Tom Brady is the BEST

[King Taharqa]

Im starting to think Ive jinxed this guy. New England is falling apart. :confused:

[Raskle]

QUICK! Start talking about Brees!!!!11!!1!

[thetrooper]

no he's not.he got beat by the dolphins:p

[King Taharqa]

Brady & New England havent won a road game in America this season. They've now lost 2 straight. Brady will face a 5-7 Carolina Panthers team at home in Foxboro next week. New England has been averaging 39 points a game in their last 3 home contests while Carolina is scoring 20 points and is 1-2 in our last 3 road games. Something's gotta give.

[Darth Biscuit]

Yeah, it's probably a bad thing that they lost this week, they'll be hungry for us next week... great. I'll forget about all the other sh*t from this season if we beat the Pats next week, I freakin' HATE them.

[natty]

NE has the 2nd rated passing offense while CAR has the 5th rated passing defense.

CAR has the 3rd rated rushing offense while NE has the 15th rather rushing defense.

It's a good matchup. I just wish it weren't in Foxboro.

[King Taharqa]

A very candid OUTSTANDING interview with Tom Brady.

As a guy who has experienced so much success, is it harder for you to swallow a two-game losing streak?

We haven’t had many losses like we’ve had this year in terms of games that we were really competitive in the second half but just didn’t find a way to win in the fourth quarter. It’s frustrating for everybody. On the plane flight back and bus ride back, everybody obviously is disappointed. We go into these games with a lot of confidence. We’re just not doing enough good things over the course of the game to win. It’s kind of back to the drawing board. We’ve still got a one-game lead in the division. Hopefully, we’ll go out and play a better game this week. That’s what it’s about at this time.

If you could have just one do-over from yesterday’s game, which one did you think about as you fell asleep last night?

Probably all of them. It’s hard to choose one. They’re all critical points in the game. You always look back on plays like that that are critical points. All of them were obviously points — potential touchdowns, potential field goals — that we don’t put points on the board. We’re moving the ball good, we’re getting the ball up and down the field, we’re just not getting it in the end zone. I think that’s kind of where it ends right there. The game is about scoring points and outscoring the other team. When you’re not getting the ball in the end zone it’s pretty frustrating.

Do you have a theory as to why you guys average 18.3 points in the first half and only nine in the second half all season long?

I’m not sure. That’s a great question. I wish I had a better idea myself. We seem to do pretty good in the first half. The second half comes along the situations tighten up a little bit, situational football becomes evident — fourth-down plays, third-down plays, third-down plays in the red area. We just haven’t found the right ability yet to be able to execute in those situations. We do it a lot in practice, we make the plays in practice. It’s not like I don’t have confidence in us doing it. It’s just getting the job done when it matters.

What changed [from the first half to the second half]? What did they do differently?

I’m not sure. I really don’t know. We had a good first half. We executed well. We made the plays, made the throws, made the catches. It was a good first half. Well, it was a decent first half. I wouldn’t say it was good — we scored 14 points, so it was not like we scored 42 points in the first half. We had a third down play where we got stopped by four inches, and we had a fourth-down play where we got stopped by four inches. The second half we came out and [sam Aiken] made a great play to start the second half, and that was it for the scoring. We had a couple of three-and-outs in the second half where, like you said, I overthrow Aik by a little bit, and that could have had a great impact on that game. The interception in the end zone, that really hurt us, obviously. If I make those throws then we probably win the game. That’s what it comes down to.

When you said after the game “We don’t fight hard enough,” what do you mean by that?

I’ve been here for 10 years and I’ve seen a lot of players and teams. It starts on Monday in our preparation. In starts on Wednesday, through five hours of meetings and walk-through that we do and practice and film study. When it gets hard, that’s when you’ve got to dig deep. At times, we do that. At other times, it doesn’t show up. We’ve all got to do a better job of that. We’ve all got to put more work in and more time in and more commitment in to each other. It’s a different team. We’ve got a lot of new players. We’re trying to, over the course of the season, learn each other and learn the things we do well, and the things we don’t do so well. And that takes a lot of commitment. Like I said, I have a lot of confidence in our team, and I have a lot of confidence that we do play tough, and we do play physical and we do play smart. As coach would say, and he says it all the time, we just don’t do it on a consistent basis.

When Randy [Moss] goes away for the final three quarters of the game, I suspect that part of that is something the defense is doing. But is part of that something that Randy is doing?

