Tom Brady Tied Joe Montana in Super Bowl Rings, but Joe Cool Still on Top in Super Bowl Performances
By Jason Lisk
Tom Brady won his fourth Super Bowl last night. Joe Montana won four Super Bowls, too. The script here requires that I compare the two for you. (Terry Bradshaw also won four as a quarterback, but he couldn’t spell Super Bowl if you spotted him the S-P, and, well, a bunch of those letters).
[Update: I appeared on the Tony D Show on Yahoo Sports Radio on this topic, audio here]
How do Tom Brady and Joe Montana matchup? Interestingly, they are very similar beyond the initial RINGZ discussion. This was the 13th season as a starter for Tom Brady. Joe Montana had 13 seasons where he threw a significant number of passes (he threw 23 passes and started one game as a rookie and also 21 while on the bench in SF in 1992).
Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of the best statistical seasons, adjusting for league environment. We know that quarterbacks throw more passes, fewer interceptions, and complete a higher percentage now. The Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt Index puts that in a number on a scale. 100 is average. 115 is pretty good. Anything approaching 125 is MVP consideration type season, and Above 135 is all-time great season territory. All data from Pro Football Reference.
They both had all-time seasons (Montana in ’89, Brady in ’07) and Montana had the third best season (1984). The top five seasons for each compare favorably statistically. It’s after that where Montana separates a bit. His worst two seasons (his first and last as a starter) rank ahead of five Brady seasons.
BUT TEAMMATES
Joe Montana got to play with Jerry Rice. That matters. But when we look at pro bowl teammates, it’s not as disparate as you might think. I’ll submit to you that Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski were the next two best offensive players to play with either of these guys. (with an in-his-prime Roger Craig from 1985-1989 being fourth).
In those 13 seasons, Montana had 23 other offensive pro bowlers and 8 teammates with all-pro seasons. Brady is at 20 and 7 in those two categories.
In their best five statistical seasons, Brady played with 15 pro bowlers on offense (3 per year) and 6 all pros, including Randy Moss in his best year. Montana played with 12 pro bowlers (2.4 per year) and 3 all pros (two being Rice in 1987 and 1989). For what it’s worth, Montana only played with Rice in two of his top five statistical seasons, Rice was a rookie in #6, and Montana was in KC for #7.
It’s an interesting phenomenon. Three of Joe Montana’s Super Bowl titles came in his five best passing seasons. None of Brady’s have. It’s almost like the Patriots have been better in other areas in years they have won the title, to compensate for a little less offensive firepower.
THE SUPER BOWL PERFORMANCES
If we look at just the wins (and exclude the rest of the playoffs and the Super Bowl losses by Brady) it’s not particularly close in terms of just performance in the Big Game.
Montana in four Super Bowl wins: 83 of 122 (68.0%), 1142 yards (9.4 yards per attempt), 11 TD, 0 INT
Brady in four Super Bowl wins: 108 of 158 (68.4%), 1054 yards (6.7 yards per attempt), 10 TD, 3 INT
Let’s put Montana’s performance in those Super Bowls in some perspective. That line for the four biggest games would be something to which any quarterback would aspire over just any stretch of their careers. How many times, since 1970, has a quarterback even averaged 9.0 yards per attempt over a four consecutive games started stretch, while averaging 2.5 touchdowns (10 in 4 games) and throwing no interceptions?
Thirteen.
Over half of those have come in the last five years, when passing rules have further pushed the offensive envelope. Thirteen times in the last 45 years has a quarterback been able to do that over a short four game stretch. (And now I want to write the oral history of what happened to Ken O’Brien in 1986).
Joe Montana was simply–and this is a statement about what happened, and not an assessment of character or predictive as to what would have happened if he had made a fifth–the best in the Super Bowls. In the playoffs overall, though, Montana was just “pretty good.” Did you know that San Francisco was 4-1 in playoff games where Montana threw at least two interceptions? After yesterday, the Patriots are 4-3 in playoff games where Brady does the same. The rest of the NFL in the postseason since 1978 are 59-206 (22%).
Sometimes, teammates and circumstances bail you out to later become immortal. It’s a team game, as Marshawn Lynch so properly observed.
Overall, even without adjusting for era, Montana finishes ahead of Brady in TD-INT ratio, and outdoes him by 1.1 yards per pass attempt for their postseasons.
POSTSCRIPT
I would give a slight lean to Montana-still. Brady is still going though. However, he does now have a deflated balls issue to deal with. Even if it was a tie, bonus points to Joe Montana because his version of deflated balls was funnier.