13 Reasons Why the Debate of

Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning IS OVER

By Cory Pesaturo

Being mainly a Motorsports historian, I can tell you that the biggest arguments in the sport are always "if X in 1958 and Y in 2004 were in the same car, who would have won?" In team sports of course, the biggest argument usually is "Who was the best team of all time?" The best player, however, is difficult to judge. There are so many positions with wildly varying responsibilities and thousands of aspects and variables. But once in a while, a rivalry among players that play the same position in the same era comes along. Staubach and Bradshaw, or Bird and Magic, or my favorite of Senna and Prost. Maybe we are even seeing the beginning of Trout vs. Harper. But the most intriguing rivalry of this century in football, and really all of American sports, is Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The Manning camp will argue that Peyton completely dominates Brady in all aspects of regular season statistics. This is not entirely true seeing as Peyton has played 45 more games than Brady and has had better receivers over the years as he most certainly does right now by a wide margin. They will also argue that Bradys first 3 Super Bowls came when the defense mattered more than the offense for the Patriots. This is true, except A. Brady didnt screw any of those 3 Super Bowl runs up, and B. if it was the defense that mostly mattered those 3 years, then you the Manning camp are saying Brady was just a mediocre Quarterback that got lucky to Be the Quarterback. Except, since there has been not much of a defense in New England, and the Patriots had to rely on Brady to win for them, Brady has been a prolific statistical Quarterback, and taken them to 5 more AFC Championship Games. The Brady camp can argue that Tom crushes Manning in the only statistic that counts winning the game. One must remember that the task of a Quarterback is to lead his team to a win. It is not to accumulate amazing statistics for the record books (Alla Drew Brees and Dan Marino). It is a position which has a job description of motivating the team and putting a "W" in the box at all costs, and Tom Bradys competitiveness is unquestionable. Peyton Mannings Knowledge of the position is probably better than anyone in history, and his pure mechanics are probably better than anyone in history. But those 2 traits dont make you the Greatest. They make it easier for you to Be the Greatest; but Peyton has not gotten the job down when it matters. Let's look at how the argument is almost no longer "Is Tom Brady better than Peyton Manning?". It is how much more does Tom have to accomplish to be The Greatest of All-Time. You Will see how many Records Tom Brady already holds over Joe Montana and others. Note: I am a long-time 49ers fan who loves Joe Montana like a God and who just loves statistics. Tom Brady has done things in his life that I hope I nor anyone in my family will ever do. I have no allegiance; but I will say the more and more I researched this, the more I realized how obvious the answer was. I am sure you will too.

#13: Bad Playoff Games

I thought this section needed to be added from my original report as so many people are recently (during 2013 into 2014) commiserating about how Tom Brady has apparently not been clutch as of late, and has had terrible games with the outcome of going 8-7 in his last 15 playoff games. But when you analyze each game carefully, he has only had 2 truly atrocious games. The only fact involved, is that they have been of recent times. I would consider an atrocious game to be one where you can almost solely put the blame of the loss on the Quarterback, though I looked at games where Brady and Manning won the game as well (for example: Bradys performance in the 2012 AFC Championship win was not even good):

Tom Brady has only 2 Atrocious Games in his playoff career The 2009 Divisional Playoff Game against Baltimore, and the 2012 AFC Championship Game against Baltimore. Many of his games could be considered mediocre, but you would have to dive very deep into which games were mediocre because he was being a game manager (such as in the 2013 Divisional game against Indianapolis) or because he was in fact mediocre. The other 5 losses in his career were as much about things Out of his hands as it was In his hands. In 25 playoff games he has only had 6 Late Game / Critical Interceptions and 2 of those 6 were in garbage time when the Patriots were behind by two scores and he was just trying to sling the ball and get something to happen. Thats only 4 truly bad passes in 25 games.
Furthermore, one could make an argument for both of those games, that it wasnt entirely Bradys fault either, as in the 2009 game, Baltimore was up 14-0 within fewer than 2 minutes, and in the 2012 game, 8 starters were out of the game with injury about halfway through the game.

Peyton Manning has had 6 Atrocious Games (Please Note that we will go into greater details of Peytons playoff
games later) - 1999 against Tennessee (6 three / four-and-outs when the Colts only needed 1 FG anywhere in the game to tie) - 2002 against the New York Jets (The Colts scored 0 points. Thats Zero points) - 2003 AFC Championship Game against the Patriots (Peyton had 4 Interceptions, 2 of them late) - 2007 against the Chargers (Peyton had 2 Interceptions closing in on a Touchdown, and had 2 chances with under 5

minutes left in the game to score a Touchdown and win the game, but failed both times)
- 2009 Super Bowl against New Orleans (Critical Interception for a New Orleans Touchdown on the drive to tie the game.

