There was enough last month to take away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Super Bowl championship, but by far the loudest story that emerged from Tampa was the further strengthening of Tom Brady’s legacy.
By winning a title under a coach not named Bill Belichick, Brady removed what would have been one of the biggest counter-arguments against his status as the NFL’s greatest consensus of all time when he retired from the New England Patriots has.
Brady now has seven ringsets with two different teams, five Super Bowl MVP awards in ten appearances, three MVP awards, a record of 14 Pro Bowl picks and the NFL’s record of all time in passing. BOAT debates are tricky and reductive, regardless of the sport, but in Brady’s case, it seems to be a fairly short debate at this point.
That was the case when Joe Montana, previously the answer for many in the BOAT debate, appeared on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday. Asked by Max Kellerman if he believes Brady surpassed him and everyone else, Montana said it happened a long time ago:
Montana’s answer:
I think Tom took his place at the top a long time ago. He’s had a great career, he’s fun to watch. Everyone always disputes about it, but I think if you look at what Tom was able to accomplish in his time he played, I think that definitely puts him at the top of the list.
There are a lot of good guys, like I said, in front of me you go back to Otto Graham, who won 10 or 11 championships. It’s hard to compare, but if you look at it, yes, definitely Tom at that point.
Hearing it from Montana probably means a lot to Brady, who grew up in the San Francisco 49ers legend.
It should be noted that Graham has won only seven championships (four AAFC championships, three NFL championships), but has won a title game in all ten years of his career with the Cleveland Browns.
Montana, however, is correct in that it is very difficult to compare quarterbacks in a sport that is constantly changing with so many coaches and systems. There are still people who wish they could see what would have happened if Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers had played under Bill Belichick for most of their careers.
GOAT status is an amorphous status that makes it impossible to knock down a nail is correct answer for almost any sport, but Brady has at least put himself in the status quo where the whole debate revolves around him.
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