As evidenced numerous times in this space, I happen to see Brett Favre as something greater than a man.
More words than probably interest most of you have been written about my affinity for the quarterback and thousands more could still be written (shoot over an e-mail to find out).
Favre is one of — if not the — greatest quarterbacks ever to play the position.
So too, though, is Tom Brady.
“Newsflash!” you say? Just coming to that realization now, after three Super Bowl championships, two Super Bowl MVPs and an NFL all-time best .773 winning percentage over 115 games, you insular idiot?
It is not until you actually type out those numbers that you realize how truly unbelievable Brady’s career has been.
Brady never really — until this year, that is — put up eye-popping individual statistics like Peyton Manning (screw him) or made phenomenal, did-you-see-that plays with regularity like Favre (bless him).
Even with the emergence of the Patriots as the team of the ’00s (by the way, we’re more than two-thirds done with this decade and we still haven’t decided on a real name for it? As a society, are we just trying to avoid the impossible task of trying to come up with a name for two zeros and just somehow make it to the 20-teens without anyone noticing?) answer to the ’80s San Francisco 49ers or the ’90s Dallas Cowboys, much of the attention always went to the “mad-scientist” Bill Belichick and his amazing film work to gameplan for Patriots’ upcoming opponents (Even now, as Brady has the Patriots off to a 7-0 record, it was Belichick in the news).
The way New England played — Eli Whitney football, a team of interchangeable parts playing with a team-first mentality — made it just that much easier to ignore Brady’s true greatness.
That’s not the case any longer.
Just seven weeks into the 2007 season, Brady may have already locked up the MVP award. Don’t think so? In half a season, he has more TD tosses than former MVPs Rich Gannon (2002) and Steve McNair (2003) had in their entire seasons when they won the award.
But his ridiculous 27 touchdowns in just seven games doesn’t even tell half the story. More impressive than that is the fact he has thrown just two interceptions.
That’s right, two. Had Falcons quarterback Joey Harrington quit after just the first game of the season, that’s the same number he would have too.
The 27-2 touchdown to interception ratio is just a stupid statistic. That’s not video-game numbers, that’s even better. It just boggles the mind how someone — anyone — regardless of skill could only throw two interceptions and somehow manage to throw 27 touchdowns.
You would think that maybe three times over the course of seven games, receivers might let a ball bounce off their hands and get picked off or the hulking defensive linemen taught to get their hands up to bat down passes would deflect one into the waiting arms of a linebacker.
Or, gasp, Brady might throw a bad pass or two. You would think it is possible. You would think.
But while Brady has dealt with throwing to decent-yet-unspectacular receiving corps in the past, he is benefiting (obviously) this year from one of the league’s most potent.
Six months ago, Randy Moss was worth less than a backup offensive guard to some (at least in Packers’ general manager Ted Thompson’s book — gag me). I may be wrong, but in all my years of watching football on any level, I’ve never seen an offensive lineman sprint past defensive backs quite the same way Moss does. That is except, of course, for Billy Bob taking the hook-and-ladder to the house in Varsity Blues.
Maybe it’s more than just Moss the receiver that has Brady on this historic efficiency campaign.
Moss is the type of player that always has an eye out for his own statistics; maybe some of that has transferred to Brady. Kind of a ridiculous, but then again so is a 139.7 passer rating through seven games.
In short, what Brady is doing this season is making his case for the title of Best Quarterback ever. Before he started tearing up NFL defenses like Favre tears phone books — that is two at a time — he was a winner without the gaudy stats. He might have always been, but now Brady is playing like he is the total package.
If he keeps this up, the argument may well be moot.
Even a bona fide homer can admit that.
Ben is a junior majoring in journalism and political science. Whenever he sees Moss streaking down the sideline after catching a pass from Brady, he cries a little inside. If you really need your weekly fix of Brett Favre, e-mail him at [email protected]. He’ll be happy to oblige.
