If you would have asked me a month ago if the Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, was the goat? I would have said no. As a matter of fact, I spent the entire month leading up to the Super Bowl, trying to convince people why Brady wasn't the goat.
Why did I think this? Well, my reasoning stems from the fact that although I am an Eagles fan, I grew up in Vallejo, California. Vallejo is about 45 minutes from San Francisco, so naturally I was either going to be a 49ners or a Raiders fan. Raiders was out of the question for my family. They all lived and breathed 9ners football. Actually they still do. They just aren't so eager to tell people they are fans because of the 9ner’s abysmal performance the last few years.
But anyways I was brought up a 9ners fan. I grew up a fan of Joe Montana, Steve Young, Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice. I even dressed up as Steve Young for Halloween in the 1st grade. So although my top players lists may be biased, it includes quite a few 9ner players.
Now don't get me wrong, I always thought Brady was one of the best quarterbacks. I just happened to think Montana and guys like Marino and Jim Kelly were better. Even though Marino and Kelly never won a Super Bowl, they are both still considered an elite quarterback.
And the greatest of all time could mean a quarterback, receiver, running back, or even defensive player. I honestly thought Jerry Rice was the greatest of all time. Rice is arguably the greatest receiver of all time and has reached elite status. He was selected to the pro bowl 13 times and named All-pro 12 times in his 20 year NFL career. He also won three superbowls with the 49ners and an AFC championship with the Raiders. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
Now forget everything I just said. And meet the real goat, Mr. Tom Brady. That is right. I am admitting I was wrong. After witnessing what was perhaps the greatest Super Bowl, I have come to the conclusion Brady is the goat.
After being selected as the 199th overall pick in the 2000 NFL draft, Brady defied all odds, and went on to be arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. Don't agree with me? Well here's some career stats that may change your mind. In Brady’s 15 years as a starter, he has led his team to seven Super Bowls, winning five of them. He has been selected to the Pro Bowl 12 times. He was also awarded the Super Bowl MVP trophy four times. Brady also has an overall quarterback rating of 97.2 percent. How can one argue with those stats? And unlike Montana and Elway, Brady was able to accomplish this with a team of no-name receivers. Brady's success made those receivers, such as Welker and Edelman, great.
So what really made me realize he was the goat? Easy. The Super Bowl. Brady just won his fifth Super Bowl with the Patriots a couple weeks ago when he defeated the Atlanta Falcons. That in itself is not too surprising. What was surprising was that Brady brought his team back from being down 28-3 with less than 9 minutes left in the third quarter. He ended the night with 466 yards of passing and two touchdowns. By the way he broke the record for passing yards in a Super Bowl game. I wonder why he was MVP.
Add all these stats and the accomplishments together, and you can't deny this man is the goat. Trust me. I tried. There's really not much else I can say. The stats speak for itself. So, again, who's the goat?
