Column

Brady close to best ever, but not quite there yet

By GARY SHELTON, Times Sports Columnist
Published February 3, 2008

Tom Brady throws against the Chargers during the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 20. Brady, at age 30, is 14-2 in playoff games.
	[Getty Images]

ADVERTISEMENT Super Bowl XLII Romano: Searching for truth behind Eli's fast rise Desert dual dissected Giants look for cracks in line It's easier to fight the urge to burn cash on free agents Romano & Shelton: We'll take the Pats Spygate II? Pats deny they taped Rams in '02 Super Bowl TV schedule Top 5 Super Bowl teams Johnny Unitas set the league standard for playing quarterback. Joe Montana redefined the standard.

PHOENIX -- The idea of it has spread like the latest gossip. The conclusion has moved as rapidly as the newest slang.

And still, my fingers struggle to type the words.

Tom Brady is …

I want to agree. Really I do. I like Brady as much as the next guy. I admire excellence as much as anyone. Like everyone else, I want to believe that no one has seen the kind of magic that Brady has shown us lately.

… the greatest quarterback …

Around me, very bright people are taking turns tossing superlatives at him. Others are preparing for a coronation. And still, my mind cannot wrap itself around the simple proclamation.

… of all time.

He is 30 years old,  perhaps a little more than halfway through his career, and some people cannot wait to declare him to be history's best. He throws. He thinks. He says "Aw, shucks." Then he wins some more. If you could gather all of the great quarterbacks of all time, there are some who swear that Brady should be seated at the head of the table.

Ah, silly me.

I want to see a little more evidence.

Let's agree on this: Brady is amazing. He is a great player on a great team having a great season. I get that. He is better than he was in his last Super Bowl, and better then than in the one before that, and better than anyone ever suspected he would be.

But is he good enough to make you forget about Johnny Unitas?

Is he good enough to nudge Joe Montana out of the way?

Is Brady better than everybody?

No, not yet.

We live in a present-tense world. We can view so many angles of greatness and compose so many ways to describe it. It doesn't take long for the talk to get to the phrase "best-ever." Hesitate, and there are those who will call you a grumpy old man who prefers quarterbacks who played before color television. Why, aren't the players bigger? Isn't the game better? Isn't the greatness greater?

When it comes to being a legend, isn't Brady the deluxe model?

Mind you, part of Brady's charm is that he seems so convinced that, really, he isn't that charming at all. America likes its quarterbacks to come from humble beginnings and to stay that way. And so it is that when other quarterbacks come into the conversation, Brady is willing to wait his turn.

"Those guys as far as I'm concerned are in a league of their own," Brady said last  week. "Joe Montana. Steve Young. Brett Favre. John Elway. Dan Marino. Terry Bradshaw. Roger Staubach. Those are the guys when you are a quarterback in the league now, you are looking at those guys as the guys who led the way for you. Joe Namath. I mean these guys, you still watch film of those guys and see the greatness of their play."

After a 50-touchdown pass season, after an 18-0 run, on the verge of a fourth Super Bowl title, doesn't Brady belong in that group?

"I don't think so at all," Brady said.

"This is my eighth season. I have so much football to play."

The truth is that, yes, Brady has worked his way into the conversation. Want to hear the ultimate test of his greatness? He has salvaged the reputation of his coach, Bill Belichick.

I know, I know. Most people give Belichick the credit for discovering Brady and sticking with him. But consider this: Before Brady took over in the third game of the 2001 season, Beli­chick  was 41-57 in the regular season, and  1-1 in the playoffs. Since then, Belichick is 86-24 in the regular season, 14-2 in the playoffs. So who made whom?

Oh, scouts will tell you that Brady is a fine athlete, but he doesn't quite have the raw tools of, say, Elway. He doesn't have Marino's release or Favre's arm or Young's feet.

Like Montana, however, Brady shows you there is more to playing quarterback than scouting reports. Brady is a great competi­tor, a great leader. He has won with different assistant coaches, with different receivers, with different backs.

Want to know how good Brady is? Think about today's Super Bowl. Who else is bigger? If the Giants have a chance, it is by harassing Brady and getting him out of rhythm.

Yes, Brady is better than good. If you want to compare him to the Hall of Fame quarterbacks of the Super Bowl era, I would rate him better than Young, Namath, Troy Aikman, Dan Fouts, Bob Griese, Sonny Jurgensen, Warren Moon or Fran Tarkenton. Yes, I would rate him better than Elway. Yes, I would rate him better than Marino.

That leaves two guys. It leaves Unitas, the guy who invented the position, and Montana, the guy who perfected it. Brady may catch them yet, but he has some more work to do.

Best ever? No. For now, Brady is only third.

Check back in a couple of years, won't you?

Gary Shelton can be reached at gshelton@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 3, 2008, 01:41:34]