Here in New England, we’re all foiled up for anyone intimating that there’s even a discussion of whether or not Tom Brady’s the best quarterback in NFL history.
After seven Super Bowl appearances, five Super Bowl victories and two Super Bowl losses in which the Pats defense coughed up a late lead, it’s not provincialism. It’s common sense.
That doesn’t mean that Brady Truthers aren’t still going to great lengths to resist saying Brady is the best ever.
And Brady? He says he’s in his own little cocoon of peace and serenity, unmoved by the arguments. A lotta, lotta guys could have done what he’s done if they were in his cleats.
Speaking Tuesday morning from his Montana hideaway with Pro Football Talk strongman Mike Florio, Brady was asked about the Greatest of All Time conversation.
“None of those things have ever mattered to me,” Brady told Florio. “It’s hard for those things to even take up any space in my mind because they’ve never been of significance to me. There have been so many great players that I’ve played with, that I’ve played against over the years.
“Everyone is different, everyone has different teams they’ve played on, coaches they’ve played for,” Brady said. “I’ve been so blessed to play for the greatest coach at a time when our organization has done incredible things. I’ve played with the best teammates. Playing for Mr. Kraft and what his influence on the team has been. So I think there are so many players that if they were in my position and had all the opportunity I did, they would, I believe, accomplish so many of the same things.”
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While Brady handles the question gracefully, the fact remains that -- for every other great not named Brady -- how they would have done with Bill Belichick remains a hypothetical.
Just as we’ll never know how Brady would have done in the 1980s throwing to Jerry Rice, John Taylor and Roger Craig while playing for Bill Walsh with a defense headed by Ronnie Lott, but playing against the Joe Gibbs Redskins and Bill Parcells Giants, we can’t extrapolate how Joe Montana would have fared in New England.
So we’re left to merely count the rings and records and examine the resumes. Even if the guy at the center of the conversation couldn’t care less.