Peyton Manning and Tom Brady were destined to meet again in the AFC championship game this year. The stars were aligned to have the two best quarterbacks of not only their era, but maybe of all time to match up once again. Tom Brady held up his side of the bargain in the Patriots second dismantling of the Texans this year and surpassing the great Joe Montana for most career playoff wins with 16. Unfortunately, Manning and his Broncos did not, as Manning tied Brett Favre for most postseason losses in a career with 11. So once again Manning failed in the postseason while Brady and his Patriots succeeded. So once again, the debate rages on, who is the better quarterback, Brady or Manning. The answer, depends on what you value more, the rings, or the raw numbers.
First lets look at the regular season statistics for their careers.
Tom Brady: 63.7 % completion percentage 44,806 yards, 334 TDs, 123 INTs, 26 fourth quarter comebacks, and 37 game winning drives. Team record 139-39 (.781) and 0 losing seasons in 13 seasons. Accolades: 8 Pro Bowls, 2 1st team all pro selections, 8th in career passes completed, 9th in career passing yardage, 5th in career passing TDs, 3rd in career passer ratings, and 2 MVPs.
Peyton Manning: 65.2 completion percentage, 59,487 yards, 436 TDs, 209 INTs, 38 fourth quarter comebacks, and 49 game winning drives. Team record 154-70 (.688) and 2 losing seasons in 15 NFL seasons. Accolades: 12 Pro Bowls, 6 1st team all pro selections, 4 NFL MVPs, 3rd in career passing yards, 2nd in career TDs, 4th in career passer rating.
So based on pure numbers and accolades, Manning seems to have the edge. He has twice as many MVPs and may win a fifth this year to Brady’s two. Manning also has four more All-Pro selections and Pro Bowl selections. And while both make each player on his team better it seems to be amplified more with Manning. Look at this season for instance where he vastly improved two wideouts in Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. Thomas had 834 yards receiving in 2 seasons and then had 1,434 yards and 10 TDs, while Decker had 718 yards receiving in 2 seasons and then had 1,064 yards and 13 TDs this year. An argument could be made for Tom Brady as well because he had no name receivers and still put up big stats. Then he was given Randy Moss and he set the league’s single season record for touchdown passes thrown with 50, however he never “made” them great like Manning seems to do. The one sticking point is how valuable they are to the team in the regular season. Lets not forget that without Manning the Colts posted a 2-14 record last year, good for worst in the league, while this year he took a Broncos team that was 8-8 last year and made them 13-3. When Brady was hurt his team was fine as they went 11-5 with Matt Cassell and would have made the playoffs any other year if not for Miami and the Ravens both posting 11-5 records as well.
Now lets look at their postseason statistics.
Tom Brady: 17-6 team record, 3 playoff comebacks, 6 game winning drives, 3 super bowl MVPs, 3 super bowls, 62.9 completion percentage, 5,629 yards, 41 TDs and 20 INTs. 3-2 record in super bowls.
Peyton Manning: 9-11 team record, 1 playoff comeback, 1 game winning drive, 1 super bowl MVP, 1 super bowl, 63.2 completion percentage, 5,679 yards, 32 TDs, and 21 INTs. 1-1 record in super bowls.
Clearly, the edge here is Tom Brady, not only on statistics but in super bowls and the “clutch” factor. He clearly has more super bowl wins, and six times as many game winning drives, and three times as many playoff comebacks. Peyton Manning meanwhile was last generations version of Matt Ryan as some wondered whether he would ever get over the hump and win his first playoff game. He did but then was bounced from the playoffs two straight years by Tom Brady’s Patriots. Then he beat them in the year the Colts would win Manning’s only super bowl title. So it seemed as if Manning never was able to seize the moment and become clutch, he needed multiple chances to get the monkey off his back.
Finally, lets not forget what just happened this past weekend where Manning threw for 290 yards and 3 TDs, but also threw 2 INTs and lost a fumble. Lets add that one of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown while the other came in overtime. Finally, Manning’s TD-to-INT ratio is 20:9 in his team’s wins and 12:12 in his team’s losses. Tom Brady meanwhile threw for 344 yards and 3 TDs and looked like the normal Tom Brady.
So while Manning has the edge in raw statistics, Brady has the clear edge when the temperatures cool and the pressure heats up. So let’s be fair, while every team would love to have both of these players on their team, if you could only choose one, you would have to ask yourself the age old question that has occurred throughout both their decorated careers, what do you value more, rings or statistics?
*Statistics courtesy of profootballreference.com and athlonsports.com
