[dfwgator]

but Tom Brady would have never been able to before 1978

Anyone who says that doesn't know Jack about Tom Brady, the guy's been told all his life he can't do it, and he has shown them every time, he would have adapted himself if need be to play in that era.

[FredZarguna]

Brady would be a good quarterback in any era. But he would have struggled significantly when the game was played with rules that had not been changed to favor the offense so much in general, and the passing game in particular.

Bradshaw withstood the Oakland Raiders pass rush and extended plays, which Steve Spagnola proved definitively Brady could not do. Without receivers made open by the necessarily soft pass coverage of the 1990's and beyond, and without the egregious holding now allowed by offensive lineman, Brady would have spent a very significant portion of his career looking up at the sky. As a matter of fact, in Bradshaw's era, there was no such thing as defensive holding by d-lineman. Nor were they called for hands to the face.

[Lakeshark]

It's hard to imagine how good Brady would have been if he consistently had a beast for a running back, great receivers, and a shut down defense. It demonstrates just how good he is, that they've been at this high level of play the entire time he's had a fairly low grade group around him. He's a couple of plays (that should have been made by his own teammates) away from having won six superbowls already, not to mention the extraordinary lucky plays made by the Giants to beat them those two times. He's an amazing player.

That being said, I 'm not sure it's possible to say who among the greats was the best, different eras, different game. There are a handful of greats that stand above the rest, and Brady is one of them.