Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. There are several different ways to argue over the greatness of these quarterbacks. Who would you rather have leading your team? Who has the best stats? Who has the most wins? Of the arguments that you can choose from, I only care about one. Who would you want to win your team one game on the biggest stage?
Both are presumed first ballot Hall-of-Famers with four combined Super Bowl wins in eight trips. They're two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game and both have eye-popping stat lines. Depending on where you call home, they're both the best current quarterback in football. It's like arguing which color Ferrari is the fastest.
Brady has the most playoff quarterback wins of all time at 18-8 and has only gone one-and-done in the playoffs twice in 11 trips. He has more playoff touchdowns than any other active passer and more game winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in the playoffs (7) than anyone to ever play the game. Brady has compiled a .762 winning percentage and has never played a season below .500.
Manning's been one-and-done in the playoffs eight times, compiling a record of 11-12 in the postseason and only one Super Bowl title. It's the regular season stat sheet that Manning dominates. He holds the career touchdown record (513), he has broken the single season touchdown record twice with 49 and 55 touchdowns, and he has never thrown for fewer than 26 touchdowns in a single season. But, he's been below .500 twice in his career and has compiled a .679 career winning percentage.
Stats don't tell the entire story of this quarterback battle. Which one passes the eye test? The lasting memories of Tom Brady leading his team to victories when the stakes were the highest.
For example, in the 2001 playoffs in a raging blizzard against Oakland, Brady shined. Needing a field goal just to bring the game into overtime, Brady found a way to get the team into position for the tie and again in overtime for the win. That same postseason, with the game tied at 17, Brady led the Pats down the field into field goal position to beat the Rams, 20-17, in the Super Bowl.
Fast forward to the 2003 playoffs. Brady and Belichick squared off against NFL co-MVP Steve McNair and the Tennessee Titans in a game that saw temperature dip to 2 degrees. Brady led the team down the field late in the fourth quarter. The drive was highlighted by a Brady to Troy Brown 4-yard connection on fourth-and-3. The Patriots won 17-14. Two games later, in the Super Bowl, the Pats found themselves tied late in the fourth yet again, this time against the Carolina Panthers. With 1:08 left on the clock, Brady led the team down the field to set up another game-winning field goal for a Patriots 32-29 win.
Brady has 31 career fourth-quarter comebacks to his credit and 42 career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, seven of which have come in the playoffs when the team needed him to be at his best.
It just seems that in those big moments, Manning finds a way to make a mistake that costs his team a win. Interceptions in big games against the Patriots, Saints and Seahawks have cost him a chance at multiple Super Bowl titles.
Give me one game, one win and one leader in crunch time.
Give me Tom Brady, the best big-game quarterback of this generation.
Cox Media Group
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