Tom Brady Needs To Stop Being Praised
“Tom Brady is the GOAT” is something you have heard before. A recent article titled ‘Tom Brady Is A System QB’ Was Always Nonsense’ written by Karl Heiser argued that. But sadly he, and the GOAT talk is wrong. There is no arguing that Tom Brady is overrated.
Divisions Matter
Winning the AFC East consistently is one of the accredited feats of Brady’s career. That’s cool and all but when you really look at the division through his career it is far from impressive. If you look at the records since 2000, the Patriots are 287-83. The Dolphins are second at 149-171, then you get the Jets who are 148-172, and last, there are the Bills who are a whopping 137-183. It’s pretty easy to win your division when every other team is averaging a losing record since the GOAT almighty was blessed with the Patriots. That is like an MMA fighter beating a simple high school bully in a fight. Not that impressive if you ask me. There’s so much more though.
Offense
Amazing skill players never surrounded Brady. He did have the likes of Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski, LeGarrette Blount, Julian Edelman, and Aaron Hernandez. However, there was always one area of the offense that always protected both Brady’s legacy and Brady himself. The offensive line.
Tom Brady has been sacked 521 times in his career. “That’s second all-time Shane“, yes, but he has been in the League for an ungodly amount of time. So, let’s compare him to one of the other GOATs Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers entered the league in 2005, and he has been sacked 468 times, and Tom Brady in that same time span, has only been sacked 391 times. Russell Wilson has been sacked 394 times in his career since he was drafted in 2012, while Brady has been sacked only 245 times in that time span, and yet Brady is one of the most immobile Quarterbacks in the NFL. That is because he has had top offensive lines for most of his career. This blessing helps give him time to be first in passing touchdowns and second in passing yards.
Defense Wins Championships
When it comes to winning a Super Bowl, one of the biggest things is the defense. This is where the phrase “Defense wins championships” comes from. a perfect example is the 2013 super bowl, the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Denver Broncos. Denver had the number one offense that season and the Seahawks had the number one defense, and we know that the Broncos couldn’t do anything against that defense. That being said, Tom “GOAT” Brady has been utterly blessed with great defenses throughout his career. If we do another comparison to Aaron Rodgers, Brady has had 7 seasons with a top ten defense since 2005, while Aaron Rodgers has only had 3. Adding on to that, the Packers since 2005 have had 8 bottom 15 defenses, while Brady has only had 4.
That isn’t it though. If you look at points allowed in a season including playoffs:
2003 Patriots: 295 points allowed in 19 games 2004 Patriots: 311 points allowed in 19 games 2016 Patriots: 311 points allowed in 19 games 2001 Patriots: 319 points allowed in 19 games Aaron Rodgers: 322 points allowed in 9 playoff losses
Tom Brady is luckier than the Lucky Charms Leprechaun with the Defenses he has been given. ” But Shane when he needs to show up in the playoffs he shows up“. Does he now? let’s look at his personal playoff stats then.
Clutch?
According to Pro-Football-Reference, here are some career postseason stats for Tom Brady:
- 2.2% interception percentage: 12th all time
- 89.9 career passer rating: 15th all time
- 62.5% completion percentage: 20th all time
- 7.0 Adjusted Yards per Attempt: 25th all time
- 4.6% passing touchdown percentage: 27th all time
- 7.1 pass yards per attempt: 39th all time
(Adjusted yards per attempt is a passing statistic that incorporates passing yardage, sacks, touchdowns, and interceptions).
“But Shane he makes the Super Bowl so he finds some way to perform in at least the Conference Championship game.” I beg to differ, here are his stats from 9 of his Championship game appearances:
- 0 TD 0 INT 84.3 Rating
- 0 TD 2 INT 57.5 Rating
- 1 TD 1 INT 76.1 Rating
- 1 TD 2 INT 56.4 Rating
- 1 TD 2 INT 62.3 Rating
- 1 TD 2 INT 77.1 Rating
- 2 TD 3 INT 66.4 Rating
- 3 TD 3 INT 73.9 Rating
That is pretty trash for the GOAT if you ask me.
Super Bowls or Super Mediocre?
“But Shane, He won 6 Super Bowls.” Well considering the fact that the tuck rule, Malcolm Butler’s INT at the goal line, Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning kick, and Dee Ford being offside for a game-losing INT in the AFC Championship, that is an invalid argument. Brady is incredible for being able to compete with the best at the age of 43, but he is not the GOAT.
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