ESPN Claims Brady Isn't Among the Top 5 QBs in Football

ESPN – Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. The elite quarterback Mount Rushmore has been in place for a few years now, a comforting constant in an NFL of consistent turnover and change. But it might be time to wipe one of those four faces off our mountain of elite play. The Tom Brady of 2014 no longer belongs on that monument. On the surface, this sounds crazy… However, his decline is well underway, and it’s showing up in one key aspect of his game in particular. Let’s take a look at why Brady is no longer a top-five NFL QB… Pressure affects every quarterback. The difference between the best quarterbacks and those who just keep the seat warm for the next guy is how shallow the drop-off is between plays from a clean pocket and plays when they feel the pressure. The best quarterbacks are accurate on about 70 percent of passes under pressure (completion percentage adjusted for drops less throwaways, spikes, etc.). Manning had an accuracy rating of 69.0 percent in 2013, and at Brady’s peak in 2010 he led the league with an accuracy rating of 70.7 percent on passes under pressure. Since then, however, he has been declining steadily. Last year he was accurate on just 57.6 percent of passes under pressure, 28th in the league.

I believe it was Mark Twain who once said, “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics. And also the kind of horseshit statistics that try to prove Tom Brady isn’t even one of the five best fucking quarterbacks in football.”  And obviously Twain was right as usual.  How’s this for a lame attempt at trollery?  You take one obscure, highly-specific and non-revealing stat where –  for one year – Brady was near the bottom of the league, put forth the theory that it’s the be-all & end-all number by which all QBs should be judged, and make the case that he’s washed up.  Even by anti-Patriots jihadist standards, that is some weak cheese.  The kind of junk science charlatans like this have been using for centuries to convince the weakminded that the Earth is flat or the world is about to end if you don’t send them all you money or something.

I mean, how do you even mention a stat like this without stating the obvious, and much more relevant fact that Manning was throwing to Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Eric Decker, etc. etc.  While Brady without Gronk, had his best matchup weapon wearing a Bristol County-issued orange jumpsuit, and a rookie class not one of whom could make it through the season.  And by the end of the season, his entire receiving corps looked like they should be trying to bring the One Ring into Mordor.  Including the 7th round former college quarterback that Brady got 100 catches and 1,000 yards out of.  And through all that, the guy ESPN thinks doesn’t belong in the Top 5 led the Patriots to the 3rd highest point total in the NFL.  Who the fuck do they think was responsible for that?  Michael Hoomanawanui?  LeGarrette Blount?  Ryan Mallett?  Or do they think Manning could’ve done likewise with what Brady had to work with?  Not in million years.  Not for all his 69.0% accuracy under pressure would he have come close.  So they think he doesn’t belong in the Mount Rushmore of NFL Quarterbacks?  I say they’re right.  He belongs on the real Mount Rushmore.  @JerryThornton1