Tom Brady retiring from the Buccaneers was the biggest news today, and it did not take long for Stephen A. Smith to have a take that would raise some eyebrows.
Chris ‘Mad Dog' Russo and Mike Francesa, who hosted “Mike and the Mad Dog” on WFAN in New York from 1989 to 2008, were on ESPN's First Take with Smith. Francesa said he thinks Tom Brady is neither the greatest regular season quarterback, nor the greatest Super Bowl quarterback of all time, and brought up Peyton Manning and Joe Montana to support his argument.
"[Tom Brady's] not the best regular season quarterback I've ever seen. Peyton Manning was. He's not the best Super Bowl quarterback who ever lived, Joe Montana is. What he is though, is the guy who played the longest and he won the most games."
🍿 @MikeFrancesa pic.twitter.com/AykNf2AYwo
— First Take (@FirstTake) February 1, 2023
Stephen A. Smith initially wanted to push back, but eventually said that Mike Francesa wasn't wrong.
The argument was that Peyton Manning was a better regular season quarterback and that Joe Montana was a better Super Bowl quarterback. Manning won the league MVP five times to Brady's three. Montana went 4-0 in Super Bowls with a 127.83 passer rating compared to Brady's 7-3 record with a 97.7 passer rating, which Francesa made sure to bring up.
However, Smith asked Francesa if he had any problem with Tom Brady being considered by many as the greatest of all time. Francesa said he has no issue with it that when adding up the longevity, records and Super Bowl wins. But he did ended by saying if he could choose one quarterback to win one game, he would choose Montana.
Russo chimed in momentarily, agreeing with Francesa's point as well.
Maybe it says something that you have to isolate the Super Bowl and the regular season to make arguments that Tom Brady is not the best, but the trio of broadcasters found common ground. However, this will not change the fact that Brady will go down as the greatest of all time in most people's minds.
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