Brady plays in a pure passing era, where every single rule has basically been modified to enable more offense through the air. Stricter rules on pass interference, enforcement of helmet-to-helmet rules over the middle, better O-line protection, and the complete inability to touch the QB, to name a few.
I also find it laughable when Pats fans say Brady never had any decent receivers. Most modern day QBs would kill to have played with Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski, Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Julian Edelman, Troy Brown, and even a strong third option like Danny Amendola.
Montana was 4-0 in the SB.
Brady is 4-2.
Inasmuch as you can directly compare eras without factoring in the surrounding circumstances, Tom Brady is on even footing with Joe Montana. When factoring for the way the game was played in their respective eras, I give the nod to Joe Cool.
Also, Montana was never confronted with accusation of being a cheater, to which he responded, "I don't believe so." That Brady conviction. #spygate #deflategate #liarliarpantsonfire
Brady is certainly better in big games than Manning ever has been, that's for sure.
For what it's worth, I think that Montana is a greater quarterback than Brady, for a lot of those reasons you mentioned... Passing era, different style of play, and Montana going 4 - 0 in the Super Bowl. I personally lean towards Montana on the "GOAT" argument, but I still think it's debatable and wouldn't blame someone for leaning towards Brady.
But, I have a couple of points to balance it out:
Brady is 4 - 2 in Super Bowls, compared to Montana's 4 - 0. A key difference between the two teams they played for is that in all four of Montana's super bowls, the 49ers had a top 10 defense, in two of them they had a top 5 defense. Not surprisingly, Brady is 4 - 0 whenever the Patriots have had a top 15 defense; he's 0 - 2 when the defense was at the bottom of the league.
Second, the point about Brady's wide receivers is absurd. Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski are true stars that would (and did in the case of Moss) transcend any team that they are on... They'd be successful anywhere. But, Welker, Deion Branch, Edelman, and Troy Brown would be relative unknowns in football if it weren't for Brady.
Welker was a below average Wide Receiver in Miami (and SD) who became great playing with Tom Brady. From 2003 - 2006, Welker had 96 receptions, about 1100 yards, and 1 TD ..
total over 3+ seasons. In his first season with Tom Brady, Welker caught 112 balls for 1175 yards, and 8 TDs. he followed that up with 4 more seasons with Tom Brady where he caught at least 100 balls,went for over 1300 yards
three times, and ahd over 5 TDs 3 times. He left New England and joined
the greatest offense in NFL history and still did well, but had about half as many receptions, half as many yards, but still brought in 10 touchdowns in the highest scoring offense in league history. And then, last year, he had his worse season since being cut by San Diego.
Welker has had 5 elite seasons, in 4 of them Brady was his QB (the Brady injury season he was still elite, though it did not approach any of the Brady years); He's had 2
good seasons, once with Brady and once with Peyton Manning. And then he's had 3 or 4 below average seasons.
Troy Brown was a guy who Patriots fans loved, but Troy BRown had one elite season, and it was with Tom Brady (2001). He also had one very good season with Drew Bledsoe (2000) and another very good season with Tom Brady (2002), but without Tom Brady nobody would have known who Troy Brown was. From 1993 to 1999, with one of the highest passing leaders in NFL history, Troy Brown only had 1 season where he went over 500 yards. He never once broke 50 receptions. Of course, it was a different league then, but not
that different from 2001 when he went 101, for 1200 yards, and 5 TDs with Tom Brady.
Deion Branch is a great case because he's a guy who had success in New England, though even with Brady he was never an elite WR... But a very solid WR. His numbers were good when he was healthy, ~800 yards, 4 or 5 TDs. he had his best season in 2005, with Brady, when he almost broke 1000 yards, had 5 TDs, and almost broke 80 receptions. But then, the following year he went to Seattle and was decent... 725 yards, 53 receptions, 4 TDs... and then slowly performed worse and worse until by 2009/2010, Seattle was done with him. He came back to New England put up 700 yards and 50 receptions, and 5 TDs in just starting 9 games. The following year, 2011, 5 TDs and 700 yards, his best season since the 2005 season with New England.