A Pick 6 late in a Super Bowl on game-tying or game-winning drive is the single most unclutch thing a Quarterback can do)
- 2012 against Baltimore (The MVP for the 4th time that year, but even with not 1 but 2 Special Teams Touchdowns to

help him, Peyton can only manage to keep the game a tie by the end of regulation, in part, because of a Pick 6 Interception he threw during the game. In Overtime, Peyton threw another Interception which sealed the loss. Manning also decided to run out the clock near the end of regulation with a timeout still in hand instead of trying a few plays)

In only 21 playoff games he has had 8 Late Game / Critical Interceptions while 2 of those 8 were in garbage time when the Colts were behind by two scores and he was just trying to sling the ball and get something to happen. Thats 6 truly bad passes in 21 games: to Bradys 4 in 25.

#12: Game-Winning Drives

Leading a team to victory in the final quarter can elevate a player's image as being a 'clutch player', and this is an area where Peyton fans will argue "Manning has more than Brady." Unfortunately, this is merely an interesting statistic that does not directly translate to a quarterback's ability to win games. The factor that's forgotten is that the best quarterbacks don't Need to have a game winning drive. This is very common in racing as well. Although I am an Ayrton Senna fan over Schumacher, too many people say that Senna was the best because he always drove through the field to win (but there are many other aspects that made him arguably the best; that is just one). The truth for Schumacher, is that he would start on Pole (1st position) most of the time and lead the race from start to finish. The fact of the matter is that Schumacher didn't need to go through the field to win, and would just dominate races to win rather than give the fans exciting ones to watch. So when people talk about 4th quarter comebacks, you would have to go into great detail to give me a set of statistics about the game to make the comeback relevant. A quarterback could drive his team 25 yards from their own 35 to the opponents 40, with still 8 minutes left, stall, kick a 56 yard field goal, then go three and out on his next two possessions but still win the game in the end, and get the coveted 4th Quarter Comeback Stat. Give me the guy that is up by 25 points going into the 4th quarter where he can take a seat on the bench for the last 6 minutes of the game.
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#11: Head to Head Games

Regular Season: Brady leads Manning 8-3 Post-Season: Brady leads Manning 2-1 This is a large sample size. 10-4 has no excuses, as the most recent game in the 2013 regular season had no excuses. More on that game and the 2013 season later.
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#10: The One-and-Done in the Playoffs

Tom Brady has only 2. Peyton Manning has 8. Unquestionably the Most Ever.

**Note that Joe Montana had 4 One-and-Done's in the 11 times he brought his team to the playoffs. Brady has only 2 One-and-Done's in the 11 times he has brought his team to the playoffs. Better than Joe Montana.
Before one even thinks about how many records Peyton has in the Regular Season, remember that he has 8 one-and-

done's in his playoff career. Eight. What's the point of bringing your team to the playoffs 13 times out of 15 years when 8 of the 13 years you don't make it past the first game?

#9: Winning Percentage (Including Playoffs)

Tom Brady: 166 - 50 / 77% Peyton Manning: 177 - 84 / 68%

**Tom Brady has the RECORD for the Highest Regular Season And Overall Winning Percentage among Any Quarterback in NFL History. Higher than Roger Staubach and Joe Montana, and he's played more games than them as well, so it is 100% relevant.
Despite playing in 3 less seasons (45 Less Total Games), Tom Brady has only 11 fewer wins than Manning, and 34 fewer losses. Talk all you want about Peyton Manning's Regular Season Prowess, which is about all Peyton fans have to hold on to, even though as we have said, what is the point of being good when the games don't mean everything; but Tom Brady still trumps Peyton Manning for Career Winning Percentage. Again, the Best All-Time, and we're just getting started.

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#8: It IS in fact Mannings Fault

This section is for those who have said that the reason Manning does not have the playoff and Super Bowl statistics/win percentage that Brady has, is because of the team, and not Manning. Here are the bad playoff losses in detail. The ** denotes the games I labeled Atrocious from the first section. Note that one could say Im being pretty generous to not consider More of these games Atrocious.

