Who is the better quarterback: Joe Montana or Tom Brady?

Montana

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by Steve Wilson

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This is not an argument of who is the best quarterback of all time, but rather a simple comparison of Joe Montana and Tom Brady, and how they measure up to each other. How many times have we heard the media, such as ESPN's Sean Salisbury, make empty statements, such as "Tom Brady is the next Joe Montana." To date I have yet to hear an actual breakdown, so I will take it upon myself to do so.
While Joe Montana was winning Super Bowls, Tom Brady was being raised in San Mateo, CA idolizing the man, and aspiring to be as great as he was. Now the time has come in which we can compare the two gifted quarterbacks. As with any quarterback comparison made, variables such as the supporting cast, the era in which the players competed, and the offensive schemes that they headed all are factors that can skew the argument. While those can be bantered over, there is one insurmountable conflict within this argument, and that is simply that one player has completed his career, while the other is in the prime of it.

If we can assume that Tom Brady will play for 16 seasons, which Joe Montana was able to do, then Tom Brady has just reached the half way point in his career. Tom Brady shows no signs of slowing down, and in fact had statistically his best season in 2007 setting an NFL record for touchdown passes with 50 and led the league in quarterback rating with 117.2, completion percentage with 68.9%, as well as having his 4,806 yards be the best in the league. Some may be tempted to double his statistics and then compare them with arguably the best quarterback of all time, Joe Montana. With that mindset, Tom Brady will have a 92.9 quarterback rating, with 394 touchdowns, 172 interceptions, 52,740 yards, 8 Pro Bowls, and in visiting the Super Bowl eight times, he will have won six along with four Super Bowl MVP's and two NFL MVP's. This of course would likely prompt more record establishing seasons, but is not completely unfathomable.

Joe Montana retired with a remarkable 92.3 career quarterback rating, 273 touchdowns and 139 interceptions. He piled on 40,551 yards, eight Pro Bowls, and two NFL MVP's. While Joe Montana only went to four Super Bowls, he never lost one, and was voted the games MVP three times. To date, only one other quarterback can claim to have won four Super Bowls, and that would be Terry Bradshaw.

In comparing the hypothetical career of Tom Brady to Joe Montana, Tom Brady will throw 121 more touchdown passes, although he will also throw 33 more interceptions. The yardage difference would amass to 12,189 in Brady's favor as well. In regards to Pro Bowls and NFL MVP's, those would be tied with eight and two respectively. Tom Brady however would have two more hypothetical Super Bowl victories, albeit with two losses, and Brady's projected four Super Bowl MVP's would trump the three Montana has been awarded.

Both quarterbacks have played with elite receivers as Joe Montana had Jerry Rice as his receiver, without doubt the best wide receiver of all time. Tom Brady has, as of last year, Randy Moss, who is arguably one of the best players of his generation. The simple fact that Brady and Moss will play once more together supports comparable passing and receiving numbers that they established in their 2007 record breaking season, helping Brady's projected totals on a 16 season career.

Unfortunately, the comparison, at this time is incomplete because Tom Brady's career has not yet been fulfilled. We can only make conjectures of what Brady will do with the remaining years of his career, however long it will be. Now, we must say that Joe Montana has the edge, but if Tom Brady's mind boggling 2007 season is repeated, we may wonder who compares to Tom Brady, rather than who compares to Joe Montana as arguably the best quarterback of all time.

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