Getty Former Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning shaking the hand of former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady after the 2016 AFC Championship game.
There’s always the debate between who is the greatest quarterback of all-time in NFL history. Some people think it’s former Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning while some believe it’s former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
Former NFL quarterback David Carr made his own opinion known on Twitter.
Carr even came out and said that Brady isn’t even in the same ballpark as Manning.
Fans jumped in the debate and one even tried to say that former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino was the best, but Carr wasn’t having any of it.
Other Players Have Said the Same Thing
During his radio show back in June of 2022, former All-Pro linebacker Bart Scott explained why he would rather go up against Brady than Manning.
.@BartScott57 talks about the difference between playing Tom Brady vs Peyton Manning:
“I’d rather play against Tom Brady every day of the week than go against Peyton Manning!”
“Peyton Manning gives you a different set of anxiety. With Tom Brady, it was more about Bill Belichick and the entire team, the execution and them having a game plan, Scott said.”
Even in 2019, former Super Bowl champion safety Bernard Pollard came out and said that it was clear that Manning was the best of the best.
@NFL @AaronRodgers12 @DangeRussWilson @HarrisonNFL Y’all crazy! Peyton is #1 no doubt! Can’t go by rings. The things he did on two different teams are mind blowing. Tom Brady is clear cut #2. Tom has played in a system that works (no doubt he’s been special), Peyton WAS the system.
Breaking Down the Numbers
Now that we’ve heard from the players on who they think is better between the two quarterbacks, it’s time to crunch the numbers.
Obviously, Brady has seven rings, more than anyone else, but is that a fair argument? Terry Bradshaw has two more rings than Manning, does that mean the former Steelers quarterback is better than Manning? Trent Dilfer and Nick Foles have more than Marino, are we going to say that they’re better?
In 17 playing seasons, Manning took four different head coaches to a Super Bowl. No other quarterback has ever done that.
Brady has taken just two head coaches to a Super Bowl.
Brady only attempted three passes in his rookie season because he was backing up Drew Bledsoe, but other than that both quarterbacks have missed an entire season once in their career.
When Brady missed the 2008 season with a torn ACL, his Patriots still went on to own an 11-5 overall record with Matt Cassel quarterbacking the Patriots.
Manning missed the 2011 season with his neck injury and the Colts went on to a 2-14 season with three different quarterbacks starting that season.
It’s clear that Brady had more help than Manning ever did as well.
In the same amount of games that Manning started (265) Brady played with 17 first-team All-Pros compared to Peyton’s 12. Ten of those All-Pros that No. 12 played with were defensive players, where Peyton only had four.
In the 10 Super Bowl appearances that Brady has appeared in, nine of those 10 years Brady had a top 10 scoring defense backing him up.
In 2006 and 2013, Manning took the 23rd and 22nd ranked scoring defenses to a Super Bowl.
During Brady’s career, he’s had 16 top 10 scoring defenses while Manning only had seven.
Who is more valuable we might ask? Manning has taken home the hardware for the Most Valuable Player five times which is the most in NFL history while Brady has done it just three times.
Manning has also been an All-Pro seven times compared to Brady’s three.
In the 265 career starts that Manning played in during the regular season, Manning threw for an NFL record 71,940 passing yards and 539 touchdowns.
In the same 265 career starts, Brady falls short to Manning with 70,132 passing yards and just 512 touchdowns.
Over their full careers, Brady edges Manning out by passing yards per year 4,248 to 4,231, but Brady has had two seasons in which he played in the 17-game schedule.
Per season, Manning threw 33.6 touchdowns compared to Brady’s 30.9. Manning also averaged 270.5 passing yards per start while Brady averaged 266.
During Manning’s career, he was criticized that he could never win in the playoffs, but he finished his career off with a winning record of 14-13.
The two quarterbacks faced off against each other five times in the playoffs with Manning winning three of the five.
Because both quarterbacks only faced each other in the AFC, they never played each other in a Super Bowl. In the next closest game, Manning beat Brady three out of four times in the AFC Championship game.
In those four games, Manning threw for more yards and touchdowns than Brady did.
Manning also owns the single season record for passing yards (5,477) and passing touchdowns (55) in 2013, which he did it in just 16 games compared to today’s 17.
Maybe Carr is right in saying that this isn’t a conversation and that Manning is the greatest quarterback of all-time.