017, he won the league’s MVP award becoming the oldest player in NFL history to win it then he turned around and helped the Patriots advanced to their eighth Super Bowl, the most ever started by a quarterback. Last year was his age 41 season and he got back to the Super Bowl for the third straight season and ninth time in his career. Although he didn’t look his sharpest in the big game, he came away on top with another victory in the Super Bowl, his sixth ring.
The accolades simply speak for themselves: He’s won the most playoff games in NFL history (30), he’s started in the most playoff games in league history (42), he’s won three MVP’s and most importantly, the six championships. The greatest quarterback of all-time conversation is officially over now, and I can explain. Joe Montana was great, but he won his four rings with the same group of receivers. Tom on the other hand has had a different set of pass catchers for each of his six rings. Appreciate the greatness we are seeing right now.