Julian Edelman is a WR who I adore, but christ, he was a 7th round draft pick and a quarterback for Kent State. You think QBs throughout history would jump up and say "Oh, yeah, this guy has raw talent, I need him when I'm putting my all time great WR list together." Edelman is the man, he comes to play and plays hard on every single play, but if he were on some other team, he'd be an after thought and it's unlikely that anybody outside of New England -- or dedicated FF guys -- would have even heard of him. Even as is, he's only broken 1000 yards once (2013) in a passing friendly NFL, and before 2013, the most yards he had in a season was 360 (2009, his rookie year). Nevertheless, Edelman comes to play and he's a quintessential Patriots receiver; fits perfectly into this offense.
Now...
Danny Amendola ... you're crazy if you think he's going down as some sort of memorable wide receiver or somebody who would be considered a legitimate weapon. He's never broken 700 yards in his career, nver had more than 3 TDs, and this in a league where 1000 yards is now the bellweather of whether you're a good wide receiver or not.
Of all of the QBs to go to the Super Bowl over the last 15 years, Tom Brady has had fewer weapons than nearly any of them (maybe there's an exception here or there, but I can't readily think of one). Interestingly, I think Russel Wilson has fewer weapons this year and Seattle fans will really regret a missed opportunity by not putting more on the field around him other than Marshawn Lynch. If Seattle had a decent Tight End, and not Luke Willson (a guy who nobody even knows how to correctly spell his name) or a solid every down wide receiver who can separate at the line instead of only when plays break down, they would have won this game and gone back to back. But at least Seattle has one of the greatest defenses of all time and an all world running back. With the exception of the 2007 season, Brady has had a dearth of weapons, but because he is as good as he is, he's elevated role players -- Troy Brown, Julian Edelman, Wes Welker, Deion Branch -- into star caliber talent. Back before Gronk and Hernandez were on the Patriots, who were their tight ends.. Ben Watson, Daniel Graham, Germaine Wiggins? Real star talent there. With the exception of Corry Dillion, the Patriots have not had any star-calibur running backs who can make plays with the ball. BenJarvus GreenEllis, Lawrence Maroney, Antoine Smith, Robert Edwards, Patrick Pass, Stevan Ridley. The best running back of the last 8 seasons with the Patriots has been Legarrette Blount, a player who hasn't run for 800 yards since his rookie season 5 years ago (when he was in Tampa). The Patriots #1 running back this year, Jonas Grey, was bagging groceries 9 months ago and only gained 400 yards this season, 200 of which came in one game. Of the running backs who have had success in New England -- Kevin Faulk, Danny Woodhead, Shane Vareen -- again, all of them are role players who fit in somewhere on the team, but not stars. The Patriots have had 1 star running back in 15 years, Corry Dillion, and that was almost 10 years. Interestingly many of the players who have had success here in this list are guys who were almost only dedicated special teamers... Kevin Faulk, Danny Woodhead, Troy Brown, and Julian Edelman were on the team because they were special teamers who would do exactly that Belichick wanted them to do on special teams, and then Brady turned them into offensive weapons. Woodhead
is a player who could be successful elsewhere, but it's tough to make a case for somebody being a great weapon for Brady when he didn't get through cut day with the hapless New York Jets.
So, while I actually agree that Montana is the greatest of all time, it's ridiculous to pretend that the cast of players around Brady is some star studded cast. He's been successful for nearly 15 years and largely been successful with not a lot of talent around him. And his 2 years losing the Super Bowl, unsurprisingly, is when the Patriots have had historically terrible defenses. Montana, on the other hand, had good to great defenses in all 4 of his Super Bowls, and never played in a Super Bowl with a bad defense.