He definitely wants to be a part of the game. Sometimes it’s easier to get the ball to him than others, and when they really focus on him, it’s hard. You don’t want to really fire the ball in double-coverage all the time. Especially when you have someone like Wes, who is able to work the inside part of the field, which did a great job of yesterday. And then Aik made some really good plays. Even on the touchdown play to Aiked, it’s man-to-man coverage, but the safety is on Randy, he’s basically standing over the top of Randy. So, we’re not going to throw him the ball. You just don’t have much of an opportunity to complete the ball. When Randy gets his opportunities, he makes the plays. Other times, they do a good job of focusing on him, and that’s when we’ve got to get the ball to other guys.

[On one pass to Moss] It wasn’t like he was expecting it. Was that accurate?

Yeah, that’s just one of those plays I was trying to get him the ball. They did a good job of defending that play.

What’s so tough about going to Miami?

It’s always a tough game. We’ve always had tough games down there, except in ‘07 when we really took it to them. Every game is tough when you play like we’re playing. There’s no easy games when you play like we play. We’re not a very consistently good football team. At times we show spurts of doing really good things, and executing well, and being on the same page, and playing error-free and penalty-free. And other teams we don’t, and that’s when it gets hard. What’s the difference between the first half and second half? It’s execution. It’s doing it well for 60 minutes. Coach Belichick, you can tell his frustration with us, because he sees the good things, but there’s too many bad things as well.

When you guys were winning three Super Bowls, there was a swagger and an aura of invincibility when you guys walked out on the field. Do you miss it now that it’s gone?

You always appreciate winning. It’s too hard to win these games. They’re all tough games. Winning games in the NFL — there’s teams going 0-16 last year. That tells you that it’s not easy to do. We’re 7-5. Obviously, it’s not where we wanted to be at this point. We’re still ahead in the division. We’ve still got a lot of football ahead of us. If we can make some of these changes and play a little bit better in these key situations, we’re going to win the games, we’re not going to lose the games. You think of those teams back when we won Super Bowls, those were really good teams, in all phases, that played well, that were complementary. the offense complemented the defense, and when it came down to making the plays at the end, we made them. That’s the difference between winning teams and losing teams. It’s just a matter of getting the job done. You’ve got to be able to build that confidence over the course of the entire week. That’s what we’ve got to keep trying to figure a way to do.

Overall, looking at this team, Is this a rebuilding year?

I certainly don’t think we’ve ever approached it like that. Every year, guys get older and retire, and guys become free agents and move on, and guys get traded. Those were great players for us. They were great players, and they were guys who were winners and made those plays in those situations. How many plays did Rodney Harrison make over the course of his career in critical moments. And Tedy Bruschi and Richard Seymour. They were great players. But they’ve moved on. We have a new team and a new identity. We’re figuring out the guys on our team that are going make those plays offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. Certainly, I only focus on what I need to do better. By no means do I play perfect games out there. I’ve got to keep focusing on what I need to do, and go out there and play as good a quarterback as I can and put us in the best position to win.

Is there a leadership void with a bunch of those guys leaving at the same time?

They were great leaders. There’s no question. You’re not going to replace all those years of experience and winning games with guys that haven’t been in those games. You miss those things. In other ways, those players that come to the team, they add a different type of quality or asset to the team. There’s only one Rodney Harrison. Those guys just aren’t just floating around everywhere. It’s not like there’s 32 of those in the league. There’s one guy, and that’s why he was such a talented, great player. Ty Law and WIllie McGinest and Ted Johnson and Roman Phifer. And obviously Richard [and] Vrabel. These guys were incredible players. It’s not like you win Super Bowls without great players and great coaching. We have great coaching and we have some players now that are really — a guy like Aiken who is really starting to make some great plays for us on offense, for a guy that really wasn’t even part of the receiver mix early in the year, wasn’t even playing much. We started throwing him the ball and good things were happening. Those are kind of guys who step up and become good players for us. And we need more of those guys.

[King Taharqa]

Why do the Pats continue to ignore the option of using the tight end in the passing game?

Ben is a great player for us. You’ve got Wes Welker and Randy Moss and Kevin Faulk and Laurence Maroney and Sammy [Morris] and Aiken who makes plays, and there’s one football. I’m trying to get the ball to Ben when he has the opportunity. Ben’s made a lot of great plays for us this year. You’re right, that’s a guy that we’ve got to get the ball to. He’s a great playmaker for us. I’ve got to find ways to get the ball to him. When we do throw it to him, good things happen. He’s a very talented player, he’s smart, he’s tough. It’s just a matter of finding the right matchup with the right play-call, and us being on the same page.

