Tom Brady: More Super than Joe Montana?
By Daniel
Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Which QB Played Better In Their Super Bowl Victories?
Compare ‘Quarterback A’ and ‘Quarterback B’ and then decide which one played better in their four Super Bowl victories. Compare the individual games then the four games as a whole. Once you’ve done that pick which one played more impressively on the world’s biggest stage.
Quarterback A:
Super Bowl Victory 1: 14/22, 157 Yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 1 Rushing TD
Super Bowl Victory 2: 24/35, 331 Yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, 1 Rushing TD
Super Bowl Victory 3: 23/36, 357 Yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT
Super Bowl Victory 4: 22/29, 297 Yards, 5 TDs, 0 INT
Total Statistics In Super Bowl Victories: 83/122 (68%), 1,142, 11 TD passes, 0 INT, 2 rushing TD
Quarterback B:
Super Bowl Victory 1: 16/27, 145 Yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Super Bowl Victory 2: 32/48, 354 Yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
Super Bowl Victory 3: 23/33, 236 Yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT
Super Bowl Victory 4: 37/50, 328 Yards, 4 TDs, 2 INT
Total Statistics In Super Bowl Victories: 108/158 (68.3%), 1,063 Yards, 10 TD passes, 3 INTs, 0 rushing TD
Which quarterback do you pick as better in their Super Bowl victories?
If you picked “Quarterback A” as the better performer in the four Super Bowl victories then you chose Joe Montana as the more impressive quarterback. “Quarterback B” is obviously Tom Brady. Of course, both of these players faced different teams and had different supporting casts, but still — the numbers don’t lie.
It should be noted that in Brady’s two Super Bowl losses he threw for a combined three touchdowns and one interception.
Argument for Montana: He never threw for more than 36 passes in a Super Bowl, but still put up some monstrous numbers in the big game. And yes, he never threw an interception on the world’s biggest stage.
Argument for Brady: Sure, he didn’t put up quite as good of statistics as Montana, but his supporting cast wasn’t as strong as Joe Montana’s was (less Hall of Fame caliber players). Thus he had to throw the ball a lot more than Montana had to.
Advantage?
Montana, by a noticeable margin. He threw for one more touchdown than Brady, ran for two more touchdowns, and threw for 79 more yards than Brady despite 25 less attempts in his four Super Bowl victories. The biggest difference is that Montana never threw an interception in his four Super Bowl appearances, unlike Brady who threw three interceptions in his four victories.
Next: Which Championship Run Was More Impressive?