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Amid all the talk of big-name QBs, Brady just wins
Charlotte Observer ^

Posted on 01/19/2005 2:45:31 PM PST by bikepacker67

FOXBORO, Mass. - One quarterback played up to expectations in Sunday's AFC divisional playoff game because all the Patriots ever ask Tom Brady to do is win.

As the seasons roll on and each trip to Foxboro turns into Groundhog Day for Peyton Manning, it appears that Manning will be Dan Marino to Brady's Joe Montana. Marino had the records. Montana had the rings.

By the time it all ends in Jacksonville next month, Brady may be tied with Joe Cool as a three-time Super Bowl MVP. He may have only thrown for 144 yards in Sunday's victory but the win moved his postseason record to 7-0.

By the time Manning plays his 17th season (the length of Marino's career), he can only hope he can look back on the one day he did have to face the Patriots in the playoffs. Manning is probably the most talented quarterback in the game but until he cashes one in, he can only envy Brady.

Of the four quarterbacks left in the tournament, two - Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick - routinely make more highlight films. Brady's counterpart in Sunday's AFC Championship Game is Ben Roethlisberger and wouldn't it be fitting if Roethlisberger suffers his first career loss to a guy who just doesn't lose big games?

"There's no other guy I'd want in a big game than him, nobody," said Patriots tight end Christian Fauria. "I mean, go down in history, this is the guy I want in the huddle. Talk about poise and control. The only thing colder out there was him."

You can run down Brady's career highlights and none of them has to do with yards or touchdown passes. He has the highest winning percentage of any active QB with at least 30 starts. He's 7-0 in overtime games. Her has engineered 16 game-winning drives and he is 18-2 in games decided by a TD or less, 4-0 in the playoffs.

It was appropriate that when Bill Belichick was asked about Brady's performance, he talked about one play, the 5-yard touchdown pass he threw to David Givens to put the Patriots up by two scores at 13-3. In case you're counting, that was one touchdown pass for Brady, zero for Peyton. But it's never about Brady's numbers, even when they are sparkling. It's about the plays he makes to help win.

"I mean, that was a really big play in the game," Belichick said. "You know, not having to settle for third down . . . Tom made a nice play, stepped up . . . got a little opening and made the play. You know, that's what good quarterbacks do . . . they make plays when things don't go perfectly, which a lot of times they don't."

The play almost broke down because Brady's receivers were covered. But he bought himself extra time by breaking the pocket to his left. Givens sensed that the Colts had abandoned the weak side and slid past the DB. Brady, as always, saw him.

"Made a great catch," he said. "I threw that thing hard."

Manning, who was never allowed to unleash his arm downfield (by both the Pats' defense and the Colts' play-calling) tried to answer questions about how his 49-TD season (perhaps his career) would be defined. As usual after facing Belichick, he didn't have any answers.

"Unfortunately I have always believed that a player does kind of define himself," said Manning, who is also one of the most thoughtful players in the NFL. "I am starting to change those thoughts because there are so many opinions and experts talking about me and my career, I just sort of stopped trying.

"Right now, it is hard to think about anything else besides losing this game."

Brady blushed when someone asked him why he sparkled and Manning struggled.

"Well, I mean, I don't think I shined," Brady said. "We made plays when we needed to. You know, for a team that led the league in turnovers this year, to come out of that game with no turnovers was probably what I'm most happy about."

Doesn't it mean more because of all the Manning hype, he was asked?

"Just none of this stuff means anything, it really doesn't," Brady replied. "I mean, we're going in there thinking we're going to win."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: afc; brady; brown; bruschi; dynasty; football; gay; givens; harrison; johnson; light; mcginist; moreland; nfl; patriots; respect; samuel; seymour; steelers; vinitari; vrabel; wilfork
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To: CyberCowboy777

Exactly. And if Phil Simms was the QB on the 49ers back then, and Montana was the QB on the Giants, I'll bet nothing would have changed. Those San Francisco teams were so dominant because the identity of the quarterback was almost incidental.


61 posted on 01/19/2005 5:12:08 PM PST by Alberta's Child (It could be worse . . . I could've missed my calling.)
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To: Echo Talon
Great stats for Manning.

Among QB's in the Hall, Joe Montana has the highest QB rating, 92.3. Joe Namath's was 65.5.

Super Bowls rings are remembered.
62 posted on 01/19/2005 5:14:28 PM PST by CyberCowboy777 (Well.... I'll be)
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To: Alberta's Child
You have got to be kidding!

Joe had a way of winning. No way you can watch those SB years (especially in the playoffs) and discount the brilliance of play by Joe Cool.

Montana has four Super Bowl rings and three Super Bowl MVP trophies.

63 posted on 01/19/2005 5:18:04 PM PST by CyberCowboy777 (Well.... I'll be)
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To: CyberCowboy777

Here's an interesting bit of trivia for you: Did you know that Joe Namath is the only QB ever to be named Super Bowl MVP without throwing a touchdown pass in the game?


64 posted on 01/19/2005 5:18:10 PM PST by Alberta's Child (It could be worse . . . I could've missed my calling.)
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To: Alberta's Child

No I did not!


65 posted on 01/19/2005 5:19:34 PM PST by CyberCowboy777 (Well.... I'll be)
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To: CyberCowboy777
But those were phenomenal teams Montana played on -- on both sides of the ball. He never went to a Pro Bowl with fewer than four or five teammates in any given year, and throughout his career he always played with teammates who were among the best in recent decades (if not all time) at their respective positions -- including Jerry Rice, Dwight Clark, Ronnie Lott, Roger Craig, Randy Cross, Guy McIntyre, Fred Dean, Eric Wright, Charles Haley, and Michael Carter. The 49ers' defensive units from that era were among the best in the league, even though they were very underrated and didn't get a lot of media coverage. In 1984, for example, the team's entire secondary represented the NFC in the Pro Bowl -- the first (and only) time that has ever happened in NFL history.

Does anyone even know who played wide receiver on those Giants teams of the 1980s, or who their defensive backs were, or who carried the ball for them?

66 posted on 01/19/2005 6:08:22 PM PST by Alberta's Child (It could be worse . . . I could've missed my calling.)
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To: Nexus
"Ben WILL NOT be wearing those ridicules gloves this weekend, thank goodness. They surely had something to do with his accuracy problems against the Jets."

Taking the gloves off against the Patriots?

LOL!

67 posted on 01/19/2005 6:41:25 PM PST by Radix (Announcing a new Contest: Name this Tag Line. Nothing else to do and there are no prizes.)
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To: dakine
Brady has two rings..."

Peyton Manning has the SuffeRING!

68 posted on 01/19/2005 6:43:40 PM PST by Radix (Announcing a new Contest: Name this Tag Line. Nothing else to do and there are no prizes.)
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To: dakine
Michigan coaching stunk during the Brady years because John Cooper was unavailable....

He's available now, much to your chagrin. ;o)

69 posted on 01/20/2005 5:15:45 AM PST by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: iconoclast

one word: probation....


70 posted on 01/20/2005 6:15:52 AM PST by dakine
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To: bikepacker67

gee, I thought the Patriots won, with Brady lending a hand.

Didn't know he was a one man team. :P


71 posted on 01/20/2005 6:22:04 AM PST by Constantine XIII
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