Calling Brady The GOAT Football Player is an Injustice

Christian Martinelli

Tom Brady is not the greatest quarterback of all time.

That’s right, I said it. He’s proven it time and time again, year after year, championship after championship that he’s just not the greatest quarterback.

For anyone saying he’s the best football player of all time you must be off your rocker, he’s not that either. It’s hard to believe that people actually say these things about him, the greatest quarterback? The greatest football player? No I totally disagree with all of that.

He’s the greatest athlete that has ever walked on planet earth.

You read that right. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. the lanky, slow, nerdy,  quarterback from San Mateo, California is the greatest athlete in the history of the entire universe. Although I already believed this, he sealed his fate with his sixth Super Bowl Championship Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams.

There are so many amazing athletes that have walked this earth, from all different sports, countries, and backgrounds. Some that come to mind are Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Pelé, Muhammad Ali, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Diana Taurasi, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Wayne Gretzky, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Hank Aaron, and many more greats from many more sports.

You can’t deny how amazing they all were, but Tom Brady has surpassed all of them. I believe there’s almost no contest at this point, from where Brady started to where he is now, to how he is producing at this age, and how he goes about his business it is just surreal to watch.

Brady has a chip on his shoulder, and has from his days back at the University of Michigan. When he as a team captain he lost his starting job, and had to fight for it week in and week out to get on the field, that is what started to fuel the fire inside of him.

Then, being drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, and having six quarterbacks selected before him added to the fire.

After his early success winning three Super Bowls in his first four years as the starter, people began to doubt him, and say that he was just a system quarterback, so that enhanced his fire.

Then he went on a stretch for 10 years putting up otherworldly numbers, but not winning a championship. That fire burned hotter.

The commissioner led a goose chase trying to blame Brady for deflating footballs on a cold winter night, eventually leading to a suspension, and that added gas to his fire.

Now in his older age, he keeps getting doubted more and more. “He’s too old,” “ his arm is weak,” “ he can’t do it anymore.” He just keeps proving people more and more wrong as time goes on.

At 41 the only thing that keeps Brady this great is that bonfire that is still burning from within, it’s what makes him different. It’s the things you can’t see that make Brady so special.

That fire is what makes Brady the greatest. It motivates him to work harder than everyone else, play harder than everyone else, lead better than everyone else, and win more than everyone else.

Brady said after he won his sixth championship about being called the GOAT, “I don’t even like it. It makes me cringe. I wish you would say you’re trash, you’re too old, you’re too slow, you can’t get it done no more, and I would say ‘thank you very much’ and prove you wrong.”

It was TB12’s 17th season as a starter, and he just won his record sixth Super Bowl. The Patriots didn’t have the best team talent wise, and they never do. There are two constants on the New England Patriots for the last two decades that make this possible, and that is Tom Brady, and coach Bill Belichick.

As a duo they will be talked about for decades… probably  centuries.Their greatness has passed anything ever done in team sports before. Belichick has now cemented himself as the greatest coach in the history of sports as well, but we’ll save that for another day. Together they have combined for 237 wins, sixteen AFC East titles, thirteen Conference Championship appearances, nine AFC Conference titles, and six Super Bowl Championships. Just wow. It’s all you can say to quantify that type of greatness.

Not only has Brady won more than any other quarterback, but statistically he stands at the top of almost every record possible. When you include playoff statistics, which I like to do Brady is first all time in wins (237), touchdowns (590), passing yards (81,693) Super Bowl touchdowns (18), Super Bowl passing yards (2,838), most passing yards in a playoff game (505), most touchdowns in a quarter (5), and so many more.

The statistics are amazing and mind blowing, but what really separates him for the rest of the people on that list of greats is his leadership ability. What makes his stats even more impressive, is that he has never been blessed with many star receivers around him, his ability to make players better is second to none. Just this year his receiving corp consisted of a college quarterback, college lacrosse player, track star, and a dilapidated tight end. He still put up amazing numbers with average talent. Not to mention, he’s in his early forties.

Anyone that does an individual sport and excels is amazing. That is a totally different challenge than team sports. It’s almost impossible to compare, but when you can lead a team for decades and decades without ever having one bad year, I find that much more impressive. Getting a group of different people to accomplish a task can be near impossible in some cases, and Brady has been known to be an outstanding leader since he stepped foot into that locker room.

There are many amazing athletes, especially in team sports, that have been known for having an ego, and for being bad teammates. In his lifetime, Brady has had thousands of teammates, and a lot of times once guys leave an organization they’re not afraid to speak their mind about someone, and say how they really are.

There were many people who said how difficult Jordan was or how Joe Montana could be a jerk, but in his 19 years in New England there has never been one person to say one negative comment about him as a man or a teammate.

This speaks volumes to what makes Brady so special, he’s so different from many of the other all-time great athletes. They were born with these gifts, many of them had egos, and many of them were very tough to deal with in the locker room.

Brady has had to work hard for everything he’s had, to this day he studies endless hours every week to be prepared for the next week, he eats clean as can be and never has a cheat day, he constantly works on staying in the best possible shape, he’s a fierce and ferocious leader on the field, and a good friend to his teammates when he’s off of it.

The greatest of the great athletes are only known for coming up big in clutch moments. The pillar of clutch for a long time was Michael Jordan who also won six championships, but if you go back and really dive into Jordans’ clutch stats you’ll realize they’re very good l, but slightly overrated.

Brady has ice running through his veins. In his career he has more than his fair share of game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and overtime. Whenever the moment seems too big, or the comeback seems impossible, he always makes it happen (28-3). No matter what, even if he has a bad game when a play needs to be made to win the game, he makes that play every time. You can never count out a Brady led team, because when he’s at the helm his leadership. Mental toughness seem to make the improbable, feasible.

All of this being said, is what makes Brady the greatest athlete of all time. He’s a testament of what you can accomplish when you work hard in life. He shows that just because you’ve achieved a certain level of status and fame you don’t have to be a jerk to the people around you. He teaches us that age is really just a number, and it doesn’t have to define you. Most importantly he shows us that winning is of the foremost importance to him, and that he will never let his ego or any other ventures get in his way.

Brady can throw for 120 yards and win the game with a smile on his face, or he can throw for 505, lose the game and cry after it. You can’t teach selflessness, mental toughness, and leadership. Those are intangibles that Brady has mastered.

Brady is just a different animal from the rest, his accomplishments will never be duplicated, and his competitiveness can never be touched. It’s so difficult, almost not realistic to compare athletes from sport to sport, but when you watch Brady for twenty years seeing what he’s accomplished in the salary cap era, you’ll be hard pressed to make an argument against him.

When we look back at his illustrious career in ten-twenty years everyone will agree with me, that skinny, nerdy, backup from California is greatest athlete of all time, and it’s really not that close.

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