I look at your offense, and it’s the same guys as ‘07 when you had the greatest offense in history. Why is it so different this year?

That’s a great question. It’s funny, it’s like Barry Bonds hits 73 home runs, and then the next year you go, “Why didn’t you hit 73 home runs again?”

We know why now.

Or Tiger Woods, he wins the U.S. Open by 15 strokes, and the next year it’s, “Why didn’t you win by 15 strokes?”

We know why now.

Not another good example.

You’ve had a lot more time together [than in the 2007 preseason]. I was thinking this year you’d be even better.

Believe me, I’m just hoping to win games. That’s what I’d love to do. There’s a lot that goes into offensive football. You say it’s the same offense, but it’s not really the same offense. It’s not the same guys out there. We had Jabar Gaffney, who was an incredible player for us. You guys probably didn’t notice much of it. Donte Stallworth, who was an incredible player for us. Kyle Brady, who made a lot of great plays for us. And the guys that we added, like Aiken this year, Julian Edelman, who has done a good job for us, and Chris Baker, those are damn good players, too. Obviously, with Randy and Wes who are still great, consistent players for us. You find different ways to get the ball … and other teams defend you differently, too. Teams probably defend us a little differently now than they did in 2007. In a lot of ways, that was a new offense. It caught a lot of people off guard. It took people a long time to figure it out. It just makes it harder for us now. We, as an offense, have to find ways to evolve and kind of stay ahead of everybody else. It’s not that we’re not making plays, we make a lot of plays. We had an 81-yard touchdown, we had two 58-yard completions, we ran the ball decently yesterday. It’s just a matter of two possession inside the 6-yard line with no points. If those are touchdowns — obviously, there’s a lot of things you can say about that — but it’s 35 points, and it’s a much different game. The margin of error is much different.

How important is the play-caller?

Ultimately, it comes down to the players on the field and the plays they make. When you call a run play, no matter what run play is called, you’ve got to find a way to make it work. It comes down to us doing a good job on the field. Our coaches don’t put us in a position to not succeed. When opportunities come up for us to make the plays with the play called … When you call a play from the sidelines, you don’t know the defense you’re going to get. It’s not like you call plays that are good for a certain defense. It is the responsibility of the quarterback at times to get you out of a certain pay and get you the other plays that are better. Sometimes we do a better job with that than others. There’s not too many plays when the ball’s snapped that we’re not in a good position to make the play. I probably take a lot of pride in that. We don’t snap the ball with a bad look or a bad defense against a play called.

Phil Simms said yesterday he doesn’t like upback getting the ball on a quick dive [near the goal line]?

We’ve done it pretty successfully this year. That may have been the first time we’ve been stopped, to tell you the truth, on that play. Giving the ball to Sammy — he’s such a powerful back. He’s done a great job with that, the offensive line — there were no sacks yesterday — they’re always fighting their butts off. I would have loved to think we would have gotten that one. But it wasn’t meant to be. There’s plenty of other opportunities for us over the course of the game. You don’t lose the game because of one play. There’s plenty of plays we could have made and the outcome could have been a lot different.

When you ran to the locker room after the touchdown pass to Randy, [what was the reason]?

Coach Belichick never really likes us to get into [injury talk]. He just doesn’t want a bunch of analysis on something that, in the end, no one really cares anyways. They care whether you win or lose. I had to run in and get something taken care of in the locker room.

Have you ever had a longer losing streak in high school or college than two games, and if so, how did you right your ship?

We had a four-game losing streak [with the Patriots] in 2002, and that was the longest — I felt like we would never win another game. You lose a lot of confidence when you lose four games in a row. When you lose two games in a row, you just understand if you’re not playing good, you can lose every week. That’s why it’s pretty impressive when you see these guys that are 12-0 right now, guys that are playing great consistently, week to week. It takes a lot to do that. It takes a lot of things going your way, with injuries, just getting the right bounces. I saw the Saints yesterday, Drew Brees had thrown an interception. The guy was returning it and got hit, fumbled, and [New Orleans' Robert] Meachem picks the ball up and runs it in for a touchdown. I was just sitting there saying, “Yup, when it’s going right, it’s going right.” You get some breaks like that. You’ve got to fight hard to overcome any of those when they go against you. That’s what winners do. And that’s why you’ve got to take the same resolve every week in your commitment to winning, and your commitment to preparation has to get more intense rather than less intense when you lose. I think the natural inclination for a lot of people is to kind of bury your head, not work as hard, say “Oh, we’re rebuilding,” or “Oh, let’s move on to next year.” The reality is that you’ve got to fight harder. You’ve got to put more work in. That’s how you overcome things. That’s what winners are all about. That’s being conveyed to us. Hopefully, we go out and respond.

