Massarotti: Winning Is All That Matters, And No One Has Done It Better Than Brady
BOSTON (CBS) -- We live in an age of statistical soup, filled with abbreviations and acronyms and symbols. So today, let's keep this as basic as possible: no quarterback in NFL history has ever won more games than Tom Brady.
How do you like them apples?
In case you missed it, Brady on Sunday won his 200th career game – that's regular season and postseason combined – pulling him into a tie with Peyton Manning for No.1 all-time. With his next victory, Brady will officially enter the third century and leave everyone else in the dark ages. We could split hairs here and tell you that Manning (and Brett Favre, for that matter) actually have more regular season victories than Brady does, but we all know that a postseason win means more than a regular season win. What good is winning the latter if you can't win the former?
Really, is there any simpler, more important statistic in sports? Wins. Plain and simple. Wins. Not yards per attempt. Not passer rating. Not QBR or AVOA or some other cockamamie formula that someone developed as a way of measuring… something. Just wins. And with regard to the quarterback position, whether one qualifies as a game manager, pure passer or something in between, the specifics don't really matter. The question is whether a quarterback could do what was necessary to win a game, whether supported by a good defense, a running game or a capable coach.
Brady, of course, has had all the above at various points in his career, which is only part of the point. He has also gone stretches without one component or another. (Admittedly, he has always had Bill Belichick, which is no small thing.) Brady was a game manager earlier in his career, became a prolific passer somewhere in the middle. Some years, the Patriots haven't had a running game. Some years, they haven't really had much of a defense. Some years, heck, they haven't had receivers, which is like giving a point guard no shooters.
And one way or another, the Patriots have adjusted, relying on their quarterback to simply find a way.
Look, here in New England, we all understand what Brady has meant to the Patriots. We don't need to spend a lot of time penning appreciations for him. But again, in an age where people feel the need to find more creative ways to quantify everything, the beauty of Brady is now that the details don't really matter anymore. He has been to more Super Bowls than any quarterback in history (six) and nobody has ever won more (four). He has the highest winning percentage of all-time. And soon, Brady will have won more games than anybody to ever play his position, which means he has the volume numbers to go along with the percentages.
The other stats?
Have at 'em. Knock yourself out. Get yourself good and bloated on alphabet soup. The only one that really matters is the almighty W, which might as well be Brady's middle initial.
Thomas W. Brady.
That's just something that no one can ever take away.