**1999 Colts Record: 13-3 Playoff Game: After leading the Colts to their first 13 win season since moving to Indianapolis, the Colts had its third lowest output of the season, while Manning completed only 19 of 43 passes for 227 yards and 0 TD's. His 60.9 passer rating was his lowest of the season and the offense has 6 Three / Four and Outs even though they just needed 3 more points to tie. Colts Lose - 16-19

2000 Colts Record: 10-6 Playoff Game: Manning went 17 of 32, with 194 yards and 1 TD. The Colts put up 10 fewer points than their regular season average, and it was their second lowest scoring output of the season. Colts Lose - 17-23, in Overtime.

**2002 Colts Record: 10-6

Playoff Games: After beating the 9-7 Jets in the first round and with 4,200 passing yards during the regular season, Manning played the single worst statistical game of his entire career, going 14 for 31, with 137 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs and a career-low 31.2 passer rating. The Colts score 0 Points. Colts Lose - 0-41.

**2003 Colts Record: 12-4 Playoff Games: Got through Denver and Kansas City. Then at the Conference Championship playing Brady and the Patriots, Manning threw 4 interceptions and posted the third lowest passer rating of his entire career at 35.5. 2 of the Interceptions were late in the game. Colts Lose - 14-24.

2004 Colts Record: 12-4 Playoff Games: They can't lose here. Manning entered the playoffs with an unstoppable offensive unit that posted the fifth most points in NFL history. He set the record for the most touchdown passes in a season with 49, and shattered the single-season passer rating record with a mark of 121.1. The Colts defeated Denver easily, but when it came time to face New England, Manning and his offense put up one field goal. One field goal. It was their lowest offensive output since the 2002 playoff loss to the Jets, as just mentioned, where they lost 0-41. Furthermore, this was Manning's worst game of the season, completing 27 of 42 for 238 yards with 0 TDs and 1 INT, for a passer rating of 69.3. Colts Lose - 3-20.

**2007 Colts Record: 13-3 Playoff Game: Manning was 33/48, 402 yards, 3 TD's, 2 INTs, and a 97.7 passer rating, but failed when it mattered. Both interceptions were before potential Touchdowns. Late in the game down by less than a touchdown, Peyton had a 1st-and-goal at the Chargers 9, but failed with 4 downs, all with 2:06 remaining. The Chargers went three-and-out and Manning got the ball back. But the Colts went four-and-out again to end the game. 2 chances, no results. Colts Lose 28-24.

**2009 - Colts Record: 14-2 Super Bowl: Video Above. This occurring on what was going to hopefully be a Game-Tying Drive. Something Great Quarterbacks do. Well, Peyton threw a Pick-6. This exact thing in this exact moment is most Un-clutch thing a Quarterback can do in the sport of Football.

**2012 - Broncos Record: 13-3 2012 AFC Divisional at Denver: Peyton came into the playoffs riding an 11 game win streak and having beaten the Ravens during the season, were also playing at home after a week off. Peyton had a miracle present as there were 2 Special Teams Touchdowns in the game. 14 Bonus Points. Manning did not help matters with a Pick 6 Interception during the game. Yes the Broncos blew the coverage on the Flacco airball that is now known as the Rocky Mountain Rainbow, but Peyton's Interception in Overtime was the reason they lost in the end. He knew it. An across the body / Brett Favre-ian throw. He did set a record with that game, the Most Playoff Losses in NFL History: 11. Broncos Lose 35-38 2OT

#7: Touchdown to Interception Ratio (Including Playoffs)

Tom Brady - 401 / 156 Peyton Manning 525 / 241
Peyton with a 2.18 ratio. Tom Brady with a 2.57 ratio. Tom Brady has thrown 8 INT or less 3 times and has never thrown more than 14 INT in a season, albeit he had 12 INT in his first season and didn't start 2 games, so call it 14 or 15 if you must. Peyton Manning has thrown 16, 17, 19, 23 and 28 INT in different seasons. 28 being in his first. He has only thrown less than 10 INT once (9). Are we starting to get you to understand why Manning is not Brady and certainly nowhere Near the Greatest of All-Time?
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#6: Playoffs
Tom Brady is 18-7 Peyton Manning is 10-11, still a losing record after playing 15 Seasons. How big of a sample size do you
need before making up your mind on who he is?

