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Wednesday, June 08, 2005Manning beats Brady in meaningless ranking systemCBS Sportsline listed its Top 50 NFL players today and they rated Peyton Manning as No. 1 with Tom Brady as No. 2. Now, if this was a Top 50 Fantasy League Players, I would have no beef. But how can you honestly rank Manning as a better player than Tom Brady? Manning is all of the stats with none of those pesky playoff wins that Tom Brady collects like stamps. Stats are not everything in sports (especially in football, where teams are often much better or worse than the sum of their parts) and winning is the only thing that is important in the long run. If Manning doesn't win a championship (very possible) and Brady wins a couple more (highly probable), then Manning will forever be remembered as a disappointment in much the way Marino was and Brady could be remembered as one of the greatest QBs in history (if not the greatest). Comments:"...Brady could be remembered as one of the greatest QBs in history..." He's already there, isn't he? I mean, three Superbowls - there are only three other men who can say that. Plus he's positively dreamy! Well, he is there...but theoretically if his career takes a nosedive, I can imagine he could end up a flash in the pan (which could take him out of the Unitas, Montana pantheon). He's had a nice career of course, but lost in all of the "everyman", "overacgieving" crap is that Brady is surrounded by a LOT of talent, and has had the best coaching staff in the NFL his entire career. He is certainly a great player, but I find it hard to think that Manninng is anything less than equal, and may well be better. Of everything Manning controls, which uniquely for him is the entire offense, his team is the best in the league at. He might not be the "leader" that Brady is, but Bonds isn't the leader that Jeter is. If you put Manning on the Patriots, do you really think they would have less championships? I doubt it personally. They certainly wouldn't have more(I'm looking at the last 4 years), but I think they have 3. If we put Brady on the Colts do they suddenly beat out Manning's Patriots for a title? Again, doubtful. I don't think they win the first one with Manning. They had the same team with Bledsoe (a poor man's Manning) and they weren't doing well because Bledsoe isn't the leader Brady is. I also don't think that Manning could have led the team in the same way the last two years (not that he couldn't win the Super Bowl either year, but I think it is less likely). Also, QBs are in the unique position in sports where they are considered responsible for a team's performance almost entirely...to the point where people will often ignore the coaches or the rest of the team. They obviously are not that responsible for the outcome of the game, but they are the face of the team and will always be held responsible for the fate of the team. Certainly, Brady has had much better coaching and a better defense, but the fact is he took to it in a way that he has led his team to 3 championships in his 4 years as a starter. This goes beyond the fact that Manning failing in the big games is a story that has haunted him since at least college. Until Manning actually wins one of those, I will never believe that he is even in Brady's league. One thing Manning has never been able to do is adapt to a defense that has learned how to adapt to him (ie the Patriots), while Brady adapts and VERY rarely makes a mistake. Manning may be the better passer, but Brady is by far the better quarterback. Well, that is the problem with talking football. It's not a zero-sum game, and that regard it is really the antithesis of baseball. I don't go in much for the "leadership" like Josh, but it is impossible to quantify the contribution of that left tackle or that receiver, and no one can know the value of that one downfield block, or how the coach's gameplan changes the entire makeup of a season. But if we're going to give it a shot, lets be honest. Manning has amazing talent as well - I'd argue more than Brady. The Patriots had nothing resembling a running game until this past season, whereas Manning has (or has had most of the time) a co-MVP in the backfield and the protection that goes with it. He's also had several very good receivers, including one of the top-3 in all of football over the past 5 years. |
