Brady, Favre, Manning: A Big Debate On Age and Records

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.