**Tom Brady has the most Playoff Wins in History, more than Joe Montana. He also has the Better Record: 18-7 to 16-7 for Montana.
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#5 Championship Games
. Brady: In 12 Seasons, Brady has taken the Patriots to 8 Conference Championship Games (67%) Manning: In 15 Seasons, Manning has taken the Colts to 4 Conference Championship Games (27%)

**Brady has the RECORD for Most Conference Playoff Appearances.

*Brady has taken the Patriots to the Super Bowl nearly half the time (5 in the 11 Seasons he has played up until now). That's astonishing for any player in any spor

#4: Super Bowl Wins

Tom Brady has 3. Peyton Manning has 1.
**Brady is Tied with John Elway for the Most Super Bowl Starts with 5.
*To really sadden the Peyton fans, Peyton has 2 TDs and 2 INTs in his 2 appearances, while Brady has 9 TDs and 2 INTs in his 5 appearances. Let's also remember that if Eli Manning doesn't somehow get out of an absolutely sure sack and David Tyree does not catch a prayer against his helmet, Brady would have 4 and complete the Total Perfect Season. Wes Welker makes that catch, and Brady might have 5. Brady doesn't get injured after the Perfect Season in 2008? The Pats defense doesn't choke in the 2006 AFC Championship game? You get my point. In a perfect world, for Brady, he could fairly easy have 6 Super Bowls Rings or 7 Super Bowl Rings. So Go ahead; make excuses for Manning on how he should have 3 Super Bowls. But if you are going to tread in those mucky waters of ifs, then you have to give Brady 5, 6 or 7.
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#3: Out of the Gate

Brady's First 4 Seasons:
48-16 in the Regular Season Won all 7 Overtime games he played Got into the Playoffs 3 times Went 9-0 in the Playoffs, and Won 3 Super Bowls. (Went 10-0 before losing a playoff game0)

Manning's First 4 Seasons:

- 32-32 in the Regular Season - Got into the Playoffs 2 times, but lost both games.

*That is just astounding. Tom Brady had quite possibly the greatest beginning to a career in sports history. Say what you want about the defense. They will all tell you Brady did his job, and executed the plays he needed to; and by the 3rd Super Bowl run, he was in full command of being an Elite Quarterback (however you want to define that word) on top of it all. Like Joe Flacco in the 2012 playoff run, Brady didn't screw up, and he lead his team with 11 TD's and 3 INT's in those 3 Super Bowl Playoff Runs. Did Joe Flacco win 3 Super Bowls with that incredible defense of Baltimore? Most greatness is more of a flash in the pan. Brady did this 3 times in 4 years. I dont want to hear about the defense. They

did this in the Free Agent and Salary Cap era, the first and only dynasty of its kind. How many facts does it take to push this argument across? The argument that actually holds water is the Tuck Rule situation in the first Super Bowl run. Without that , maybe Brady doesnt win the other 2 Super Bowls in the following years. But why go down the train of ifs when we have a 13 year sample size?

#2: Overtime Games

Brady: 10-1, Also 1-0 in the Playoffs. Manning: 3-6, Also 0-3 in the Playoffs (Peyton did not get the ball in one of these playoff games so the record is essentially 0-2).
Again, there really is no way you can make excuses for how Tom Brady is 10-1 which is phenomenal, and how Peyton Manning is 3-6. The leadership and motivation Has to be at least part of the reason.
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#1: Well Peyton Has Just Had Worse Luck..... Right?

