His win at Superbowl XLIX was his fourth triumph in an incredible career, but does it make Tom Brady the greatest of all-time. The victory of the Seattle Seahawks saw him tie his childhood idle, Joe Montana, with four Superbowl championships. It was his sixth appearance on the big stage, having now won four and lost two, and while Montana was a perfect four out of four, there is more that needs to be considered.
Montana won his back in the 1990s with the San Francisco 49ers, the team that Brady grew up supporting and dreamed of playing for.
It wasn’t meant to be as he was drafted by the New England Patriots, but he has achieved what Joe did now and has done it with an incredible variety of characters by his side. Joe Montana had arguably the greatest receiver in the history of the sport to throw at in Jerry Rice. On top of that, Montana had the run support of Roger Craig, something Brady certainly has not had.
Brady has done over 14 years, his first victory came back in 2002 and his team has changed considerably since then, in fact he and his coach Bill Belichick are the only two figures to still be present. Brady did with only one truly great receiver, and that was Randy Moss. Incredibly, the year he had Moss as a weapon, the Patriots lost in the Superbowl to the Giants.
As a quarterback he has turned average receivers into stars, and that has been the difference between Tom Brady and Joe Montana. Whether that is enough to distinguish him as the all-time greatest is hard to say. Different eras mean different styles of football, but there is certainly a case to be made.