So, Carolina at home [sunday] matters a lot.

It’s a big game. It’s not easy. This is a tough sport. There’s challenges that you face every week. This is all you could ask for. Our whole season is still ahead of us. That’s the reality, And it’s really up to us. We’ll see what kind of team we’re made of

[X-Clown]

Im starting to think Ive jinxed this guy. New England is falling apart. :confused:

You may be on to something....

[King Taharqa]

Sorry Brady. Sorry New England. Brady is still my hero though.

[Kurb]

KT Pls Shrink your sig

[Sultan33g]

KT Pls Shrink your sig

ahhh I remember the good ol "your sig is too big" days

[King Taharqa]

Numbers Say Tom Brady Is Better Than Peyton Manning

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning grew their legend again when Brady's Patriots barely beat Manning's Colts a little more than a week ago.

The legend is based on years of greatness and achievement by two players, with both players winning titles, setting records and competing furiously.

It's also a legend that spurs a debate on a simple question: Who is better?

Comparing these two quarterbacks is comparing the best of their era. Both have been great, and criticism of either borders on the absurd. But simply checking the numbers over time is revealing. It shows Brady to be the better player.

And the numbers go far beyond Brady's three Super Bowl rings and Manning's one.

The most recent game gave Brady his sixth regular season win over Manning in nine games, a won-lost percentage that is matched by his 2-1 record in the playoffs against the Colts and Manning.

If the Colts had finished a late drive, Manning would be one game back of Brady at 4-5. Ifs are just that, though. The Colts didn't finish the drive and didn't win, which might be one of the key points when talking about Brady and Manning: Brady wins, especially in the bigger games.

Regular Season

In the regular season, the two are basically the same quarterback. Through Sunday's games, Manning's career passer rating is 94.9, Brady's 94.3. The marginal difference over the number of attempts (4,574 in 140 games for Brady, 7,017 in 203 games for Manning) puts the pair at about the same level of excellence.

Their average games also are near mirror images. Manning completes 23 of 35 passes for 263 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. Brady goes 21 of 33 for 241 yards, with the same two TDs and one interception.

So the two are outstanding -- and winning -- regular season quarterbacks. Manning has gone 137-66 (.674), which includes a rookie season when the Colts were 3-13. Since 1999, Manning has won fewer than 10 games once, and averaged 11.6 wins per season. Brady is 106-32 as a starter. Enough said.

Playoffs

Differences between the two start to show, though, in the playoffs. Base it on pure numbers and the analysis can be harsh -- starting with the won-lost record. Each has played 18 playoff games. Manning is 9-9; Brady is 14-4.

Brady has played many of his playoff games outside in the cold in New England, while Manning has been in Domes in Indianapolis. Brady plays many of his games outdoors in places like Foxboro, Buffalo and the Meadowlands. Manning is in a dome, in a division with another retractable roof team in Houston.

But those are intangibles and opinions. The numbers are more revealing. Because in the playoffs Brady's performance improves as his team advances. The tougher the competition the better he plays.

His ratings in the wild card, divisional and conference championship rounds are in the 80s. In the Super Bowl, he has a rating of 94.5, seven TDs and one interception in four games. He won three of the most important games, losing only to the Giants on a last-minute drive thanks largely to New York receiver David Tyree's famed helmet catch. Brady's completion percentage also improved each round -- from 58.3 to 61.3 to 63.6 to 64.1.

Brady has had some clunkers in the playoffs, but they are the exception. Eleven of his 15 playoff interceptions came in four games: two in a loss to Denver in 2005, three in a win over San Diego in 2006, three in a win over San Diego in 2007 and three in a loss to Baltimore last season. It's worth noting that even when he's not been on, he's still managed to win half of the time.

In those other 14 playoff games, Brady was more than reliable, throwing one interception four times and no interceptions 10 times. He has had six playoff games -- one third of the ones he's played -- when he was above 100 for a ranking.

