Brady, Favre, Manning: A Big Debate On Age and Records
April 24, 2010
How do people rank players from the National Football League? Records? Championships? Character? Stats? Well sadly, all four are used to determine the best from the rest. To people such as Dan Marino, that's a little unfair. For people such as Tom Brady, it might be a little too fair. Some people do not take into consideration how valuable the player is to his team. There are three active NFL Quarterbacks who seem to be at the core of a main argument here.
All three of them have won at least one Super Bowl. All three of them hold passing records in the NFL. All three of them have been a part of teams that seemed to have dominated ever since they've been there.
Differences? One of them holds two more Rings than the others. One of them has played for more than one team. One of them is the main reason their team is a huge success. The three men I'm talking about are Tom Brady, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning.
Tom Brady-
Comp Att Yards TD INT Sck Rate
2000 1 3 6 0 0 0 42.4
2001 264 413 2,843 18 12 41 86.5
2002 373 601 3,764 28 14 31 85.7
2003 317 527 3,620 23 12 32 85.9
2004 288 474 3,692 28 14 26 92.6
2005 334 530 4,110 26 14 26 92.3
2006 319 516 3,529 24 12 26 87.9
2007 398 578 4,806 50 8 21 117.2
2008 7 11 76 0 0 0 83.9
2009 371 565 4,398 28 13 16 96.2
Total:
Comp - 2,672
Att - 4,218
Yards - 30,844
TD - 225
INT - 99
Sck - 219
Rate - 93.3
The man has won three Super Bowls. The system in New England has suited him very well. The chances of Tom Brady NOT retiring as a New England Patriot are very slim. He will be there until he retires, which in fact may be sooner than people think. He's going into his 11th season as a Quarterback, and with a QB who takes almost as many sacks as he throws touchdowns, he might consider retiring by his 14th, or 15th season. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I predict he'll retire after 15 seasons.
Tom Brady's averages per season are as follows (Not including his first year when he was not starting):
Comp - 296.7
Att - 468.3
Yards - 3,426.4
TD - 25
INT - 11
Sck - 24.3
Rate - 93.3
Taking those averages and adding them onto his totals for 5 years, his final totals when he retires would be as follows:
Comp - 4,156
Att - 6,560
Yards - 47,876
TD - 350
INT - 154
Sck - 341
Rate - 92.5
Those are not record breaking numbers by any means. However showing his Touchdown to interception ratio seems to be staggering. You could argue that Tom Brady is one of the greatest Quarterbacks to ever play the game. Even if he stayed longer than expected, he would barely pass Dan Marino's 420 Touchdowns. Tom Brady retires at the age of 37.
Brett Favre-
Comp Att Yards TD INT Sck Rate
1991 0 4 0 0 2 1 0.0
1992 302 471 3,227 18 13 34 85.3
1993 318 522 3,303 19 24 30 72.2
1994 363 582 3,882 33 14 31 90.7
1995 359 570 4,413 38 13 33 99.5
1996 325 543 3,899 39 13 40 95.8
1997 304 513 3,867 35 16 25 92.6
1998 347 551 4,212 31 23 38 87.8
1999 341 595 4,091 22 23 35 74.7
2000 338 580 3,812 20 16 33 78.0
2001 314 510 3,921 32 15 22 94.1
2002 341 551 3,658 27 16 26 85.6
2003 308 471 3,361 32 21 19 90.4
2004 346 540 4,088 30 17 12 92.4
2005 372 607 3,881 20 29 24 70.9
2006 343 613 3,885 18 18 21 72.7
2007 356 535 4,155 28 15 15 95.7
2008 343 522 3,472 22 22 30 81.0
2009 363 531 4,202 33 7 34 107.2
Total:
Comp - 6,083
Att - 9,811
Yards - 69,329
TD - 497
INT - 317
Sck - 503
Rate - 86.6
Aside from one year in New York(2008), Brett Favre has played in the same system his whole career(1991 doesn't count because he did not start). Favre will retire as a Minnesota Viking. It's a sad, but truthful statement. He will more than likely come back for a 2010 season and then retire for good, regardless of if he wins a Super Bowl with the Vikes or not. One year is all the Silver Fox has left in him. At the age of 40, it's amazing he played better than he had in any season throughout his career.
Brett Favre's averages per season (not including his first year when he was not a starter):
Comp - 337.9
Att - 544.8
Yards - 3,851.6
TD - 27.6
INT - 17.5
Sck - 27.8
Rate - 86.6
Taking those averages and adding one more season to Favre's totals:
Comp - 6,421
Att - 10,356
Yards - 73,181
TD - 525
INT - 335
Sck - 531
Rate - 87.0
Brett Favre will retire at the age of 41 as a Minnesota Viking. The chances of his records being surpassed by more than one or two Quarterbacks are highly unlikely. Only one man as of right now is in a prime position to do so, and that man is the next man in the argument.
Peyton Manning-
Comp Att Yards TD INT Sck Rate
1998 326 575 3,739 26 28 22 71.2
1999 331 533 4,135 26 15 14 90.7
2000 357 571 4,413 33 15 20 94.7
2001 343 547 4,131 26 23 29 84.1
2002 392 591 4,200 27 19 23 88.8
2003 379 566 4,267 29 10 18 99.0
2004 336 497 4,557 49 10 13 121.1
2005 305 453 3,747 28 10 17 104.1
2006 362 557 4,397 31 9 14 101.0
2007 337 515 4,040 31 14 21 98.0
2008 371 555 4,002 27 12 14 95.0
2009 393 571 4,500 33 16 10 99.9
Total:
Comp - 4,232
Att - 6,531
Yards - 50,128
TD - 366
INT - 181
Sck - 215
Rate - 95.2
With one Super Bowl ring, and a very recent loss in another, you can guarantee Manning wants to get that bad taste out of his mouth. He will more than likely win at least one more Super Bowl before he retires. Being that he is going into his 13th NFL season, he probably has another good 6 years left in him. I do not see the Indianapolis Colts getting rid of Peyton Manning ever.
Peyton Manning's Averages per season:
Comp - 352.6
Att - 544.3
Yards - 4,177.3
TD - 30.5
INT - 15.1
Sck - 17.9
Rate - 95.2
Taking those averages and adding them onto his totals for six years, his final totals when he retires would be as follows:
Comp - 6,348
Att - 9,797
Yards - 75,192
TD - 549
INT - 272
Sck - 322
Rate - 95.5
Peyton Manning will hold both the yards and TD records and even possibly have more rings than the reigning title holder of all Passing records. After 18 years in the NFL, Peyton Manning will retire and be very thrilled with what he has accomplished. Not to mention, his TD to Interception Ratio is staggering, but not as much as Tom Brady's. Manning will end with a 2.02 TD/Int Ratio where Brady will end with a 2.27. Brett Favre will end his career with a 1.57 TD/Int Ratio.
Although age in the long run would probably have Brett Favre the most durable Quarterback out of the three, Tom Brady has the most accurate stats, and Peyton Manning has the most eye-popping stats. None of them are the same type of Quarterback. Each has a different type of aspect that makes him great. If Favre, Manning, and Brady were all one Quarterback, he would be the most perfect Quarterback of all time.
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