Patriot Fans Need to Appreciate Just How Good Tom Brady Is.

It's rare that someone is the indisputable "best" within the sphere of a team sport. Boxing has belts, tennis has rankings, but these are individual sports. Professional football, basketball and baseball have standings. Those rank teams, not individuals. There is really no official ranking for individuals; it's not what the sports are really about. 

That makes it fun to have debates. Best hitter, best pitcher, best fielder, best shooter, best rebounder, best defender, best receiver, best running back, best defensive end, etc, etc.

Best quarterback? Well, that's easy. It's Tom Brady, and then have fun debating who No. 2 is. 

It really shouldn't matter what team you root for at this point. Brady isn't quite in the "Jordan" territory yet, but the NFL, with its 22 starters and 53-man rosters, really won't ever produce the type of dominant individual athletes that the NBA, with five starters and a 12-man roster, will. Love or hate the Patriots or Tom Brady—just don't say that Brady isn't the best quarterback in the NFL right now. 

Watching highlights of Brady carve up the Dolphins last night the one thing that stood out was his nearly flawless accuracy. The way Magic Johnson or Larry Bird could thread a needle with one of their passes, or how Mariano Rivera can almost will his cutter to the outside corner. That's how Brady passes the football. It arrives at the right time, in the right stride, to the correct shoulder, with the proper velocity.

For those that watch a lot of NFL football, we all know that quarterbacks have their ups and downs. How many bad plays did the likes of Tony Romo, Mark Sanchez, Eli Manning, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger and Kyle Orton make this past weekend? They made a bunch, and that's a list of decent quarterbacks. They just end up looking fairly pedestrian compared to Brady.

It's really not just about the yards. Sure, Brady had a night for the ages, 32-of-48 for 517 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Just go watch the passes. Every one seems to hit the intended receiver in stride. These passes are placed where it would be most difficult for a defender to knock them down or pick them off.

The word "surgical" was all over the post game shows.  It's the perfect description.

Also take this into account. Brady has played with one Hall of Fame caliber wide receiver in his career, Randy Moss, and that was only for a touch over two full seasons.  Wes Welker is very good, but he's not likely to make it to Canton. Ochocinco might make the Hall of Fame, but it won't be for the numbers he puts up in a Patriot uniform. Brady can make an average receiver good and a good one great.

Montana had Rice, Aikman had not just Michael Irvin, but Jay Novacek and Emmitt Smith, as well as one of the greatest offensive lines ever assembled. Terry Bradshaw had Lynn Swann, Franco Harris and John Stallworth. Brady's supporting cast has been good, but he hasn't played with the same sort of offensive weapons that the rest of the three- and four-Super Bowl ring club has played with.   

Patriot fans love Brady, as they should, but it's also worth mentioning that he won't always be the quarterback. At some point he will get old and his play will decline. It doesn't appear to be soon, but it will happen.

When it does, we should all remember nights like last night, we should all appreciate what we were able to witness and accept that the next man to start as quarterback for the New England Patriots may be many things, but he won't be Tom Brady. There's only one of those out there, and he's worth watching and appreciating while we all have the chance.