Manning has had four plus-100 ratings games in the playoffs. He's also had ratings of 31.2, 35.5, 69.3 and 39.6. He lost the first three, but won the fourth in a game against Baltimore when the Ravens had the best defense in the league. That Colts win propelled Indianapolis to its only Super Bowl, won after it beat New England (and Brady) in the AFC Championship Game.

Manning's rating in two Super Bowls is 85.4, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. But his overall rating decreases from round to round prior to the Super Bowl. From 101.2 in six wild card games to 85.3 in seven Divisional games to 76.7 in three AFC Championship Games.

Manning has thrown 28 TDs in 18 playoff games -- same as Brady -- but has 19 interceptions to Brady's 15. The numbers are comparable, but Brady's come in bunches -- when he's off he's really off -- while Manning has thrown them more frequently. Brady has no interceptions in 10 games; Manning has at least one in 11. Manning has had a few incredible games in the playoffs with ratings in the 120 range, but a bunch of really bad games.

Manning has been at his best in recent playoff games, when he has had ratings of 97.7, 90.4, 87.9, 123.6 and 88.5 -- the last in the Super Bowl against New Orleans. Manning lost that game, though, just like he lost two others -- to San Diego and Norv Turner in 2007 and 2008. His record in the last five playoff games: 2-3. (Yes ... that's the same W-L as Brady in the last five.)

Head-to-Head

Head-to-head games are less a reflection of individual play than they are of the teams on the whole, and are less important than playoff results, but they can produce interesting numbers. In the case of Brady and Manning, the numbers are consistent with others.

Brady's regular season rating against the Colts and Manning is 96.4; Manning's against Brady and the Patriots is 93.2. In the playoffs, Brady's is 81.7, but Manning's drops to 61.0. Brady has a 19-10 TD-to-interception ratio in the nine regular season games, 3-2 in the playoffs. Manning goes from 22-13 in the regular season to 2-6 in the playoffs.

Manning Had Better Receivers

The case could be made that the ratings are virtually the same -- 87.6 for Manning, 85.5 for Brady -- and thus the teams were more responsible for the wins and losses than the individuals. That's valid, but it's also valid that Manning spent much of his career with Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne at receiver, while Brady has thrown to guys like Deion Branch and Jabar Gaffney.

It's not unreasonable to conclude that Brady makes his receivers, rather than the other way around. Witness Randy Moss' performance in the two years before and now after he left New England. Witness what Branch did with the Patriots compared to what he did for Seattle. Witness what David Givens did in New England and after he left for the big paycheck; anyone even know what happened to him? Witness what Brady is doing this season without Moss and with two rookie tight ends and with receivers most teams would use as third wideouts. (Yes, Manning is doing much the same this season with an injury-depleted crew).

Teams around a quarterback clearly have something to do with success. The Patriots with Brady have one of the best defensive minds in the game in coach Bill Belichick, but Manning played a long time for Tony Dungy, and he's not too shabby. Manning's offensive coaches – especially his coordinators – have been consistent. Brady has had a few different coordinators.

Manning has been surrounded by guys like Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Brady had Randy Moss for two years, but he's also had guys like Branch, Wes Welker, Gaffney, Caldwell and Givens. The year the Colts beat the Patriots in the AFC Title game, 2007, tight end Ben Watson was New England's leading receiver and Doug Gabriel was a starting wideout. A case could even be made that consistency has been on Manning's side, as most of his receivers have stayed with the Colts (for good reason) for years. Brady's have come and gone.

For One Game, Brady Is the Guy

Clearly the fact that this discussion involves so many playoff games shows that these are the two best quarterbacks of this era. Canton awaits them.

But based on the numbers, right now, if forced to pick one of the two in a big game, a playoff game, Brady would be the choice. Monikers are fleeting, and both players have time left on their careers. But if things continue as they have, it's a logical conclusion to state that the pre-eminent quarterback of this era plays in New England.

http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/30/numbers-say-tom-brady-is-better-than-peyton-manning/

[Mr. Scot]

Manning is worlds better than Brady, and it's not even close.

Brady has been on the better team, but he'd never be able to run an offense like Manning does. And the notion that the Colts receivers have been better consistently better than what the Patriots have had is laughable.

Put Manning on another team and he'd do the same things he does now. Take Brady out of the Patriots system and he might still be good, but he wouldn't enjoy near the success he's had in New England.

Manning might well be the best of all time. Nobody else can do the stuff he does with an offense, Brady included.