With the GOAT debate, sports fans like to look at numbers for their arguments because they are definitive. The majority of football fans will agree that Tom Brady, former QB of the New England Patriots, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (do I have to explain who Tom Brady is?) is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. Why do fans say this? Is it because of championships? Is it for his “supreme athleticism” over all the other QBs?

I believe it’s only because of the number of Super Bowls he has which I think is not a fair argument since football is so heavily influenced by the whole team compared to other sports like basketball when a team can have a star player that can literally score half the points on the team (you see Luka Doncic doing this with the Mavs all the time and Damian Lillard with Portland before he got traded). If we look at his Super Bowls, yes, amazingly, he has more Super Bowl wins than any organization which is hard to argue that he isn’t the GOAT but to me, it’s not enough.

The first win should be listed as 2002, the year the infamous tuck rule was heard around the world. During the play, Brady held onto the ball after a forward-throwing motion which should be considered as a pump fake. Oakland sacks Brady and he fumbles it but officiating said it was an incomplete pass. Officiating is terrible in every game so I won’t get on my soapbox for this one but this is one game that could go 50/50 and if we could go back and replay the game.

To me this is minus 1 for Brady in this hypothetical Super Bowl wins picture I’m trying to paint. During the 2015 Super Bowl, the Seahawks made a major mistake by not letting Marshawn Lynch (one of the greatest goal-line RBs in history) run the ball and it cost them an interception to lose the game. We have minus 2 off of just two plays alone. Hypothetically in this, he has 5 superbowls which is still amazing but many would still say it’s GOAT worthy.

But I disagree, I’m a firm believer that Bill Belichick, former head coach of the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns, is the greatest head coach of all time and the reason for Brady’s success. Belichick was able to get all of his players on the same page and do their job, his players rarely made mistakes. The Pats have led the NFL with the fewest penalties for multiple years since 2003 and if they weren’t #1 in fewest penalties, they were top 5 in fewest penalties or top 10 (2010/2012).

They were #1 for the fewest penalties for the 2020 season as well, without Brady. Now this is why I think most of Brady’s success has been because of Belichick. When you have a coach that gets everyone doing the right thing, it’s easy for the QB to do their job well, in Brady’s case, Great. But now we are dismissing that Belichick had anything to do with Brady’s success just because he got to the Super Bowl with the Buccaneers.

The Buccaneers haven’t been relevant in a while, they drafted Jamis Winston in 2015, a QB that is consistent in throwing as many interceptions as TDs and being in probably the hardest division in the NFL at the time. But the Buccaneers weren’t bad at all, they were just missing a reliable QB. They had 1st and 2nd round picks all over their starting roster, plus veterans that are arguably elite and best at their positions during the 2021 season they won the Superbowl. He had Mike Evans who is definitely a future Hall of Fame WR with the numbers he has and Chris Godwin who had an amazing year as WR2. The Buccaneers also signed Gronkowski who played a major role in Tom Brady’s success in New England.

Having a WR core that Brady had the last few years of his career, I would hope he made it to the Superbowl easily, considering he’s the “GOAT”. BUT IT WASN’T EASY. He couldn’t beat the Saints in the regular season with his great WR core. Tampa’s defense is what won the game for Brady against the Saints in the post-season. They barely survived the Washington football team, when Washington had a 3rd string QB playing for them(Taylor Heinicke). Everyone was saying NFC LEAST (NFC East) that year but if that’s true, why did the “GOAT” not destroy Washington with that type of talent around him?

I don’t know who the GOAT at the QB position is, but I know it can’t be Tom Brady when Drew Brees (Former Saints QB) held most of the NFL QB records before Tom Brady passed him but it’s only because Tom Brady was in the league longer.

To me, a QB that passes the ball the best and most accurate is the better QB. Drew Brees was a better QB with less around him. Brees holds a record for 5 seasons with 5,000 yards passing. There are only 15 times this has happened Brees holds 5 of them while Brady only has 2. I’m not saying Drew Brees is the GOAT either but I think he was a better QB and more impressed watching his throws compared to Tom Brady.

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