Is Terry Bradshaw the GOAT of Playoff Football?
With Tom Brady set to play in his 10 career Super Bowl, discussion has been ramping up about whether or not Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. And, at this point, it's hard to make an argument against Brady at this point. If there's an NFL record associated with the quarterback position, Tom Brady either owns it or is on the hunt to break it. Brady's track record, love him or hate him, is historic.
But, with that said, I did see an interesting debate pop up today: Who is the greatest playoff quarterback of all time. And, basically, it was a three way race between Eli Manning, Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady. All three guys were clutch in major, Super Bowl winning moments. But who is the greatest.
I think we can eliminate Eli. He's 8-4 overall in the playoffs as a starting QB. And, quite frankly, outside beating dominate Brady led New England teams in 07 and 11, Eli's numbers aren't that great.
That leaves us the two TB12s. While Bradshaw was rather lackluster during the regular season, when it came playoff time he played his best football. He won 4 championships and was a two time Super Bowl MVP. Plus, if you look at most Bradshaw highlight reels, most of the plays happened during the playoffs. And at the time of his retirement, Bradshaw held the NFL record for the most consecutive playoff games with multiple touchdown passes (7). That record has since been broken by Aaron Rodgers (9) and Joe Flacco (8) and was tied by Joe Montana and Drew Brees. Overall, Bradshaw's record in the playoffs is 14-5 with 30 Touchdowns. However, during his playoff career, Bradshaw threw 26 interceptions.
Brady, meanwhile, has just dominated in the playoffs. His overall record is 33-11, he's thrown 80 TDs compared to 38 interceptions. He has 6 Super Bowl rings, 4 Super Bowl MVP awards, is the oldest player to be named Super Bowl MVP and is the only NFL Quarterback to be named to two first team all decade teams (the 2000s and 2010s). And, on Sunday, he could win another ring and MVP trophy on Sunday.
As much as I love Bradshaw, I don't think you can argue against Tom Brady. He's the GOAT in pretty much every category. But, the fact there's even a discussion, speaks highly of what Bradshaw was able to accomplish in the post season during his career. Bradshaw is one of the greats. Brady just happens to be the greatest to ever do it.