In author Sean Glennon’s new book, Tom Brady vs. The NFL: The Case for Football’s Greatest Quarterback, Glennon
put his own spin on the greatest quarterback of all-time debate by claiming
that Tom Brady is the best quarterback the league has ever seen.
"This book is meant to start arguments in bar rooms, on the radio, and in comment sections," said Glennon.
Brady was selected 199th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft, has won three Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots and has become the poster-boy for elite quarterbacks in the NFL, leaving many critics and fans debating whether or not he is, or will become, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.
Glennon is one of those people. He makes that case in his book that, even though Brady is still playing in the league, he has already surpassed the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Joe Montana for the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.
"This book almost killed me because I had to take all these stats and put them into a narrative,” said Glennon. "I wanted to be able to compare Brady to the other great quarterbacks from a perspective of knowing the game."
Glennon began writing his book roughly 18 months ago (although he isn’t exactly sure how long it actually took) while he was a columnist at the Boston Phoenix newspaper. He was approached by Triumph Publishing Co. to write a book comparing Brady and Peyton Manning. Almost a year into writing the book, Glennon realized that the real debate is not between Brady and Manning, but instead, it is about where Brady ranks among the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.
Glennon took this idea and ran with it, doing extensive research and looking up the stats of 14 retired quarterbacks and some of the game’s best active NFL quarterbacks, but wanted to come at it from the angle of being informed.
He didn’t want to bash great quarterbacks of the past just to make his point. He wanted to use his knowledge of the game to tell why each quarterback was so great, but why Brady was better. An approach that can be difficult when comparing a quarterback from today’s game to quarterbacks that played in a time when the game was completely different.
“It’s hard to compare quarterbacks today to Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw because it’s just a different style of game,” said Glennon.
Today, it seems as though Brady has surpassed nearly every quarterback on the “Greatest of All Time” list, except for the legendary Montana. When it came to this debate, it was this argument that Glennon enjoyed most while writing his book.
“The most interesting story for me was telling the story of Joe Montana, the second greatest quarterback of all time.”
Glennon knows that there will always be people out there who will back Montana and everything he accomplished. His perfect 4-0 record in the Super Bowl, his zero interceptions thrown in Super Bowl games, and all the other records and stats that he compiled during his illustrious career. But, the way Glennon sees it, Brady has already been to five Super Bowls, one more than Montana ever got to and Brady is the only quarterback in history to win his first 10 playoff games.
“This argument may be settled by the time Brady’s career is over, one way or another,” said Glennon.
Currently, Brady sits at 12th on the all-time passing yards list, one spot ahead of Joe Montana and over 30,000 yards behind Brett Favre, who has 71,838 yards passing.
"This book is meant to start arguments in bar rooms, on the radio, and in comment sections," said Glennon.
Brady was selected 199th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft, has won three Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots and has become the poster-boy for elite quarterbacks in the NFL, leaving many critics and fans debating whether or not he is, or will become, the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.
Glennon is one of those people. He makes that case in his book that, even though Brady is still playing in the league, he has already surpassed the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, and Joe Montana for the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.
"This book almost killed me because I had to take all these stats and put them into a narrative,” said Glennon. "I wanted to be able to compare Brady to the other great quarterbacks from a perspective of knowing the game."
Glennon began writing his book roughly 18 months ago (although he isn’t exactly sure how long it actually took) while he was a columnist at the Boston Phoenix newspaper. He was approached by Triumph Publishing Co. to write a book comparing Brady and Peyton Manning. Almost a year into writing the book, Glennon realized that the real debate is not between Brady and Manning, but instead, it is about where Brady ranks among the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.
Glennon took this idea and ran with it, doing extensive research and looking up the stats of 14 retired quarterbacks and some of the game’s best active NFL quarterbacks, but wanted to come at it from the angle of being informed.
He didn’t want to bash great quarterbacks of the past just to make his point. He wanted to use his knowledge of the game to tell why each quarterback was so great, but why Brady was better. An approach that can be difficult when comparing a quarterback from today’s game to quarterbacks that played in a time when the game was completely different.
“It’s hard to compare quarterbacks today to Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw because it’s just a different style of game,” said Glennon.
Today, it seems as though Brady has surpassed nearly every quarterback on the “Greatest of All Time” list, except for the legendary Montana. When it came to this debate, it was this argument that Glennon enjoyed most while writing his book.
“The most interesting story for me was telling the story of Joe Montana, the second greatest quarterback of all time.”
Glennon knows that there will always be people out there who will back Montana and everything he accomplished. His perfect 4-0 record in the Super Bowl, his zero interceptions thrown in Super Bowl games, and all the other records and stats that he compiled during his illustrious career. But, the way Glennon sees it, Brady has already been to five Super Bowls, one more than Montana ever got to and Brady is the only quarterback in history to win his first 10 playoff games.
“This argument may be settled by the time Brady’s career is over, one way or another,” said Glennon.
Currently, Brady sits at 12th on the all-time passing yards list, one spot ahead of Joe Montana and over 30,000 yards behind Brett Favre, who has 71,838 yards passing.
Patrick --
ReplyDeleteNice post but I have difficulty reading because of the lack of space between paragraphs....you might think about throwing in an extra return when typing.
Steve