If you still, somehow, someway, just possibly believe that Peyton Manning is near the level of Tom Brady, I would presume you are holding onto the factors that Peyton cannot control. The way his team, and his defense played in the many games he lost in the playoffs. But what did we say at the beginning of this article that is the definition of a Quarterback? Really, the definition of Any person that becomes larger than life? Leadership. The New England Patriots look up to Tom Brady, and when they aren't playing well, he motivates them as much as anyone on the team. The way a defense plays and the team plays overall, is in many ways connected to the quarterback. So some things are luck, yes, though I already talked about how Tom Brady could easily have 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 Super Bowl Rings as of now, so one could argue Brady has had worse luck. But the luck factor only gets you so far. You have to motivate and lead your team, regardless of anything else. Ask the late Couch Valvano. Something I left out as a last punch is the weather. Tom Brady pulverizes Peyton Manning in terms of cold weather games and in the fact that most of Bradys career has been played in average to horrible conditions. He plays a bare minimum of 10 out of 16 games a year in either Foxboro, MA, New York City or Buffalo, NY (all outdoors and cold) while Manning has played over half his career in domes. His division rivals for most of career being somewhat mild Nashville, TN, sunny Jacksonville, FL, and Houston in a dome. Now he has sunny San Diego, mild Oakland, and somewhat chilly Kansas City as his division rivals. Brady thrives in cold weather when the ball is hard to throw and conditions make only the mentally strong successful. One must remember all of this when thinking of all those historical Peyton Manning regular season stats. Any of Bradys? Mostly outdoor stadiums with likely bad weather. There is just no solace for finding something in Mannings corner on this whole argument. To take one last look at clutchness, let us analyze Peytons season which was marked by Record after Record after Record. Inside this historic season, he had 2 very important games mentally. 2 games, that he had to win; The Colts, and the Patriots. Nothing could matter more to him than to go back home in Indianapolis and Beat the new kid they hired to replace him and prove to the management in Indianapolis that they screwed up. Peyton Manning lost that game. And it still boggles my mind how he could. It really was undersold in the media how important that game was to Mannings legacy. Second in level of importance, was to beat the Patriots in case the #1 and #2 seed came down to the

head to head match up. Peyton Manning and the Broncos were given 24 points on a silver platter and still had a 24-0 lead going into the 2nd half. Tom Brady and the Patriots came back in one of the most brutal weather conditions a football game had ever been played in, and Manning was held to under 100 yards until under 5 minutes left in regulation on a season where he put up 300-400 yards on better defenses. Brady put up that much that night with the conditions and a weaker receiving core. The 24-0 handicap and a 30 minute vs. 60 minute game wasnt enough. The Patriots came back and won. Worse off, Bill Belichick knew as I know, that Peyton could not perform under pressure and / or in these brutal conditions; so when he won the coin toss in overtime, he decided to give Peyton Manning the ball. Something the rest of the world says is the single most dangerous thing to do in football. We hear it over and over, loud and proud, Keep the ball out of Peytons hands or youre in trouble!. Bill knew what he was doing. Had the Patriots won any of the 4 games they should have, could have, would have won if only this, that, or the other, they would have been the #1 because of that win. In a season where Brady lost all of his 5 top receivers from the year before, and Manning had Bradys #1 target from the year earlier on His team, along with one of the best wide receivers in football amongst others; Brady and the Patriots still so very narrowly missed beating the Broncos for the top seed. I would love to see what Manning would have done with Bradys receiving core and Brady with Mannings. The Only statistic that is worth talking about (since QB Rating and QBR you can take with a grain of salt, but Tom Bradys QB rating in the Super Bowl is well better than Mannings so I can drive down that route too) where Manning and Brady are similar, is the plain game record for the past 15 Playoff Games. They are both 8-7. But that is a sample size statistic. If you really think the outcome of the 2013 AFC Championship could change the legacy of either Brady or Manning, I want what youre on, cause its clearly strong. Manning would be going to his 3rd Super Bowl against Bradys 5, would have a 0.500 record in the playoffs (Greatest of All-Time ha?) and would have beaten Brady 1/3 of the time. And thats only if he wins; which he Should with a better team at home in nice weather. Wake me up when Manning gets to his 8th Conference Championship Game.

Speaking of Luck, I shouldn't need to remind folks that the Colts threw their 2011 season away so they could replace Manning with Mr. Andrew Luck. After reading this article, it's not difficult to see why they lost faith in #18. I would still rather have the incredibly inconsistent Eli Manning, who is clearly clutch, over Peyton. I would rather have Colin Kaepernick after watching him these past 2 seasons. But there is No way, No shape, and No form, that is going to put these Brady and Manning close to each other. The only argument now, is if Tom Brady is the Greatest Quarterback of All-Time. Currently, its Montana, Unitas, Brady in my book. Pe yton Manning is a Great Quarterback. He is at times an Amazing Quarterback. He is of the best Quarterbacks of the past decade and as I said already probably the greatest ever in terms of knowledge of the position and his pure mechanics. But Peyton Manning is most certainly not One of the Greatest Quarterbacks of All-Time; he is nowhere in the vicinity of The Greatest Quarterback of All-Time; and he is most certainly not better than Tom Brady. --

**Final Word: I Have 3 World Championships Myself on the Accordion.

That is what I and the core statistics have to say on the Brady vs. Manning argument. I would like to hear from Manning's side, especially in the comments, and I say this in a non-sarcastic manner.