SmashMouth

It seemed as though Tom Brady ended the G.O.A.T. discussion last February. As he overcame a 28-3 deficit to win his fifth Super Bowl ring, Brady had solidified his position as football’s Michael Jordan. He outlasted Peyton Manning, has more rings than Joe Montana, and looks better at 40 than most quarterbacks do at 25. His case for G.O.A.T. has been stated many times, and has convinced mostly everyone around football.

One of Brady’s contemporaries, however, might have something else to say about that. And it’s not Manning.



Chances are, you’ve never heard Drew Brees’ be called the Greatest Quarterback of All Time. But a quick glance at his career stats would show that he is more than worthy of being in this conversation, at the very least. And a very strong case could be made that he is the greatest in NFL history.

Here are the numbers:

Brees currently has 67,763 career passing yards is within striking distance of Manning’s all-time record of 71,940. His 476 passing touchdowns and 5,988 completions are each third-most in NFL history, and he would need 312 more completions and 63 more passing touchdowns to have the records to himself. If Brees opts to play next season—he’s 38 and in the last of year of his contract with the Saints—there’s a good chance he can retire as the greatest statistical quarterback in NFL history.

All of Brees’ aforementioned stats are higher than Brady’s, by the way. Both players have similar sample sizes as well, Brady has 242 starts, Brees has 237. So based only on regular-season numbers, Brees is clearly the better quarterback.

Brees’ statistical accumulation has come by way of some of the best single seasons of all time. There have been only nine instances in NFL history where a quarterback has passed for more than 5,000 yards. Brees has five of them. This means that he has five of the eight highest-passing seasons in NFL history. By contrast, Brady has just one 5,000-yard season.



The one area where Brees is obviously at a deficit to Brady, Manning, Montana, and most other quarterbacks in the G.O.A.T. conversation is wins. Brees has just one Super Bowl, and only 11 career playoff appearances.

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Euphoria

I like to argue agasint this but its hard too.

dizzle88

As much as I love what Brees has done for this team and how he has carried the weight of not having any help, some stats I believe have been left out of this article.

Brady - 471 TD's and 154 ints
Brees - 476 TD's and 224 ints

Brees has 70 more turnovers than Brady does, you could attribute some to the fact he hasn't had a defense for god knows how long, but the Green Bay game showed us something and that's that Brees refuses to be a game manager, often at the expense of a FG because he forces too many passes.

Ultimately, management wasted several years of Brees being at the top of his game, it pains me to say it, but Brady is the more reliable QB mainly due to turnover numbers.

Your bonehead creator picked a fine chapter to omit from your memory bank....let me ask you, does a machine like yourself ever experience fear? - Vegeta, DBZ

WhoDat!656

Brady is more reliable because he has played his entire career in a dumpster fire division; I guarantee you that if Brady had played in any NFC division he would not have near the success that he does now.

AsylumGuido

This is very true.

Seer1

That's interesting. Before they knocked the clowns down and stole all their lunch money, the announcer was saying the Pats had a ridiculous at home record somewhere in the 85% range against the AFC and were closer to 50-50 with NFC teams. But then again, stats are for baseball geeks...

44Champs

We all love Brees, but Brady is GOAT.

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lee909

It would be interesting if you swap them over. Brady joins Payton in New Orleans and Brees signs with New England when he left the chargers. I think Brees INT would be down as he would not be throwing so much. Both would still have been great though

AsylumGuido

Let's see once both of their careers are over. Brees still has another four to five years left. Brady may not play as long.

The Dude

Here's the elephant in the room. If Brees continues to play like he has in the past 3 quarters it may be time to put Chase Daniel in...,,
It's obvious Brees had lost a step. He can't get downfield more than 20 yards and his accuracy is starting to go.