Tom Brady: Rewriting the history books?
It’s been a rough few weeks for fellow staffer (and good buddy) Chase Stuart. You see, his beloved Jets fell to my Eagles on Sunday, leaving his team at a dismal 1-5 and also ensuring that Chase will be buying me dinner at my Manhattan restaurant of choice (get ready to pony up Chase!). As if that weren’t enough, the entire foundation of his NFL analysis has been torn asunder thanks to the astounding season Tom Brady is putting together. His love for the Jets is almost matched by his disdain for the Patriots, and he’s fought the good fight against proclaiming Belichick, Brady and the other Pats as “all time greats.”
That is, until this year.
In what some mistook for a tongue-in-cheek analysis, Chase eats crow and acknowledges what many of us have known for a long time: Tom Brady isn’t simply a great QB, he’s one of the best to ever play the game.
Pro-Football-Reference Blog — Now Serving: Crow
…Because while I had lots of good arguments before (at least, in my opinion) for why Brady was overrated, they’re all moot points now. The only way I could have been more wrong about Brady was if I called him a girl (which, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I did off-line).
128.7 QB Rating. 16 TDs in 5 games. 9.20 adjusted yards per pass. 74.1% completion percentage.
Brady’s in the middle of one of the greatest seasons of all time. He just might end up having the greatest season of all time. Right now the league is averaging 5.98 AY/A, which means Brady has added 508 yards over the league average this season. The highest yards over league average mark is from Manning in ‘04, with 1,581 (a record Brady is on pace to break).
What else is there to say? I was wrong — give him some weapons, and the guy is unstoppable…
As you can see from the aforementioned quote, Chase penned this article before this weekend’s game against the Cowboys. A game where Brady enjoyed his first career 5-TD passing game. On the season, Brady’s numbers are:
- 148 completions
- 204 attempts
- 72.5% completion percentage
- 1,771 yards passing
- 8.7 yards per attempt
- 21 TD passes
- 2 INTs
- 128.9 paser rating
Needless to say, those numbers are usually reserved for EA Madden football. Were Brady somehow able to maintain this level of production for the rest of his season, we’re looking at a season of:
- 395 completions
- 544 attempts
- 72.5% comp rate
- 4,723 yards passing
- 8.7 yards per attempt
- 56 TD passes
- 5 INTs
- 128.9 passer rating
Those numbers would, inarguably be the best passing numbers in league history. Here is where those totals would rank all-time:
- #1 TD passes (Current record: Peyton Manning, 49 TDs)
- #1 TD/INT differential (P. Manning, +31)
- #1 Passer Rating (P. Manning, 121.1)
- #1 Completion Percentage (Ken Anderson, 70.55%)
- #4 Pass completions (Rich Gannon, 418; Warren Moon, 404; Drew Bledsoe, 400)
- #5 Passing yards (Dan Marino, 5084; Kurt Warner, 4830; Dan Fouts, 4802; Dan Marino, 4746)
All that and the guy has 3 Super Bowl rings and is dating a super model. Life is tough. 
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