Originally posted by BHulman:
Brady has earned the right to be in the conversation, no doubt. But everyone of Montana's Super Bowl appearances was dominating. He could have easily been given the MVP for the Bengal's game (though I have no argument with Rice getting it). He never lost it nor did he rely on a field goal kicker (twice) to determine the outcome.
Originally posted by DesiDez:
1) Montana played in different era. They had less teams, the no salary cap allowed you to build "super-teams" like the 49ers, Parcells Giants, Gibbs Redskins, and Ditkas Bears, plus the rules back then weren't so bias towards the offense.
2) Montana won 2 super bowls w/o Rice. He had Clark, Solomon, Wendell Tyler, Craig, Russ Francis.
3) Montana dominated in his Super Bowls: he blew out the Dolphins and Broncos.
4) Brady lost a SB and his Patriots won each SB by only a FG. I'll give Brady credit for leading them on game-winning drives each time though.
5) Brady is the closest thing to Montana though and I think he's better than Manning (far better, btw)
Montana > Brady > Manning
They did play in different era's, however the rules today are not exactly the same as the rules when Brady won his SB's.
Brady won SB's with Branch,Givens, Brown and Patten. Not exactly an all world bunch of WR's and not 1 future HOF'er in the bunch.
You can't take away from Brady because of the final scores in his SB wins. You have to credit the opposing offenses he played, their HC & OC for leading those offenses, the gameplan and the playcalling. You also have to credit opposing defenses as well.
So what he won SB's by leading his team down for a FG...point is he led them down the field. He can only hold the ball for so long before the rush gets to him, and he can't help if his WR's aren't getting open.
Both are great great QB's, and as football fans we are lucky to witness great QB's in this era (Brady, Manning, Brees), just like we were lucky to witness great QB's in previous era's (Montana, Marino, Elway etc).
Montana likely rates ahead of Brady but the margin is very very close.